stir
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /stɜː/
ipa: /stɝ/
ipa: /stɪr/
ipa: /støː/
note: Liverpool, fair–fur merger
ipa: /steː/
note: Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
ipa: /stɛː/
note: Lancashire, fair–fur merger
ipa: /stɜː(ɹ)/
ipa: /stɪr/
ipa: /stʊr/
rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)
homophone: stair
homophone: stare (both fair–fur merger)
Forms: form: stirs
form: stirring
form: stirred
form: stirred
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: stir
form: stir
form: stirred
form: stir
form: stirrest
form: stirred
form: stirredst
form: stirs
form: stirreth
form: stirred
form: stir
form: stirred
form: stir
form: stirred
form: stir
form: -
form: stirring
form: stirred
Etymology: From Middle English stiren, sturien, steren, from Old English styrian (“to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble”), from Proto-Germanic *sturiz (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), related to Proto-West Germanic *staurijan (“to destroy, disturb”). Cognate with Old Norse styrr (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), German stören (“to disturb”), Dutch storen (“to disturb”).
Senses: examples: text: She stirred the pudding with a spoon.
text: He stirred his coffee so the sugar wouldn't stay at the bottom.
text: My minde is troubled, like a Fountaine stir'd, / And I my selfe see not the bottome of it.
ref: 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act III, scene 3:
synonyms: agitate
glosses: To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it.
examples: text: Would you please stir this pot so that the chocolate doesn't burn?
glosses: To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it.
examples: text: And what delights can equal those
⁠That stir the spirit’s inner deeps,
⁠When one that loves but knows not, reaps
A truth from one that loves and knows?
ref: 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 64:
glosses: To emotionally affect; to touch, to move.
examples: text: An Ate, stirring him to bloud and strife […]
ref: c. 1595, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John, act I, scene 2:
text: The Soldiers love her Brother’s Memory; / And for her sake some Mutiny will stir.
ref: c. 1670, John Dryden, Tyrannick Love, or the Royal Martyr, III.1:
synonyms: word: arouse
word: instigate
word: prompt
word: excite
word: abet
word: actuate
word: goose
word: send
word: sting
word: bring about
word: cheer
word: drive
word: encourage
word: egg on
word: engender
word: evoke
word: excite
word: foment
word: goad
word: grill
word: ignite
word: impel
word: incite
word: induce
word: inflame
word: instigate
word: invoke
word: lash
word: motive
word: motivate
word: move
word: obligate
word: oblige
word: push
word: promote
word: prompt
word: provoke
word: rouse
word: set off
word: spark off
word: spur
word: spur on
word: stimulate
word: stir
word: stir up
word: stoke
word: tempt
word: urge
word: whet
word: whip up
glosses: To incite to action.
examples: text: Preserue the rights of thy place, but stirre not questions of Iurisdiction : and rather assume thy right in silence, and de facto, then voice it with claimes, and challenges.
ref: 1613, Francis Bacon, chapter 8, in The Essaies, London:
glosses: To bring into debate; to agitate.
examples: text: They ſay he is the King of Perſea.
But if he dare attempt to ſtir your ſiege,
Twere requiſite he ſhould be ten times more,
For all fleſh quakes at your magnificence.
ref: c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i:
glosses: To disturb, to disrupt.
examples: text: […] notwithstanding the swelling of my Foot, so that I had never yet in five days been able to stir it, but as it was lifted.
ref: 1677, Sir William Temple, “An Essay upon the Cure of Gout by Moxa”, in Miscellanea. The First Part, London, published 1705, page 209:
glosses: To change the place of in any manner; to move.
examples: text: And especially if they happen to have any superior character or possessions in this world, they fancy they have a right to talk freely upon everything that stirs or appears[…]
ref: 1741, Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind:
text: I had not strength to stir or strive, / But felt that I was still alive— […]
ref: 1816, Byron, The Prisoner of Chillon:
glosses: To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position.
examples: text: That night he was almost too happy to sleep, and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst.
ref: 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit:
text: Though as I said it, glibly, reassuringly, I knew that I lied, and a little snake of guilt stirred and began to uncoil slightly, guilt and its constant companion deceit.
ref: 1993, Susan Hill, Mrs de Winter, published 1999, page 54:
glosses: Of a feeling or emotion: to rise, begin to be felt.
examples: text: All are not fit with them to stir and toil.
ref: 1818, Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto III, stanza LXIX:
text: Meanwhile, the friends of the unfortunate exile, far from resenting his unjust suspicions, were stirring anxiously in his behalf.
ref: 1850, Charles Merivale, A History of the Romans under the Empire, volume 1:
glosses: To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy oneself.
examples: text: “Mid-Lent, and the Enemy grins,” remarked Selwyn as he started for church with Nina and the children. Austin, knee-deep in a dozen Sunday supplements, refused to stir; poor little Eileen was now convalescent from grippe, but still unsteady on her legs; her maid had taken the grippe, and now moaned all day: “Mon dieu! Mon dieu! Che fais mourir!”
ref: 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
synonyms: word: arise
word: get up
word: rouse
word: abraid
word: arise
word: arouse
word: awake
word: awaken
word: get up
word: rise
word: rouse
word: stir
word: wake
word: wake up
word: waken
glosses: To rise from sleep or unconsciousness.
Derived terms: word: bestir
word: overstir
word: stand and stir
word: stirabout
word: stirrable
word: stirrage
word: stirrer
word: unstirred
sense: Compound words
word: heart-stirring
sense: Compound words
word: shit-stir
sense: Compound words
word: shit-stirring
sense: Compound words
word: stir bar
sense: Compound words
word: stir-fry
sense: Compound words
word: stir one's stumps
sense: Compound words
word: stir plate
sense: Compound words
word: stir shit
sense: Compound words
word: stir someone's blood
sense: Compound words
word: stir the embers
sense: Compound words
word: stir the pot
sense: Compound words
word: stir up
sense: Compound words
word: stir up the animals
sense: Compound words
word: straw that stirs the drink