astir

See also: ástir

English

Etymology

a- +‎ stir

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈstɜː(ɹ)/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Adjective

astir (comparative more astir, superlative most astir)

1. In motion; characterized by motion.
   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 11, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC:

     Her book has perhaps been a good one; it has refreshed, refilled, rewarmed her heart; it has set her brain astir.

   • 1863, Christina Rossetti, “L. E. L.”, in Poems‎^[1], Boston: Roberts Brothers, published 1866, page 205:

     For in quick spring the sap is all astir.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 7, in The Land That Time Forgot‎^[2], New York: Del Rey, published 1992, page 103:

     Wilson, who was acting as cook, was up and astir at his duties in the cook-house.

   • 1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:

     Soon, the whole town would be astir with the cracking of whips, the beating of gongs, cryings to prayer, lashing of mules, and rattle of brass-bound wheels,

   • 1979, William Styron, chapter 11, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, page 332:

     Outside, the evening woods stood in quietude and the vast patches like maps of color were captured motionless, no leaf astir, in the light of the setting sun.

2. Out of bed; up and about.
   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, pages 104-105:

     I had but a broken sleep the night before, in anticipation of the pleasure of a whole day with Em’ly. We were all astir betimes in the morning;

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the second (Maiden No More), page 154:

     ‘It is early to be astir this Sabbath morn,’ he said cheerfully.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, chapter 12, in Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, published 1959, part 1, page 115:

     Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir,

Anagrams

• ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, Sitar, Stair, Trias, airts, arist, sitar, stair, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar