Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
STICHOMETRY — STITCHED
STICHOMETRY, n. [Gr., a verse; measure.] A catalogue of the books of Scriptures, with the number of verses which each book contains.
STICH-WORT, STITCH-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Stellaria.
STICK, n. [G. This word is connected with the verb to stick, with stock, stack, and other words having the like elements. The primary sense of the root is to thrust, to shoot, and to set.]
1. The small shoot or branch of a tree or shrub, cut off; a rod; also, a staff; as, to strike one with a stick.
2. Any stem of a tree, of any size, cut for fuel or timber. It is applied in America to any long and slender piece of timber, round or square, from the smallest size to the largest, used in the frames of buildings; as a stick of timber for a post, a beam or a rafter.
3. Many instruments, long and slender, are called sticks; as the composing stick of printers.
4. A thrust with a pointed instrument that penetrates a body; a stab.
Stick of eels, the number of twenty five eels. A bind contains ten sticks.
STICK, v.t. pret. and pp. stuck. [G., to sting or prick, to stick, to adhere.]
1. To pierce; to stab; to cause to enter, as a pointed instrument; hence, to kill by piercing; as, to stick a beast in slaughter. [A common use of the word.]
2. To thrust in; to fasten or cause to remain by piercing; as, to stick a pin on the sleeve.
3. To fasten; to attach by causing to adhere to the surface; as, to stick on a patch or plaster; to stick on a thing with paste or glue.
4. To set; to fix in; as, to stick card teeth.
5. To set with something pointed; as, to stick cards.
6. To fix on a pointed instrument; as, to stick an apple on a fork.
STICK, v.i.
1. To adhere; to hold to by cleaving to the surface, as by tenacity or attraction; as, glue sticks to the fingers; paste sticks to the wall, and causes paper to stick.
I will cause the fish of thy rivers to stick to thy scales. Ezekiel 29:4.
2. To be united; to be inseparable; to cling fast to, as something reproachful.
If on your fame our sex a blot has thrown, twill ever stick, through malice of your own.
3. To rest with the memory; to abide.
4. To stop; to be impeded by adhesion or obstruction; as, the carriage sticks in the mire.
5. To stop; to be arrested in a course.
My faltering tongue sticks at the sound.
6. To stop; to hesitate. He sticks at no difficulty; he sticks at the commission of no crime; he sticks at nothing.
7. To adhere; to remain; to resist efforts to remove.
I had most need of blessing, and amen stuck in my throat.
8. To cause difficulties or scruples; to cause to hesitate.
This is the difficulty that sticks with the most reasonable--
9. To be stopped or hindered from proceeding; as, a bill passed the senate, but stuck in the house of representatives.
They never doubted the commons; but heard all stuck in the lords house.
10. To be embarrassed or puzzled.
They will stick long at part of a demonstration, for want of perceiving the connection between two ideals.
11. To adhere closely in friendship and affection.
There is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother. Proverbs 18:24.
To stick to, to adhere closely; to be constant; to be firm; to be persevering; as, to stick to a party or cause.
The advantage will be on our side, if we stick to its essentials.
To stick by,
1. To adhere closely; to be constant; to be firm in supporting.
We are your only friends; stick by us, and we will stick by you.
2. To be troublesome by adhering.
I am satisfied to trifle away my time, rather than let it stick by me.
To stick upon, to dwell upon; not to forsake.
If the matter be knotty, the mind must stop and buckle to it, and stick upon it with labor and thought. [Not elegant.]
To stick out, to project; to be prominent.
His bones that were not seen, stick out. Job 33:21.
STICKINESS, n. [from stick.] The quality of a thing which makes it adhere to a plane surface; adhesiveness; viscousness; glutinousness; tenacity; as the tenacity of glue or paste.
STICKLE, v.i. [from the practice of prize-fighters, who placed seconds with staves or sticks to interpose occasionally.]
1. To take part with one side or other.
Fortune, as she wont, turnd fickle, and for the foe began to stickle.
2. To contend; to contest; to altercate. Let the parties stickle each for his favority doctrine.
3. To trim; to play fast and loose; to pass from one side to the other.
STICKLE, v.t. To arbitrate. [Not in use.]
STICKLE-BACK, n. A small fish of the genus Gasterosteus, of several species. The common species seldom grows to the length of two inches.
STICKLER, n.
1. A sidesman to fencers; a second to a duelist; one who stands to a judge a combat.
Basilius the judge, appointed sticklers and trumpets whom the others should obey.
2. An obstinate contender about any thing; as a stickler for the church of for liberty.
The tory or high church clergy were the greatest sticklers against the exorbitant proceedings of king James.
3. Formerly, an officer who cut wood for the priory of Ederose, within the kings parks of Clarendon.
STICKLING, ppr. Trimming; contending obstinately or eagerly.
STICKY, a. Having the quality of adhering to a surface; adhesive; gluey; viscous; viscid; glutinous; tenacious. Gums and resins are sticky substances.
STIDDY, n. An anvil; also, a smiths shop. [Not in use or local.]
STIFF, a. [Gr.]
1. Not easily bent; not flexible or pliant; not flaccid; rigid; applicable to any substance; as stiff wood; stiff paper; cloth stiff with starch; a limb stiff with frost.
They, rising on stiff pinions, tower the mid aerial sky.
2. Not liquid or fluid; thick and tenacious; inspissated; not soft nor hard. Thus melted metals grow stiff as they cool; they are stiff before they are hard. The paste is too stiff, or not stiff enough.
3. Strong; violent; impetuous in motion; as in seamens language, a stiff gale or breeze.
4. Hardy; stubborn; not easily subdued.
How stiff is my vile sense!
5. Obstinate; pertinacious; firm in perseverance or resistance.
It is a shame to stand stiff in a foolish argument.
A war ensues; the Cretans own their cause, stiff to defend their hospitable laws.
6. Harsh; formal; constrained; not natural and easy; as a stiff formal style.
7. Formal in manner; constrained; affected; starched; not easy or natural; as stiff behavior.
The French are open, familiar and talkative; the Italians stiff, ceremonious and reserved.
8. Strongly maintained, or asserted with good evidence.
This is stiff news.
9. In seamens language, a stiff vessel is one that will bear sufficient sail without danger of oversetting.
STIFFEN, v.t.
1. To make stiff; to make less pliant or flexible; as, to stiffen cloth with starch.
He stiffened his neck and hardened his heart from turning to the Lord God of Israel. 2 Chronicles 36:13.
Stiffen the sinews; summon up the blood.
2. To make torpid; as stiffening grief.
3. To inspissate; to make more thick or viscous; as, to stiffen paste.
STIFFEN, v.i.
1. To become stiff; to become more rigid or less flexible.
--Like bristles rose my stiffning hair.
2. To become more thick, or less soft; to be inspissated; to approach to hardness; as, melted substances stiffen as they cool.
The tender soil then stiffning by degrees--
3. To become less susceptible of impression; to become less susceptible of impression; to become less tender or yielding; to grow more obstinate.
Some souls, we see, grow hard and stiffen with adversity.
STIFFENING, ppr. Making or becoming less pliable, or more thick, or more obstinate.
STIFFENING, n. Something that is used to make a substance more stiff or less soft.
STIFF-HEARTED, a. [stiff and heart.] Obstinate; stubborn; contumacious.
They are impudent children and stiff-hearted. Ezekiel 2:4.
STIFFLY, adv.
1. Firmly; strongly; as the boughs of a tree stiffly upheld.
2. Rigidly; obstinately; with stubbornness. The doctrine of the infallibility of the church of Rome is stiffly maintained by its adherents.
STIFF-NECKED, a. [stiff and neck.] Stubborn; inflexibly obstinate; contumacious; as a stiff-necked people; stiff-necked pride.
STIFFNESS, n.
1. Rigidness; want of pliableness or flexibility; the firm texture or state of a substance which renders it difficult to bend it; as the stiffness or iron or wood; the stiffness of a frozen limb.
2. Thickness; spissitude; a state between softness and hardness; as the stiffness of sirup, paste, size or starch.
3. Torpidness; inaptitude to motion.
An icy stiffness benumbs my blood.
4. Tension; as the stiffness of a cord.
5. Obstinacy; stubbornness; contumaciousness.
The vices of old age have the stiffness of it too.
Stiffness of mind is not from adherence to truth, but submission to prejudice.
6. Formality of manner; constraint; affected precision.
All this religion sat easily upon him, without stiffness and constraint.
7. Rigorousness; harshness.
But speak no word to her of these sad plights, which her too constant stiffness doth constrain.
8. Affected or constrained manner of expression or writing; want of natural simplicity and ease; as stiffness of style.
STIFLE, v.t. [L., stiff and stop. Gr.]
1. To suffocate; to stop the breath or action of the lungs by crowding something into the windpipe, or by infusing a substance into the lungs, or by other means; to choke; as, to stifle one with smoke or dust.
2. To stop; as, to stifle the breath; to stifle respiration.
3. To oppress; to stop the breath temporarily; as, to stifle one with kisses; to be stifled in a close room or with bad air.
4. To extinguish; to deaden; to quench; as, to stifle flame; to stifle a fire by smoke or by ashes.
5. To suppress; to hinder from transpiring or spreading; as, to stifle a report.
6. To extinguish; to check or restrain and destroy; to suppress; as, to stifle a civil war in its birth.
7. To suppress or repress; to conceal; to withhold from escaping or manifestation; as, to stifle passion; to stifle grief; to stifle resentment.
8. To suppress; to destroy; as, to stifle convictions.
STIFLE, n.
1. The joint of a horse next to the buttock, and corresponding to the knee in man; called also the stifle joint.
2. A disease in the knee-pan of a horse or other animal.
STIGMA, n. [L., Gr., to prick or stick.]
1. A brand; a mark made with a burning iron.
2. Any mark of infamy; any reproachful conduct which stains the purity or darkens the luster of reputation.
3. In botany, the top of the pistil, which is moist and pubescent to detain and burst the pollen or prolific powder.
STIGMATA, n. plu. The apertures in the bodies of insects, communicating with the trachea or air-vessels.
STIGMATIC, STIGMATICAL, a.
1. Marked with a stigma, or with something reproachful to character.
2. Impressing with infamy or reproach.
STIGMATIC, n.
1. A notorious profligate, or criminal who has been branded. [Little used.]
2. One who bears about him the marks of infamy or punishment. [Little used.]
3. One on whom nature has set a mark of deformity. [Little used.]
STIGMATICALLY, adv. With a mark of infamy or deformity.
STIGMATIZE, v.t.
1. To mark with a brand; in a literal sense; as, the ancients stigmatized their slaves and soldiers.
2. To set a mark of disgrace on; to disgrace with some not of reproach or infamy.
To find virtue extolled and vice stigmatized--
Sour enthusiasts affect to stigmatize the finest and most elegant authors, ancient and modern, as dangerous to religion.
STIGMATIZED, pp. Marked with disgrace.
STIGMATIZING, ppr. Branding with infamy.
STILAR, a. [from stile.] Pertaining to the stile of a dial.
Draw a line for the stiler line.
STILBITE, n. [Gr., to shine.] A mineral of a shining pearly luster, of a white color, or white shaded with gray, yellow or red. It has been associated with zeolite, and called foliated zeolite, and radiated zeolite. Werner and the French mineralogists divide zeolite into two kinds, mesotype and stilbite; the latter is distinguished by its lamellar structure.
STILE, n. [This is another spelling of style. See Style and Still.] A pin set on the face of a dial to form a shadow.
Erect the stile perpendicularly over the substilar line, so as to make an angle with the dial-plane equal to the elevation of the pole of your place.
STILE, n. [G. See Stair.] A step or set of steps for ascending and descending, in passing a fence or wall.
STILETTO, n. [See Style.] A small dagger with a round pointed blade.
STILL, v.t. [G., to put, set, place, Gr., to send, and with style, stool, stall.]
1. To stop, as motion or agitation; to check or restrain; to make quiet; as, to still the raging sea.
2. T stop, as noise; to silence.
With his name the mothers still their babes.
3. To appease; to calm; to quiet; as tumult, agitation or excitement; as, to still the passions.
STILL, a.
1. Silent; uttering no sound; applicable to animals or to things. The company or the man is still; the air is still; the sea is still.
2. Quiet; calm; not disturbed by noise; as a still evening.
3. Motionless; as, to stand still; to lie or sit still.
4. Quiet; calm; not agitated; as a still atmosphere.
STILL, n. Calm; silence; freedom from noise; as the still of midnight. [A poetic word.]
STILL, adv.
1. To this time; till now.
It hath been anciently reported, and is still received. [Still here denotes this time; set or fixed.]
2. Nevertheless; notwithstanding.
The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private.
[Still here signifies set, given, and refers to the whole of the first clause of the sentence. The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; that fact being given or set, or notwithstanding, he is afraid, etc.]
3. It precedes or accompanies words denoting increase of degree.
The moral perfections of the Deity, the more attentively we consider them, the more perfectly still shall we know them.
[This is not correct.]
4. Always; ever; continually.
Trade begets trade, and people go much where many people have already gone; so men run still to a crowd in the streets, though only to see.
The fewer still you name, you wound the more.
5. After that; after what is stated.
In the primitive church, such as by fear were compelled to sacrifice to strange gods, after repented, and kept still the office of preaching the gospel.
6. In continuation.
And, like the watchful minutes to the hour, still and anon cheerd up the heavy time.
STILL, n. [L., to drop. See Distill.] A vessel, boiler or copper used in the distillation of liquors; as vapor ascending of the still. The word is used in a more general sense for the vessel and apparatus. A still house is also called a still.
STILL, v.t. [L.] To expel spirit from liquor by heat and condense it in a refrigeratory; to distill. [See Distill.]
STILL, v.i. To drop. [Not in use. See Distill.]
STILLATITIOUS, a. [L.] Falling in drops; drawn by a still.
STILLATORY, n.
1. An alembic; a vessel for distillation. [Little used or not at all.]
2. A laboratory; a place or room in which distillation is performed. [Little used.]
STILL-BORN, a. [still and born.]
1. Dead at the birth; as a still-born child.
2. Abortive; as a still-born poem.
STILL-BURN, v.t. [still and burn.] To burn in the process of distillation; as, to still-burn brandy.
STILLED, pp. [See Still, the verb.] Calmed; appeased; quieted; silenced.
STILLER, n. One who stills or quiets.
STILLICIDE, n. [L., a drop, to fall.] A continual falling or succession of drops. [Not much used.]
STILLICIDIOUS, a. Falling in drops.
STILLING, ppr. Calming; silencing; quieting.
STILLING, n.
1. The act of calming, silencing or quieting.
2. A stand for casks. [Not used in America.]
STILL-LIFE, n. [still and life.]
1. Things that have only vegetable life.
2. Dead animals, or paintings representing the dead.
STILLNESS, n.
1. Freedom from noise or motion; calmness; quiet; silence; as the stillness of the night, the air or the sea.
2. Freedom from agitation or excitement; as the stillness of the passions.
3. Habitual silence; taciturnity.
The gravity and stillness of your youth, the world hath noted.
STILL-STAND, n. Absence of motion. [Little used.]
STILLY, adv.
1. Silently; without noise.
2. Calmly; quietly; without tumult.
STILPNOSIDERITE, n. [Gr., shining, and siderite.] A mineral of a brownish black color, massive, in curving concretions, splendent and resinous.
STILT, n. [G.] A stilt is a piece of wood with a shoulder, to support the foot in walking. Boys sometimes use stilts for raising their feet above the mud in walking, but they are rarely seen.
Men must not walk upon stilts.
STILT, v.t.
1. To raise on stilts; to elevate.
2. To raise by unnatural means.
STIMULANT, a. [L.] Increasing or exciting action, particularly the action of the organs of an animal body; stimulating.
STIMULANT, n. A medicine that excites and increases the action of the moving fibers or organs of an animal body.
STIMULATE, v.t. [L., to prick, to goad, to excite; a goad.] Literally, to prick or goad. Hence,
1. To excite, rouse or animate to action or more vigorous exertion by some pungent motive or by persuasion; as, to stimulate one by the hope of reward, or by the prospect of glory.
2. In medicine, to excite or increase the action of the moving fibers or organs of an animal body; as, to stimulate a torpid limb; or to stimulate the stomach and bowels.
STIMULATED, pp. Goaded; roused or excited to action or more vigorous exertion.
STIMULATING, ppr. Goading; exciting to action or more vigorous exertion.
STIMULATION, n.
1. The act of goading or exciting.
2. Excitement; the increased action of the moving fibers or organs in animal bodies.
STIMULATIVE, a. Having the quality of exciting action in the animal system.
STIMULATIVE, n. That which stimulates; that which rouses into more vigorous action; that which excites.
STIMULATOR, n. One that stimulates.
STIMULUS, n. [L. This word may be formed on the root of stem, a shoot.] Literally, a goad; hence, something that rouses from languor; that which excites or increases action in the animal system, as a stimulus in medicine; or that which rouses the mind or spirits; as, the hope of gain is a powerful stimulus to labor and action.
STING, v.t. pret. and pp. stung. Stang is obsolete. [G., to stick, to sting. We see that sting, is stick altered in orthography and pronunciation.]
1. To pierce with the sharp pointed instrument with which certain animals are furnished, such as bees, wasps, scorpions and the like. Bees will seldom sting persons, unless they are first provoked.
2. To pain acutely; as, the conscience is stung with remorse.
Slander stings the brave.
STING, n.
1. A sharp pointed weapon or instrument which certain animals are armed by nature for their defense, and which they thrust from the hinder part of the body to pierce any animal that annoys or provokes them. In most instances, this instrument is a tube, through which a poisonous matter is discharged, which inflames the flesh, and in some instances proves fatal to life.
2. The thrust of a sting into the flesh. The sting of most insects produces acute pain.
3. Any thing that gives acute pain. Thus we speak of the stings of remorse; the stings of reproach.
4. The point in the last verse; as the sting of an epigram.
5. That which gives the principal pain, or constitutes the principal terror.
The sting of death is sin. 1 Corinthians 15:56.
STINGER, n. That which stings, vexes or gives acute pain.
STINGILY, adv. [from stingy.] With mean covetousness; in a niggardly manner.
STINGINESS, n. [from stingy.] Extreme avarice; mean covetousness; niggardliness.
STINGLESS, a. [from sting.] Having no sting.
STINGO, n. [from the sharpness of the taste.] Old beer. [A cant word.]
STINGY, a. [from straitness.]
1. Extremely close and covetous; meanly avaricious; niggardly; narrow hearted; as a stingy churl. [A word in popular use, but low and not admissible into elegant writing.]
STINK, v.i. pret. stand or stunk. To emit a strong offensive smell.
STINK, n. A strong offensive smell.
STINKARD, n. A mean paltry fellow.
STINKER, n. Something intended to offend by the smell.
STINKING, ppr. Emitting a strong offensive smell.
STINKINGLY, adv. With an offensive smell.
STINKPOT, n. An artificial composition offensive to the smell.
STINKSTONE, n. Swinestone, a variety of compact lucullite; a subspecies of limestone.
STINT, v.t. [Gr., narrow.]
1. To restrain within certain limits; to bound; to confine; to limit; as, to stint the body in growth; to stint the mind in knowledge; to stint a person in his meals.
Nature wisely stints our appetite.
2. To assign a certain task in labor, which being performed, the person is excused from further labor for the day, or for a certain time; a common popular use of the word in America.
STINT, n. A small bird, the Tringa cinctus.
STINT, n.
1. Limit; bound; restraint.
2. Quantity assigned; proportion allotted. The workmen have their stint.
Our stint of woe is common.
STINTANCE, n. Restraint; stoppage. [Not used or local.]
STINTED, pp. Restrained to a certain limit or quantity; limited.
STINTER, n. He or that which stints.
STINTING, ppr. Restraining within certain limits; assigning a certain quantity to; limiting.
STIPE, n. [L.; Gr., a stake.] In botany, the base of a frond; or a species of stem passing into leaves, or not distinct from the leaf. The stem of a fungus is also called stipe. The word is also used for the filament or slender stalk which supports the pappus or down, and connects it with the seed.
STIPEL, n. [See Stipula.] In botany, a little appendix situated at the base of the follicles.
STIPEND, n. [L., a piece of money; to pay.] Settled pay or compensation for services, whether daily or monthly wages; or an annual salary.
STIPEND, v.t. To pay by settled wages.
STIPENDIARY, a. [L.] Receiving wages or salary; performing services for a stated price or compensation.
His great stipendiary prelates came with troops of evil appointed horsemen not half full.
STIPENDIARY, n. [supra.] One who performs services for a settled compensation, either by the day, month or year.
If thou art become a tyrants vile stipendiary--
STIPITATE, a. [See Stipe.] In botany, supported by a stipe; elevated on a stipe; as pappus or down.
STIPPLE, v.t. To engrave by means of dots, in distinction from engraving in lines.
STIPPLED, pp. Engraved with dots.
STIPPLING, ppr. Engraving with dots.
STIPPLING, n. A mode of engraving on copper by means of dots.
STIPTIC. [See Styptic.]
STIPULA, STIPULE, n. [L., a straw or stubble.] In botany, a scale at the base of nascent petioles or peduncles. Stipules are in pairs or solitary; they are lateral, extrafoliaceous, intrafoliaceous, etc. A leafy appendage to the proper leaves or to their footstalks; commonly situated at the base of the latter, in pairs.
STIPULACEOUS, STIPULAR, a. [L. See Stipula.]
1. Formed of stipules or scales; as a stipular bud.
2. Growing on stipules, or close to them; as stipular glands.
STIPULATE, v.i. [L., to crowd; whence the sense of agreement, binding, making fast.]
1. To make an agreement or covenant with any person or company to do or forbear any thing; to contract; to settle terms; as, certain princes stipulated to assist each other in resisting the armies of France. Great Britain and the United States stipulate to oppose and restrain the African slave trade. A has stipulated to build a bridge within a given time. B has stipulated not to annoy or interdict our trade.
2. To bargain. A has stipulated to deliver me his horse for fifty guineas.
STIPULATE, a. [from stipual.] Having stipules on it; as a stipulate stalk.
STIPULATED, pp. Agreed; contracted; covenanted. It was stipulated that Great Britain should retain Gibraltar.
STIPULATING, ppr. Agreeing; contracting; bargaining.
STIPULATION, n. [L.]
1. The act of agreeing and covenanting; a contracting or bargaining.
2. An agreement or covenant made by one person with another for the performance or forbearance of some act; a contract or bargain; as the stipulations of the allied powers to furnish each his contingent of troops.
3. In botany, the situation and structure of the stipules.
STIPULATOR, n. One who stipulates, contracts or covenants.
STIPULE. [See Stipula.]
STIR, v.t. stur. [G., to stir, to disturb.]
1. To move; to change place in any manner.
My foot I had never yet in five days been able to stir.
2. To agitate; to bring into debate.
Stir on the questions of jurisdiction.
3. To incite to action; to instigate; to prompt.
An Ate stirring him to blood and strife.
4. To excite; to raise; to put into motion.
And for her sake some mutiny will stir.
To stir up,
1. To incite; to animate; to instigate by inflaming passions; as, to stir up a nation to rebellion.
The words of Judas were good and able to stir them up to valor. 2 Maccabees 15:17.
2. To excite; to put into action; to begin; as, to stir up a mutiny or insurrection; to stir up strife.
3. To quicken; to enliven; to make more lively or vigorous; as, to stir up the mind.
4. To disturb; as, to stir up the sediment of liquor.
STIR, v.i. stur.
1. To move ones self. He is not able to stir.
2. To go or be carried in any manner. He is not able to stir from home, or to stir abroad.
3. To be in motion; not to be still. He is continually stirring.
4. To become the object of notice or conversation.
They fancy they have a right to talk freely upon every thing that stirs or appears.
5. To rise in the morning. [Colloquial.]
STIR, n.
1. Agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements.
Why all these words, this clamor and this stir?
Consider, after so much stir about the genus and species, how few words ave yet settled definitions.
2. Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar.
Being advertised of some stir raised by his unnatural sons in England, he departed from Ireland without a blow.
3. Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.
STIRIATED, a. [L., an icicle.] Adorned with pendants like icicles.
STIRIOUS, a. [supra.] Resembling icicles. [Not much used.]
STIRK, n. A young ox or heifer. [Local.]
STIRP, n. sturp. [L.] Stock; race; family. [Not English.]
STIRRED, pp. Moved; agitated; put in action.
STIRRER, n.
1. One who is in motion.
2. One who puts in motion.
3. A riser in the morning.
4. An inciter or exciter; an instigator.
5. A stirrer up, an exciter; an instigator.
STIRRING, ppr. Moving; agitating; putting in motion.
STIRRING, n. [supra.] The act of moving or putting in motion.
STIRRUP, n. sturup. [G., step-bow or mounting-bow. The first stirrups appear to have been ropes.] A kind of ring or bending piece of metal, horizontal on one side for receiving the foot of the rider, and attached to a strap which is fastened to the saddle; used to assist persons in mounting a horse, and to enable them to sit steadily in riding, as well as to relieve them by supporting a part of the weight of the body.
STIRRUP-LETHER, n. A strap that supports a stirrup.
STITCH, v.t. [G. This is another form of stick.]
1. To sew in a particular manner; to sew slightly or loosely; as, to stitch a collar or wristband; to stitch the leaves of a book and form a pamphlet.
2. To form land into ridges. [N. England.]
To stitch up, to mend or unite with a needle and thread; as, to stitch up a rent; to stitch up an artery.
STITCH, v.i. To practice stitching.
STITCH, n.
1. A single pass of a needle in sewing.
2. A single turn of the thread round a needle in knitting; a link of yarn; as, to let down a stitch; to take up a stitch.
3. A land; the space between two double furrows in plowed ground.
4. A local spasmodic pain; an acute lancing pain, like the piercing of a needle; as a stitch in the side.