sty
English edit
Pronunciation edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English sty, from Old English stī, stiġ (“sty, pen, a wooden enclosure; hall”, chiefly in compounds), from Proto-Germanic *stiją. Cognate with German Stiege (“wooden crate”), dialectal German Steige (“hen-coop”), Danish sti (“sty, enclosure for swine, sheep, hens, etc.”), Swedish stia (“sty for pigs, geese, etc.”), Norwegian sti (“flock of sheep”), Icelandic stía (“a kennel”).
Noun edit
- A pen or enclosure for swine.
- (figurative) A messy, dirty or debauched place.
- 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:
- To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.
Synonyms edit
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
|
|
Verb edit
sty (third-person singular simple present sties, present participle stying, simple past and past participle stied)
- (transitive) To place in, or as if in, a sty.
- 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
- and here you sty me
In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me
The rest o' the island
- (transitive) To live in a sty, or any messy or dirty place.
Etymology 2 edit
From Middle English stien, stiȝen, stighen, from Old English stīgan (“to go; ascend, mount”), from Proto-West Germanic *stīgan, from Proto-Germanic *stīganą, from Proto-Indo-European *steygʰ-. Cognate with Dutch stijgen, German steigen, Danish stige, Norwegian Bokmål stige, Norwegian Nynorsk and Swedish stiga, Old Norse stíga.
Alternative forms edit
Verb edit
sty (third-person singular simple present sties, present participle stying, simple past and past participle stied)
- (obsolete) To ascend, rise up, climb. [9th–17th c.]
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book I, Canto IX”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- The beast impatient of his smarting wound, / And of so fierce and forcible despight, / Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground [...].
- 1591, Ed[mund] Sp[enser], “Muiopotmos, or The Fate of the Butterflie”, in Complaints. Containing Sundrie Small Poemes of the Worlds Vanitie. […], London: […] William Ponsonbie, […], →OCLC:
- From this lower tract he dared to stie up to the clowdes.
- 1621, Richard Montague, Diatribae upon the first part of the late History of Tithes:
- Led along, as some Creatures are, by the Noses, and voluntarily hood-winked; or like seeled Doves, sty up, you know not whither, nor how far.
- 1652, Edward Benlowes, Theophila, or Love's Sacrifice:
- That she might sty to the seat of Beatifick Mirth.
Derived terms edit
Related terms edit
Translations edit
Noun edit
sty (plural sties)
Translations edit
Etymology 3 edit
From Middle English styanye, mistaken as "sty on eye" yet composed of Old English stīġend (“sty”, literally “riser”), agent noun from stīgan (“to rise”) + Middle English yë (“eye”).
Alternative forms edit
Noun edit
sty (plural sties)
- (pathology) An inflammation of the eyelid.
Translations edit
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Etymology 1 edit
Inherited from Old English stiġ, stī, from Proto-West Germanic *stij, from Proto-Germanic *stiją.
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
sty (plural styes)
Descendants edit
- English: sty
References edit
- “stī, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-08.
Etymology 2 edit
Inherited from Old English stīġ, from Proto-West Germanic *stīgu, from Proto-Germanic *stīgō.
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
- A path, track or street.
- (figurative) One's chosen pathway or choices in life.
- (figurative, rare) A short narrative.
References edit
- “stī(e, n.(1).”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-06-08.