astir

English

Etymology

a- +‎ stir

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈstɜː(ɹ)/

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• 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, Boston: Roberts Brothers, 1866, p. 205,^[1]

     For in quick spring the sap is all astir.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, New York: Del Rey, 1992, Chapter 7, p. 103,^[2]

     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, Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, Chapter 11, p. 332,^[3]

     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.
   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, Part 1, Chapter 12, p. 115,^[4]

     Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir,

Anagrams

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