stile, n.1
Forms:
Old English stigel, stigol, stihl, stiogol, Middle English stighele, Middle English steyl(e, style, 1500s steelle, stele, styile, styill, styll, 1600s steele, steill, stiele, 1800s dialect steel(e, stele, Middle English– stile.(Show Less)
Frequency (in current use):
Show frequency band information
Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.
Etymology: Old English stigel strong feminine, corresponding to Old High German stigilla weak feminine (Middle High German stiegele ), < Germanic root *stῑg- to climb: see sty v.1
a. An arrangement of steps, rungs, or the like, contrived to allow passage over or through a fence to one person at a time, while forming a barrier to the passage of sheep or cattle. Cf. turnstile n.church, kirk stile: see the first element.
c779 Grant by Offa in Birch Cartul. Sax. I. 326
Of þam seaðe in þa ealdan stihle.
a900 Wærferth tr. Gregory's Dial. 24
Hi þa becomon to þære stigole, þær se þeof oferstah in ðone wyrttun.
1304 in Catal. Anc. Deeds
(1894)
II. 390
[Land called] Stothamstighele.
c1386 G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale 384
Right as they wolde han troden ouer a stile An oold man and a poure with hem mette.
1430–40 J. Lydgate tr. Bochas Fall of Princes
(1558)
viii. Prol. 1
Halfe within and half ouer the stile.
c1460 Oseney Reg. 116
Sauyng to þe same Roger and to his heyres A pathe þorowgh þe middull of þe same close fro þe stile of þe forsaide church.
1470–85 T. Malory Morte d'Arthur i. iii–v. 41
So whan he cam to the chircheyard sir Arthur aliȝt & tayed his hors to the style.
1536 Accts. St. John's Hosp., Canterbury (Canterbury Cathedral Archives: CCA-U13/4)
Payd..for makyng off a stele & a gate.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry
(new ed.)
f. 44v
Saue step for a stile, of the crotch of the bough.
1601 in Court Leet Rec. Manch.
(1885)
II. 168
Robert Langley shall..sett two steeles..in the syde of Asheley ffields.
1661 Reg. Great Seal Scotl. 19/1
Going downe ane march balk betwixt Ernslaw and Swyntoun~mylne style till you come to the old trouch of Leit.
1726 J. Swift Gulliver I. ii. i. 8
There was a Stile to pass from this Field into the next.
1763 I. Bickerstaff Love in Village i. ix, Scene ix
A field with a stile.
1827 Hone's Every-day Bk. II. 905
Stiles and fieldpaths are vanishing everywhere.
1847 G. P. R. James Convict iv
They soon reached the wall, over which they passed by a stone style.
1866 A. Trollope Belton Estate I. iii. 83
Getting over stiles and through gates.
1898 J. Paton Castlebraes 28
I..set my foot upon a style to step over into the public roadway.
c779—1898(Hide quotations)
b. In figurative phrases.
a1352 L. Minot Poems i. 88
All þai stumbilde at þat stile.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue i. xi. sig. E
To helpe a dogge ouer a style.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. ix. sig. Liiv
Ye wolde be ouer the style, or ye come at it.
1575 Abp. M. Parker Let. 18 Feb. in Corr.
(1853)
(modernized text)
472
What is meant, but to go over the stile where it is lowest?
1598 J. Florio Worlde of Wordes
The retainer doth some seruice, that now and then..lendes a hande ouer a stile.
1639 S. Du Verger tr. J.-P. Camus Admirable Events 112
He resolved to leape that stile, and take her to his wife.
1659 T. Burton Diary
(1828)
IV. 316
I would have it understood whether we confirm it as a law, or help a lame dog over a stile.
1675 V. Alsop Anti-Sozzo 302
He lifted him over the Style with this.
1692 Christ Exalted 105
Now to help him over this stile, he troubles the Bishop.
1857 C. Kingsley Two Years Ago III. vii. 197
‘I can..help a lame dog over a stile’ (which was Mark's phrase for doing a generous thing).
1884 Manch. Examiner 20 May 5/1
It is a mere working arrangement; a lift over the stile at a crisis of some importance to the party.
a1352—1884(Hide quotations)
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
stile-board n.
1891 T. Hardy Tess of the D'Urbervilles I. xii. 155
The lichened stile-boards.
1891—1891(Hide quotations)
stile-post n.
1743 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandman Oct. xxi. 126
By..spurring up a Gate, or Stile-Post, before they are quite damaged, he may [etc.].
1743—1743(Hide quotations)
stile-step n.
1844 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm II. 65
The stell is entered by stile-steps over the wall.
1844—1844(Hide quotations)
stile-way n.
1751 R. Paltock Life Peter Wilkins I. xii. 108
Leaving only a Door-way on one Side, between two Stems of a Tree, which, dividing in the Trunk, at about two Feet from the Ground, grew from thence, for the rest of its Height, as if the Branches were a Couple of Trees a little distant from one another, which made a Sort of Stile-way to my Room.
1751—1751(Hide quotations)
C2.
stile-boot n. (see quot. 1828).
1828 W. Carr Dial. Craven
(ed. 2)
Steel-boot, wood claimed of the Lord, by an owner of lands, within certain manors, for making a stile.
1828—1828(Hide quotations)
