stithy, n.
(ˈstɪðɪ)
Forms: α. 3–4 steþi, 4 stethie, 4–5 stiþi, 4 stithi, 4–7 stithie, 5–6 stethy, stythy(e, 6 stythie, (5 styhthy, 6 stethye, stithye, 7 stythe), 7– stithy; β. chiefly Sc. and north. 4–6 stedy, 5 stedye, 6 steddye, -ie, stedee, steadie, 9 steddy, steady; 6 styd(d)y, styddie, stidhy, 6, 9 stiddie, 7– stiddy; γ. only Sc. and north. 5–6, 8–9 study, 6, 8–9 studdie, 6–9 studdy, (6 stude, studie, 9 stoddy).
[a. ON. steði wk. masc. (accus. steðja):—prehistoric *staþjan-, f. Teut. root *sta- to stand.
Normally the ON. steði should become *steþe in ME. This is represented by stith n., most of the forms of which, however, show irregular vowel-change. The disyllabic forms here may be compared with those of smithy from ON. smiðja wk. fem.]
1. An anvil.
| α 1295 MS. Exch. Acc. 5/8 Et viij d. in uno stithi et stithistok portando..usque ad placeam galee. a 1300 Cursor M. 23237 Als it war dintes on a steþi þat smythes smittes in a smeþey. c 1340 Nominale (Skeat) 507 Tenailes enclume et fow, tonges stethie and bely. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxviii. (Adrian) 454, 457 Þe emperoure..gert bryng hyme a gret steþi. sone þai sanctis..to þe stedy brocht wes þane.. & gert þar theis brokine be sa smal [etc.]. c 1423 Inv. in Raine Abps. York (Rolls) III. 306 Pro j incude magna, vocata stethy, de ferro. 1483 Caxton Golden Leg. 288/4 He commanded to brynge forth an anuelt or a stythye. 1572 J. Bossewell Armorie ii. 123 b, The Anuild..is an auncient addycion of armory, and is called in ye Northerne tongue a Stethye. 1656 Trapp Comm. Mark vii. 33 The wise Lapidist brings not his softer stones to the stithy. 1662 Hibbert Body Divinity i. 108 Mans heart..like the stithy, is still the harder for beating. 1753 Chambers' Cycl. Suppl., App., Stithy, or Stuthy. 1812 Scott Rokeby i. xxxi, While on the stithy glows the steel. 1867 Carlyle Remin. (1881) II. 42 Well do I remember our return.., with the clink of Alick's stithy alone audible. 1870 Good Words Apr. 253/2 [A nail-shop] in which a..sharp young fellow..is shedding showers of ruddy sparks from his ‘stithy’, or small anvil. 1890 A. J. Armstrong Ingleside Musings 153 But hear the sang, the ringin' stithy sings. |
| fig. 1821 Scott Kenilw. xviii, ‘Let me sleep on that hard point,’ said Varney; ‘I cannot else perfect the device I have on the stithy.’ 1869 Lowell Fam. Epist. Friend 76 Let whoso likes be beat, poor fool, On life's hard stithy to a tool. |
| β c 1375 Stedy: see α. c 1425 Wyntoun Cron. i. v. 227 Iwball..wes the first þat musik fand, Wiþ hameris clynkand on a stedye [v.rr. stythy, study]. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. xi. 67 Five..citeis, Thar wapynnis to renew..Sett vp forgys and steyle stydyis fyne. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding viii. 387 Job saithe, Stetit cor eius sicut incus: His harte stoode as a steadie. 1583 B. Melbancke Philotimus T ij, The more you strike iron vpon the stidhy, the harder & tougher y⊇ iron is. 1868 Atkinson Cleveland Gloss., Stiddy, (often pr. stithy), an anvil. 1894 P. H. Hunter James Inwick x. 131 It was a waly hammer he swung, an'..whan he brocht it doun, he gart the stiddy dirl an' the sparks flee. 1902 Baring-Gould Nebo ii. 9 Each ‘jack’ has in it socket holes. Into one of these..the ‘steady’ is inserted, a slip of steel, upon which the worker places the white-hot end of his rod, and hammers it into shape. |
| γ c 1425 Study: see β. a 1500–20 Dunbar Poems xxxiii. 52 As blaksmyth bruikit was his pallatt, ffor battering at the study. 1583 Rec. Elgin (New Spalding Club 1903) I. 172 Ane battering studdy. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. 379/2 A Pewterers..Bossing Studdy, or Stiddy. 1785 Burns Scotch Drink xi, [He] Brings hard owrehip..The strong forehammer, Till block an' studdie ring an' reel. 1841 Hartshorne Salop. Ant. Gloss., Study, a small anvil used in manufacturing nails. 1864 J. Brown Jeems the Doorkeeper 18 You hear the ring of the blacksmith's study, you see the smoke of his forge. 1900 C. Murray Hamewith 17 But see him..in his smiddy, An' mark the thuds that shape the shoon, An' dint the very studdy. |
b. transf.| c 1620 A. Hume Brit. Tongue i. iv, The hammeres are the nether lip, the top of the tongue, and the midle tongue. The stiddles the overlip, the outward teeth, the inward teeth, and the roofe of the mouth. |
† 2. Anat. The anvil bone of the ear
= incus 1. (
Cf. anvil 3 b.)
Obs. rare.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man i. 11 This is the second Ossicle, called by the name of a stedy or anueld. 1615 Crooke Body of Man 592 Those two [bones of the ear] which are knowne by the names of the Anuill or the Stithy, and the Mallet or Hammer. |
3. A forge, smithy.
| α 1602 Shakes. Ham. iii. ii. 89 (1604 Qo.) My imaginations are as foule As Vulcans stithy. 1850 James Old Oak Chest I. 149 On this green, detached from all other houses, stood the stithy. 1876 Morris Sigurd iii. 178 When the day of the smith is ended and the stithy's fire dies out. |
| β a 1661 Fuller Worthies, Linc. (1662) 169 James Yorke a Blacksmith of Lincolne..is a Servant as well of Apollo as Vulcan, turning his Stiddy into a Study, having lately set forth a Book of Heraldry. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Stiddy, Stithy,..used sometimes..for the smith's shop. |
† 4. A disease incident to horses and oxen.
Obs.| 1600 Surflet Country Farm i. xxiii. 132 The stithie [orig. F. l'encueur] hapning to the oxe, being otherwise called a mallet or hammer, is knowen when the beast hath his haire standing vpright, [etc.]. 1611 Cotgr., Encueur, the Stithie; (a disease of horses, and cattell). Ibid., Marteau, a hammer..; also, the Stithie (a beasts disease). 1706 in Phillips; and in some later Dicts. |
5. attrib. and
Comb.: (sense 1) as
stithy-man,
stithy-work;
stithy-stock, the stock or base of an anvil.
| 1597 Bp. Hall Sat. ii. i. 27 The subtile *Stithy-man. 1295 *Stithistok [see 1]. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 305/2 Acmotheta,..the anuile or stithe stocke. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Stiddy-stock, a stand for an anvil. |
| 1839 Carlyle Chartism viii. 158 He had learned metallurgy, *stithy-work in general. |
Hence
† ˈstithy v. trans., to forge.
lit. and
fig.| c 1420 Wyclif Josh. Prol., Wite he me not in to repreuynge of oold men newe thingis to stithie [Vulg. sciat me non in reprehensionem veterum nova cudere]. 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. iv. v. 255 But by the forge that stythied Mars his helme, Ile kill thee euery where. |