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STIR

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stir¹

  • /stɜː/ Australia, UK
  • /stɝ/ US
  • /stɪr/ Scotland
  • /støː/ New Zealand
  • /steː/
  • /stɛː/
  • /stɜː(ɹ)/
  • /stɪr/ Early Modern
  • /stʊr/ Early Modern

Sounds like stair, stare (both fair–fur merger) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)

Where it comes from

Etymology tree

Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH-

Proto-Indo-European *(s)twr̥H-yé-ti?

Proto-Germanic *sturjaną

Proto-West Germanic *sturjan

Old English styrian

Middle English stiren

English stir

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”).

verb stirs · stirring · stirred · stir

  1. transitive To disturb the relative position of the particles (of a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it. She stirred the pudding with a spoon.
  2. transitive To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it. Would you please stir this pot so that the chocolate doesn't burn?
  3. transitive To emotionally affect; to touch, to move. 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?
  4. transitive To incite to action. An Ate, stirring him to bloud and strife […]
  5. transitive To bring into debate; to agitate. 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.
  6. obsolete, transitive To disturb, to disrupt. 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.
  7. dated, transitive To change the place of in any manner; to move. […] 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.
  8. intransitive To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position. 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[…]
  9. intransitive Of a feeling or emotion: to rise, begin to be felt. That night he was almost too happy to sleep, and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst.
  10. intransitive To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy oneself. All are not fit with them to stir and toil.
  11. intransitive To rise from sleep or unconsciousness. “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 a

noun stirs

  1. countable, uncountable The act or result of stirring (moving around the particles of a liquid etc.) Can you give the soup a little stir?
  2. countable, uncountable agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements. 1668, John Denham, Of Prudence (poem). Why all these words, this clamour, and this stir?
  3. countable, uncountable Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar. Being advertised of some stirs raised by his unnatural sons in England.
  4. countable, uncountable Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.

stir²

  • /stɜː/ Australia, UK
  • /stɝ/ US
  • /stɪr/ Scotland
  • /støː/ New Zealand
  • /steː/
  • /stɛː/
  • /stɜː(ɹ)/
  • /stɪr/ Early Modern
  • /stʊr/ Early Modern

Sounds like stair, stare (both fair–fur merger) · Rhymes with -ɜː(ɹ)

Where it comes from

From Romani stariben (“prison”), nominalisation of (a)star (“seize”), causative of ast (“remain”), probably from Sanskrit आतिष्ठति (ātiṣṭhati, “stand or remain by”), from तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati, “stand”).

noun stirs

  1. countable, slang, uncountable Jail; prison. He's going to be spending maybe ten years in stir.

STIR³

noun STIRs

  1. abbreviation, acronym Acronym of short-term interest rate, often referring to a short-term interest rate future or option.short-term interest rate

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