stir

Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary

Contents 1 English 1.1 Pronunciation 1.2 Etymology 1 1.2.1 Verb 1.2.1.1 Usage notes 1.2.1.2 Synonyms 1.2.1.3 Derived terms 1.2.1.4 Translations 1.2.2 Noun 1.2.2.1 Translations 1.3 Etymology 2 1.3.1 Noun

[edit] English

[edit] Pronunciation

• RP, IPA: /stɜː/
• Gen Am, IPA: /stɜːr/
•  Audio (US)^{help, file}
• Rhymes: -ɜː(r)

[edit] Etymology 1

From Old English styrian

[edit] Verb

to stir (third-person singular simple present stirs, present participle stirring, simple past and past participle stirred)

1. (transitive) To change the place of in any manner; to move.

   My foot I had never yet in five days been able to stir. —Sir William Temple

2. (transitive) To disturb the relative position of the particles of, as of a liquid, by passing something through it; to agitate

   She stired a pudding with a spoon.

   My mind is troubled, like a fountain stirred. —Shakespeare

3. (transitive) To bring into debate; to agitate; to moot.

   Stir not questions of jurisdiction. —Francis Bacon

4. (transitive) To incite to action; to arouse; to instigate; to prompt; to excite.

   To stir men to devotion. —Chaucer

   An Ate, stirring him to blood and strife. —Shakespeare

   And for her sake some mutiny will stir. —John Dryden.

5. (intransitive) To move; to change one’s position.

   I had not power to stir or strive, But felt that I was still alive. —Byron.

6. (intransitive) To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy one's self.

   All are not fit with them to stir and toil. —Byron.

   The friends of the unfortunate exile, far from resenting his unjust suspicions, were stirring anxiously in his behalf. — Charles Merivale.

7. (intransitive) To become the object of notice; to be on foot.

   They fancy they have a right to talk freely upon everything that stirs or appears. —Isaac Watts.

8. (intransitive, poetic) To rise, or be up, in the morning. —Shakespeare

[edit] Usage notes

• In all transitive senses except the first, stir is often followed by up with an intensive effect; as, to stir up fire; to stir up sedition.

[edit] Synonyms

• (to move): incite; awaken; rouse; animate; stimulate; excite; provoke.

[edit] Derived terms

• stirrer
• stir-fry
• stir up

[edit] Translations

[edit] Noun

stir (countable and uncountable; plural stirs)

1. The act or result of stirring; agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements.

   Why all these words, this clamor, and this stir? — Sir John Denham.

   Consider, after so much stir about genus and species, how few words we have yet settled definitions of. —John Locke.

2. Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar.

   Being advertised of some stirs raised by his unnatural sons in England. —Sir John Davies.

3. Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.

[edit] Translations

[edit] Etymology 2

This definition is lacking an etymology or has an incomplete etymology. You can help Wiktionary by giving it a proper etymology.

[edit] Noun

stir (uncountable)

1. (slang) Jail; prison.

   He's going to spendin' maybe ten years in stir.