Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

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STATIONARY — STELLED

STATIONARY, a.

1. Fixed; not moving, progressive or regressive; not appearing to move. The sun becomes stationary in Cancer, in its advance into the northern signs. The court in England which was formerly itinerary, is now stationary.

2. Not advancing, in a moral sense; not improving; not growing wiser, greater or better; not becoming greater or more excellent.

3. Respecting place.

The same harmony and stationary constitution---

Stationary fever, a fever depending on peculiar seasons.

STATION-BILL, n. In seamens language, a list containing the appointed posts of the ships company, when navigating the ship.

STATIONER, n. [from station, a state.] A bookseller; one who sells books, paper, quills, inkstands, pencils and other furniture for writing. The business of the bookseller and stationer is usually carried on by the same person.

STATIONERY, n. The articles usually sold by stationers, as paper, ink, quills; etc.

STATIONERY, a. Belonging to a stationer.

STATIST, n. [from state.] A statesman; a politician; one skilled in government.

Statists indeed, and lovers of their country. [Not now used.]

STATISTIC, STATISTICAL, a. [from state or statist.] Pertaining to the state of society, the condition of the people, their economy, their property and resources.

STATISTICS, n. A collection of facts respecting the state of society, the condition of the people in a nation or country, their health, longevity, domestic economy, arts, property and political strength, the state of the country, etc.

STATUARY, n. [L., a statue; to set.]

1. The art of carving images as representatives of real persons or things; a branch of sculpture.

[In this sense the word has no plural.]

2. One professes or practices the art of carving images or making statues.

On other occasions the statuaries took their subjects from the poets.

STATUE, n. [L., to set; that which is set or fixed.] An image; a solid substance formed by carving into the likeness of a whole living being; as a statue of Hercules or of a lion.

STATUE, v.t. To place, as a statue; to form a statue of.

STATUMINATE, v.t. [L.] To prop or support. [Not in use.]

STATURE, n. [L., to set.] The natural highth of an animal body. It is more generally used of the human body.

Foreign men of mighty stature came.

STATURED, a. Arrived at full stature. [Little used.]

STATUTABLE, a. [from statute.]

1. Made or introduced by statute; proceeding from an act of the legislature; as a statutable provision or remedy.

2. Made or being in conformity to statute; as statutable measures.

STATUTABLY, adv. In a manner agreeable to statute.

STATUTE, [L., to set.]

1. An act of the legislature of a state that extends its binding force to all the citizens or subjects of that state, as distinguished from an act which extends only to an individual or company; an act of the legislature commanding or prohibiting something; a positive law. Statutes are distinguished from common law. The latter owes its binding force to the principles of justice, to long use and the consent of a nation. The former owe their binding force to a positive command or declaration of the supreme power. Statute is commonly applied to the acts of a legislative body consisting of representatives. In monarchies, the laws of the sovereign are called edicts, decrees, ordinances, rescripts, etc.

2. A special act of the supreme power, of a private nature, or intended to operate only on an individual or company.

3. The act of a corporation or of its founder, intended as a permanent rule or law; as the statutes of a university.

STATUTE-MERCHANT, n. In English law, a bond of record pursuant to the Stat. 13 Edw. 1. acknowledged before one of the clerks of the statutes-merchant and the mayor or chief warden of London, or before certain persons appointed for the purpose; on which, if not paid at the day, an execution may be awarded against the body, lands and goods of the obligor.

STATUTE-STAPLE, n. A bond of record acknowledged before the mayor of the staple, by virtue of which the creditor may forthwith have execution against the body, lands and goods of the debtor, on non-payment.

STATUTORY, a. Enacted by statute; depending on statute for its authority; as a statutory provision or remedy.

STAUROLITE, STAUROTIDE, n. [Gr., a cross, a stone.] The granatit of Werner or grenatite of Jameson; a mineral crystalized in prisms, either single or intersecting each other at right angles. Its color is white or gray, reddish or brown. It is often opake, sometimes translucent. Its form and infusibility distinguish it from the garnet. It is called by the French, harmotome.

STAVE, n. [from staff. It has the sound of a, as in save.]

1. A thin narrow piece of timber, of which casks are made. Staves make a considerable articles of export from New England to the West Indies.

2. A staff; a metrical portion; a part of a psalm appointed to be sung in churches.

3. In music, the five horizontal and parallel lines on which the notes of tunes are written or printed; the staff, as it is now more generally written.

To stave and tail, to part dogs by interposing a staff and by pulling the tail.

STAVE, v.t. pret. stove or staved; pp. id.

1. To break a hole in; to break; to burst; primarily, to thrust through with a staff; as, to stave a cask.

2. To push as with a staff; with off.

The condition of a servant staves him off to a distance.

3. To delay; as, to stave off the execution of a project.

4. To pour out; to suffer to be lost by breaking the cask.

All the wine in the city has been staved.

5. To furnish with staves or rundles. [Not in use.]

STAVE, v.i. To fight with staves. [Not in use.]

STAVES, plu. of staff, when applied to a stick, is pronounced with a as in ask, the Italian sound.

STAW, v.i. To be fixed or set. [Not in use or local.]

STAY, v.i. pret. staid, for stayed. [L., to stand.]

1. To remain; to continue in a place; to abide for any indefinite time. Do you stay here, while I go to the next house. Stay here a week. We staid at the Hotel Montmorenci.

Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first.

2. To continue in a state.

The flames augment, and stay at their full highth, then languish to decay.

3. To wait; to attend; to forbear to act.

I stay for Turnus.

Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Ruth 1:13.

4. To stop; to stand still.

She would command the hasty sun to stay.

5. To dwell.

I must stay a little on one action.

6. To rest; to rely; to confide in; to trust.

Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression, and stay thereon-- Isaiah 30:12.

STAY, v.t. pret. and pp. staid, for stayed.

1. To stop; to hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain.

All that may stay the mind from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false.

To stay these sudden gusts of passion.

2. To delay; to obstruct; to hinder from proceeding.

Your ships are staid at Venice.

I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me to be new.

3. To keep from departure; as, you might have staid me here.

4. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to hold up; to support.

Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands. Exodus 17:12.

Sallows and reeds for vineyards useful found to stay thy vines.

5. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; as, to take a luncheon to stay the stomach.

STAY, n.

1. Continuance in a place; abode for a time indefinite; as, you make a short stay in this city.

Embrace the hero, and his stay implore.

2. Stand; stop; cessation of motion or progression.

Affairs of state seemd rather to stand at a stay.

[But in this sense, we now use stand; to be at a stand.]

3. Stop; obstruction; hinderance from progress.

Grievd with each step, tormented with each stay.

4. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.

With prudent stay, he long deferrd the rough contention.

5. A fixed state.

Alas, what stay is there in human state!

6. Prop; support.

Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.

My only strength and stay!

The Lord is my stay. Psalm 18:18.

The stay and the staff, the means of supporting and preserving life. Isaiah 3:1.

7. Steadiness of conduct.

8. In the rigging of a ship, a large strong rope employed to support the mast, by being extended from its upper end to the stem of the ship. The fore-stay reaches from the foremast head towards the bowsprit end; the main-stay extends to the ships stem; the mizen-stay is stretched to a collar on the main-mast, above the quarter deck, etc.

Stays, in seamanship, implies the operation of going about or changing the course of a ship, with a shifting of the sails. To be in stays, is to lie with the head to the wind, and the sails so arranged as to check her progress.

To miss stays, to fail in the attempt to go about.

STAYED, pp. Staid; fixed; settle; sober. It is now written staid, which see.

STAYEDLY, adv. Composedly; gravely; moderately; prudently; soberly. [Little used.]

STAYEDNESS, n.

1. Moderation; gravity; sobriety; prudence. [See Staidness.]

2. Solidity; weight. [Little used.]

STAYER, n. One that stops or restrains; one who upholds or supports; that which props.

STAYLACE, n. A lace for fastening the bodice in female dress.

STAYLESS, a. Without stop or delay. [Little used.]

STAYMAKER, n. One whose occupation is to make stays.

STAYS, n. plu.

1. A bodice; a kind of waistcoat stiffened with whalebone or other thing, worn by females.

2. Stays, of a ship. [See Stay.]

3. Station; fixed anchorage.

4. Any support; that which keeps another extended.

Weavers, stretch your stays upon the weft.

STAY-SAIL, n. [stay and sail.] Any sail extended on a stay.

STAY-TACKLE, n. [stay and tackle.] A large tackle attached to the main-stay by means of a pendant, and used to hoist heavy bodies, as boats, butts of water and the like.

STEAD, STED, n. [G. See Stay.]

1. Place; in general.

Fly this fearful stead.

[In this sense not used.]

2. Place or room which another had or might have, noting substitution, replacing or filling the place of another, as, David died and Solomon reigned in his sted.

God hath appointed me another seed in stead of Abel, whom Cain slew. Genesis 4:25.

3. The frame on which a bed is laid.

Sallow the feet, the borders and the sted.

[But we never use this word by itself in this sense. We always use bedstead.]

To stand in sted, to be of use or great advantage.

The smallest act of charity shall stand us in great stead.

STEAD, STED, in names of places distant from a river or the sea, signifies place, as above; but in names of places situated on a river or harbor, it is from Sax. Stathe, border, bank, shore, Both words perhaps are from one root.
STEAD, v.t. sted.

1. To help; to support; to assist; as, it nothing steads us.

2. To fill the place of another.

STEADFAST, STEDFAST, a. [stead and fast.]

1. Fast fixed; firm; firmly fixed or established; as the stedfast globe of earth.

2. Constant; firm; resolute; not fickle or wavering.

Abide stedfast to thy neighbor in the time of his trouble.

Him resist, stedfast in the faith. 1 Peter 5:9.

3. Steady; as stedfast sight.

STEADFASTLY, STEDFASTLY, adv. Firmly; with constancy or steadiness of mind.

Steadfastly believe that whatever God has revealed is infallibly true.

STEADFASTNESS, STEDFASTNESS, n.

1. Firmness of standing; fixedness in place.

2. Firmness of mind or purpose; fixedness in principle; constancy; resolution; as the stedfastness of faith. He adhered to his opinions with steadfastness.

STEADILY, STEDDILY, adv.

1. With firmness of standing or position; without tottering, shaking or leaning. He kept his arm steddily directed to the object.

2. Without wavering, inconstancy or irregularity; without deviating. He steddily pursues his studies.

STEADINESS, STEDDINESS, n.

1. Firmness of standing or position; a state of being not tottering or easily moved or shaken. A man stands with steddiness; he walks with steddiness.

2. Firmness of mind or purpose; constancy; resolution. We say, a man has steddiness of mind, steddiness in opinion, steddiness in the pursuit of objects.

3. Consistent uniform conduct.

Steddiness is a point of prudence as well as of courage.

STEADY, STEDDY, a.

1. Firm in standing or position; fixed; not tottering or shaking; applicable to any object.

2. Constant in mind, purpose or pursuit; not fickle, changeable or wavering; not easily moved or persuaded to alter a purpose; as a man steddy in his principles, steddy in his purpose, steddy in the pursuit of an object, steddy in his application to business.

3. Regular; constant; undeviating; uniform; as the steddy course of the sun. Steer the ship a steddy course. A large river runs with a steddy stream.

4. Regular; not fluctuating; as a steddy breeze of wind.

STEADY, STEDDY, v.t. To hold or keep from shaking, reeling or falling; to support; to make or keep firm. Steddy my hand.

STEAK, n. [G., a piece.] A slice of beef or pork broiled, or cut for broiling. [As far as my observation extends, this word is never applied to any species of meat, except to beef and pork, nor to these dressed in any way except by broiling. Possible it may be used of a piece fried.]

STEAL, v.t. pret. stole; pp. stolen, stole. [G. L, to take, to lift.]

1. To take and carry away feloniously, as the personal goods of another. To constitute stealing or theft, the taking must be felonious, that is, with an intent to take what belongs to another, and without his consent.

Let him that stole, steal no more. Ephesians 4:28.

2. To Withdraw or convey without notice or clandestinely.

They could insinuate and steal themselves under the same by submission.

3. To gain or win by address or gradual and imperceptible means.

Variety of objects has a tendency to steal away the mind from its steady pursuit of any subject.

So Absalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel. 2 Samuel 15:6.

STEAL, v.i.

1. To withdraw or pass privily; to slip along or away unperceived.

Fixed of mind to fly all company, one night she stole away.

From whom you now must steal and take no leave.

A soft and solemn breathing sound rose like a steam of rich distilld perfumes, and stole upon the air.

2. To practice theft; to take feloniously. He steals for a livelihood.

Thou shalt not steal. Exodus 20:15.

STEALER, n. One that steals; a thief.

STEALING, ppr. Taking the goods of another feloniously; withdrawing imperceptibly; gaining gradually.

STEALINGLY, adv. Slyly; privately, or by an invisible motion. [Little used.]

STEALTH, n. stelth.

1. The act of stealing; theft.

The owner proveth the stealth to have been committed on him by such an outlaw.

2. The thing stolen; as cabins that are dens to cover stealth. [Not in use.]

3. Secret act; clandestine practice; means unperceived employed to gain an object; way or manner not perceived; used in a good or bad sense.

Do good by stealth, and blush to find it fame.

The monarch blinded with desire of wealth, with steel invades the brothers life by stealth.

STEALTHY, a. Stelthy. Done by stealth; clandestine; unperceived.

Now witherd murder with his stealthy pace moves like a ghost.

STEAM, n.

1. The vapor of water; or the elastic, aeriform fluid generated by heating water to the boiling point. When produced under the common atmospheric pressure, its elasticity is equivalent to the pressure, its elasticity is equivalent to the pressure of the atmosphere, and it is called low steam; but when heated in a confined state, its elastic force is rapidly augmented, and it is then called high steam. On the application of cold, steam instantly returns to the state of water, and thus forms a sudden vacuum. From this property, and from the facility with which an elastic force is generated by means of steam, this constitutes a mechanical agent at once the most powerful and the most manageable, as is seen in the vast and multiplied uses of the steam engine. Steam is invisible, and is to be distinguished from the cloud or mist which it forms in the air, that being water in a minute state of division, resulting from the condensation of steam.

2. In popular use, the mist formed by condensed vapor.

STEAM, v.i.

1. To rise or pass off in vapor by means of heat; to fume.

Let the crude humors dance in heated brass, steaming with fire intense.

2. To send off visible vapor.

Ye mists that rise from steaming lake.

3. To pass off in visible vapor.

The dissolved amber--steamed away into the air.

STEAM, v.t.

1. To exhale; to evaporate. [Not much used.]

2. To expose to steam; to apply steam to for softening, dressing or preparing; as, to steam cloth; to steam potatoes instead of boiling the; to steam food for cattle.

STEAM-BOAT, STEAM-VESSEL, n. A vessel propelled through the water by steam.

STEAM-BOILER, n. A boiler for steaming food for cattle.

STEAMED, pp. Exposed to steam; cooked or dressed by steam.

STEAM-ENGINE, n. An engine worked by steam.

STEAMING, ppr. Exposing to steam; cooking or dressing by steam; preparing for cattle by steam, as roots.

STEAN, for stone. [Not in use.]

STEARIN, n. One of the proximate elements of animal fat, as lard, tallow, etc. The various kinds of animal fat consist of two substances, stearin and elain; of which the former is solid, and the latter liquid.

STEATITE, n. [Gr., fat.] Soapstone; so called from its smooth or unctuous feel; a subspecies of rhomboidal mica. It is of two kings, the common, and the pagodite or lard-stone. It is sometimes confounded with talck, to which its is allied. It is a compact stone, white, green of all shades, gray, brown or marbled, and sometimes herborized by black dendrites. It is found in metalliferous veins, with the ores of copper, lead, zink, silver and tin.

STEATITIC, a. Pertaining to soapstone; of the nature of steatite, or resembling it.

STEATOCELE, n. [Gr., fat, a tumor.] A swelling of the scrotum, containing fat.

STEATOMA, n. [Gr.] A species of tumor containing matter like suet.

STED, STEDFAST. [See Stead.]

STEED, n. A horse, or a hose for state or war. [This word is not much used in common discourse. It is used in poetry and descriptive prose, and is elegant.]

Stout are our men, and warlike are our steeds.

STEEL, n. [G.]

1. Iron combined with a small portion of carbon; iron refined and hardened, used in making instruments, and particularly useful as the material of edged tools. It is called in chemistry, carburet of iron; but this is more usually the denomination of plumbago.

2. Figuratively, weapons; particularly, offensive weapons, swords, spears and the like.

Brave Macbeth with his brandishd steel.

-- While doubting thus he stood, receivd the steel bathd in this brothers blood.

3. Medicines composed of steel, as steel fillings.

After relaxing, steel strengthens the solids.

4. Extreme hardness; as heads or hearts of steel.

STEEL, a. Made of steel; as a steel plate or buckle.
STEEL, v.t.

1. To overlay, point or edge with steel; as, to steel the point of a sword; to steel a razor; to steel an ax.

2. To make hard or extremely hard.

O God of battles, steel my soldiers hearts.

Lies well steeld with weighty arguments.

3. To make hard; to make insensible or obdurate; as, to steel the heart against pity; to steel the mind or heart against reproof or admonition.

STEELED, pp. Pointed or edged with steel; hardened; made insensible.

STEELINESS, n. [from steely.] Great hardness.

STEELING, ppr. Pointing or edging with steel; hardening; making insensible or unfeeling.

STEELY, a.

1. Made of steel; consisting of steel.

Broachd with the steely point of Cliffords lance.

Around his shop the steely sparkles flew.

2. Hard; firm.

That she would unarm her noble heart of that steely resistance against the sweet blows of love.

STEELYARD, n. [steel and yard.] The Roman balance; an instrument for weighing bodies, consisting of a rod or bar marked with notches, designating the number of pounds and ounces, and a weight which is movable along this bar, and which is made to balance the weight of the body by being removed at a proper distance from the fulcrum. The principle of the steelyard is that of the lever; where an equilibrium is produced, when the products of the weights on opposite sides into their respective distances from the fulcrum, are equal to one another. Hence a less weight is made to indicate a greater, by being removed to a greater distance from the fulcrum.

STEEN, STEAN, n. A vessel of clay or stone. [Not in use.]

STEENKIRK, n. A cant term for a neck-cloth. [Not now in use.]

STEEP, a. Making a large angle with the plane of the horizon; ascending or descending with a great inclination; precipitous; as a steep hill or mountain; a steep roof; a steep ascent; a steep declivity.

STEEP, n. A precipitous place, hill, mountain, rock or ascent; any elevated object which slopes with a large angle to the plane of the horizon; a precipice.

We had on each side rocks and mountains broken into a thousand irregular steps and precipices.

STEEP, v.t. [probably formed on the root of dip.] To soak in a liquid; to macerate; to imbue; to keep any thing in a liquid till it has thoroughly imbibed it, or till the liquor has extracted the essential qualities of the substance. Thus cloth is steeped in lye or other liquid in bleaching or dyeing. But plants and drugs are steeped in water, wine and the like, for the purpose of tincturing the liquid with their qualities.
STEEP, n. A liquid for steeping grain or seeds; also, a runnet bag. [Local.]

STEEPED, pp. Soaked; macerated; imbued.

STEEPER, n. A vessel, vat or cistern in which things are steeped.

STEEPING, ppr. Soaking; macerating.

STEEPLE, n. A turret of a church, ending in a point; a spire. It differs from a tower, which usually ends in a square form, thought the name is sometimes given to a tower. The bell of a church is usually hung in the steeple.

They, far from steeples and their sacred sound---

STEEPLED, a. Furnished with a steeple; adorned with steeples or towers.

STEEPLE-HOUSE, n. A church. [Not in use.]

STEEPLY, adv. With steepness; with precipitous declivity.

STEEPNESS, n. The state of being steep; precipitous declivity; as the steepness of a hill, a bank or a roof.

STEEPY, a. Having a steep or precipitous declivity; as steepy crags; a poetical word.

No more, my goats, shall I behold you climb the steepy cliffs.

STEER, n. A young male of the ox kind or common ox. It is rendered in Dutch, a bull; but in the United States, this name is generally given to a castrated male of the ox kind, from two to four years old.

With solemn pomp then sacrificd a steer.

STEER, v.t. [G., to hinder, restrain, repress, to curb, to steer, to pilot, to aid, help, support. The verb si connected with or derived from steuer, a rudder, a helm, aid, help, subsidy, impost, tax, contribution.]

1. To direct; to govern; particularly, to direct and govern the course of a ship by the movements of the helm. Hence,

2. To direct; to guide; to show the way or course to.

That with a staff his feeble steps did steer.

STEER, v.i.

1. To direct and govern a ship or other vessel in its course. Formerly seamen steered by the stars; they ow steer by the compass.

A ship--where the wind veers oft, as oft so steers and shifts her sail.

2. To be directed and governed; as, a ship steers with ease.

3. To conduct ones self; to take or pursue a course or way.

STEER, n. A rudder or helm. [Not in use.]

STEERAGE, n.

1. The act or practice of directing and governing in a course; as the steerage of a ship.

[In this sense, I believe the word is now little used.]

2. In seamens language, the effort of a helm, or its effect on the ship.

3. In a ship, an apartment forward of the great cabin, from which it is separated by a bulk-head or partition, or an apartment in the fore part of a ship for passengers. In ships of war it serves as a hall or antichamber to the great cabin.

4. The part of a ship where the tiller traverses.

5. Direction; regulation.

He that hath the steerage of my course. [Little used.]

6. Regulation or management.

You raise the honor of the peerage, proud to attend you at the steerage.

7. That by which a course is directed.

Here he hung on high the steerage of his wings---

[Steerage, in the general sense of direction or management, is in popular use, but by no means an elegant word. It is said, a young man when he sets out in life, makes bad steerage; but no good writer would introduce the word into elegant writing.]

STEERAGE-WAY, n. In seamens language, that degree of progressive movement of a ship, which renders her governable by the helm.

STEERED, pp. Directed and governed in a course; guided; conducted.

STEERER, n. One that steers; a pilot. [Little used.]

STEERING, ppr. Directing and governing in a course, as a ship; guiding; conducting.

STEERING, n. The act or art of directing and governing a ship or other vessel in her course; the act of guiding or managing.

STEERING-WHEEL, n. The wheel by which the rudder of a ship is turned and the ship steered.

STEERLESS, a. Having no steer or rudder. [Not in use.]

STEERSMAN, n. [steer and man.] One that steers; the helmsman of a ship.

STEERSMATE, n. [steer and mate.] One who steers; a pilot. [Not in use.]

STEEVING, n. In seamens language, the angle of elevation which a ships bowsprit makes with the horizon.

STEG, n. A gander. [Local.]

STEGANOGRAPHIST, n. [Gr., secret, and to write.] One who practices the art of writing in cipher.

STEGANOGRAPHY, n. [supra.] The art of writing in ciphers or characters which are not intelligible, except to the persons who correspond with each other.

STEGNOTIC, a. [Gr.] Tending to bind or render costive.

STEGNOTIC, n. A medicine proper to stop the orifices of the vessels or emunctories of the body, when relaxed or lacerated.

STEINHEILITE, n. A mineral, a variety or iolite.

STELE, n. A stale or handle; a stalk.

STELECHITE, n. A fine kind of storax, in larger pieces than the calamite.

STELLAR, STELLARY, a. [L., a star.]

1. Pertaining to stars; astral; as stellar virute; stellar figure.

2. Starry; full of stars; set with stars; as stellary regions.

STELLATE, STELLATED, a. [L.]

1. Resembling a star; radiated.

2. In botany, stellate or verticillate leaves are when more leaves than two surround the stem in a whorl, or when they radiate like the spokes of a wheel, or like a star. A stellate bristle is when a little star of smaller hairs is affixed to the end applied also to the stigma. A stellate flower is a radiate flower.

STELLATION, n. [L., a star.] Radiation of light. [Not in use.]

STELLED, a. Starry. [Not in use.]