▪ I. stool, n.
(stuːl)
Forms: 1 stool, 1–2 stól, 3–4 stol, 4 stule, 4–7 stole (also 9 in sense 13), stoole, 5 stoll, 5–6 stolle, 6, 8 stoul, (6 stoule, -lle, stoale, stowle, stoel, north. stoile), 6–7 stowell, (stowll), 5– stool; Sc. 4–6 stule, 6 stuill, -yll, stwyll, stul(l, stwle, 7 stuile.
[Com. Teut.; OE. stól masc. = OS. stôl (Du. stoel), OHG., MHG. stuol (mod.G. stuhl), ON. stóll (Sw., Da. stol), Goth. stōl-s throne:—OTeut. *stōlo-z, prob. f. root *stō-: sta- to stand. Cf. OSl. stolŭ throne, seat.]
† 1. a. Any kind of seat for one person; often, a chair of authority, state, or office; esp. a royal or episcopal throne. (Hence occas. = see n.1 2 b.) Obs.
porphyry stool: cf. porphyry chair, porphyry 5 b.
| c 897 ælfred Gregory's Past. C. lvi. 435 Swa micle swa se bið beforan ðe on ðæm stole [L. cathedra] sitt ðæm oðrum ðe ðær ymb stondað. a 1000 Cædmon's Gen. 260 (Gr.) Wið þone hehstan heofnes wealdend, þe siteð on þam halᵹan stole. a 1100 Gerefa in Anglia (1886) IX. 264 Man sceal habban..sceamelas, stolas, læflas. c 1205 Lay. 12657 A þan daȝen at seint Pauwel wes þe ærchebiscop stol [c 1275 stolle]. Ibid. 24287 Þe biscop stole [c 1275 stol] wes at sein Aaron. ? a 1300 Shires England 13 in O.E. Misc., Þis bispryche wes hwylen two bispriche, þeo oþer stol wes at remmesbury. c 1320 Seuyn Sag. 1889 [The barber] set her on a stol,..And gan to smiten hire on the veyn, And sche bledde. 1375 Barbour Bruce ii. 151 The Bruce..raid to Scone, for to be set In kingis stole, and to be king. c 1375 Sc. Leg. Saints xxxiii. (George) 541 On þe morne gert he grathit be a stule in place of Iugment. 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. v, Suche persons as loven the first sittinges at feestes, the highest stoles in churches and in hal. a 1450 Knt. de la Tour xxiii. 33 Sethe y am come and must sitte, late me haue sum quyshon or a stole. 1535 Coverdale Ps. xciii. [xciv.] 20 Wilt thou haue eny thinge to do with the stole of wickednesse [1611 Bible, throne of iniquitie; Luther dem schädlichen Stuhl]. 1549 Allen Jude's Par. Rev. iv. 1 Gods stoole or seate in heauen sygnified the euerlastynge state and continuaunce of the power..of god. 1558–9 in J. W. Burgon Life Gresham (1839) I. iv. 248 Before the stoole of estate satt an other mayde. 1648 Milton Observ. Art. Peace Wks. 1851 IV. 568 In vain were the Bishops..forbid to sit..in the House, if these men..be permitted more license on their Presbyterial Stools. 1677 W. Hughes Man of Sin ii. xii. 227 How? Bring Paul to the Porph'ry Stool? |
| fig. phrases. 1565 T. Stapleton Fortr. Faith 27 If Scripture telleth vs it [i.e. the church] is at Wittenberg,..then the Ciuill Lutherans haue the church only: Caluin, Illyricus, Osiander, and all their adherents are put beside the stoole. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Familye of Loue B i b, Right discerning..commeth..by them that are set in the right place of iudgement by the Lord himselfe, and not by those that sitt on their owne stoole. 1818 Scott Br. Lamm. xxviii, He is an old man, and a minister of state... You had more need to think of making up to Miss Lucy Ashton the disgrace..than of interfering with a man too old to fight, and on too high a stool for your hand to reach him. |
† b. A church pew
Obs.| 1570 Minute-bk. Archdeaconry of Essex 5 b (MS.), He refusyth to syt in the stole where the church wardens do place him. 1616 Min. Archdeaconry of Colchester fol. 27 (MS.), A couple that came to be married, which, by..custome, should have sitten in the stoole aforesayd. |
† c. ? A seat by a grave or tomb.
Obs.| 1463 Bury Wills (Camden) 15 No stoon to be steryd of my graue, but a pet to be maad vnder the ground sille ther my lady Schardeloue was wont to sitte, the stoolys removyd, and the body put in. 1526 Cartular. S. Nicholai Aberd. (New Spalding Club) I. 155 Our collectour..shall ȝeirlie sett ane honest stuill apoun ye said Jhonis sepultur decorit with bakin and arress as wss is. 1537 Reg. Aberd. (Maitl. Club) I. 414 Tway schillingis to þe sacristene for þe settyng of þe stwyll at his graif. 1539 in Abstr. Protocols Town Clerks Glasgow (1897) IV. 119 That the said vicar..warne the sacrista minor of revestry to cuyr ane stuyll honestlie and fynd twa wax preckattis byrneand..aboue the lair of Jhonn Painter. |
† d. A seat for an offender. See
cucking-stool,
cutty-stool, pining-
stool,
stool of repentance.
| c 1308 [see cucking-stool]. 1562 Maitland Club Misc. III. 327 In ye essemble of ye congregacion to syt vpon ye penitent stul tym of ye seruice. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week iii. 105 Where the high stool On the long plank hangs o'er the muddy pool, That stool, the dread of every scolding quean. 17.. W. Forbes Dominie Depos'd i. xxiv, Sae shall they never mount the stool, Whereon the lassies greet an' howl. Ibid. ii. xxvii, Ye've play'd the fool, Anither now your post maun bruik, An' you the stool. |
e. W. Afr. (See
quots.)
| 1819 T. E. Bowdich Mission to Ashantee 231 Saï Tootoo..was presented with the stool, or made king. Ibid. 236 This monarch..raised his favourite captains to the vacant stools, uniting three or four in one. Ibid., footnote, ‘To succeed to the stool,’..is the common expression for succeeding to a property even in private life. The same stool, or seat, descends through many generations. 1909 D. Moore We Two in West Africa 146 On the ‘Coast’..the chief of a tribe is said to be on the stool of that tribe... The word stool is nearly always used instead of tribe. |
2. a. A wooden seat (for one person) without arms or a back; a piece of furniture consisting in its simplest form of a piece of wood for a seat set upon legs, usually three or four in number, to raise it from the ground.
The
OE. instances belong properly to the general sense 1. Often with qualifying word indicating its form or use, as
round,
three-legged,
camp-,
music-stool and the like.
| [c 725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) T 309 Tripes, stool. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 76 Ᵹewyrc þonne stol of þrim treowum ni an ðyrele site on bydene.] 1390 Gower Conf. III. 224 The kinges fol Sat be the fyr upon a stol. c 1425 Cast. Persev. 2599 in Macro Plays 154 Worldis wele is lyke a iij-foted stole, it faylyt a man at hys most nede. 1434– [see joint-stool]. c 1520 Skelton Colin Clout 30 Let hym go to scole, On a thre foted stole That he may downe syt. 1592 Arden of Feversham v. i. 131 Place Mosbie, being a stranger, in a chaire, And let your husband sit vpon a stoole. 1610 Holland Camden's Brit. (1637) 441 Young lads..with stooles fastened to their buttockes to milke [ewes]. 1631 Gouge God's Arrows iv. §15 In the garret were set some stooles, and chaires for the better sort. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 80 ¶3 A servant brought a round Stool, on which I sat down. 1784 Cowper Task i. 86 Thus first necessity invented stools, Convenience next suggested elbow-chairs. 1886 W. J. Tucker E. Europe 310 The legs and seats of the stools,—for chairs there were none,—were coloured in harmony with the rest. |
b. A high seat of this kind for convenience of writing at a high desk; more fully
office stool. Hence, a situation as clerk in an office.
| 1836 Dickens Let. ? 27 July (1965) I. 157 If you write me word that you will give him a stool, he shall sit himself upon it forthwith. 1837 [see office n. 12]. 1842 Tennyson Audley Court 44 Oh! who would cast and balance at a desk, Perch'd like a crow upon a three-legg'd stool? 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xx, Mr. Guppy suspects everybody who enters on the occupation of a stool in Kenge and Carboy's office, of entertaining..sinister designs upon him. |
c. A low short bench or form upon which to rest the foot, to step or kneel. Chiefly
= footstool. Sometimes used as a child's seat.
| a 1225 Ancr. R. 166 Vor þi alle þe halewen makeden of al þe world ase ane stol [v.rr. scheomel, schamel] to hore uet, uorto arechen þe heouene. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. v. 394, I may nouȝte stonde ne stoupe ne with-oute a stole knele. 1382 Wyclif Matt. xxii. 44 Til that I put thin enmyes a stole of thi feet. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De. P.R. xiv. ii. (1495) 465 The erthe is callyd the stole of goddys owne fete. 1468 in Archæologia X. 197 Item, payd Will. Pylche for makyng of the stole to the funte and keverynge of the same, xx d. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 476/2 Stool, scabellum. 1567 Gude & Godlie Ball. 50 And war the warld ten tymes sa wyde,..Unworthie it war, ȝit to the, Under thy feit ane stule to be. 1827 Lytton Pelham xii, You must not lounge on your chair—nor put your feet upon a stool. 1858 ― What will He do i. vi, Sophy left her seat, and placed herself on a stool at her grandfather's knee. |
† d. stool and ball, the implements used in the game of
stool-ball.
Obs.| 1619 Pasquil's Palm (1877) 152 When country wenches play with stool & ball. |
3. fig. a. Proverb,
to fall, come to the ground, sit between two stools: to incur failure through vacillation between two different courses of action.
| 1390 Gower Conf. I. 15 Bot it is seid..Betwen tuo Stoles lyth the fal, Whan that men wenen best to sitte. Ibid. II. 22 O fol of alle foles, Thou farst as he betwen tuo stoles That wolde sitte and goth to grounde. a 1536 Prov. in Songs, Carols etc. (E.E.T.S.) 129 Betwen two stolis, the ars goth to grwnd. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage (1614) 610 Guageda betwixt two stooles had vnquiet sitting, paying tribute both to the Kings of Telensin, and the Arabians. 1717 Prior Alma i. 231 Poor Alma sits between two stools. 1765 Ld. Holland in Jesse Selwyn & Contemp. (1843) I. 380, I only hope Sir Charles Bunbury has not lost his Paris place, and dropped, as I fear he has, between two stools. 1857 Trollope Barchester T. xx, Truly he had fallen between two stools. 1867 ― Chron. Barset xxxv, She was like to fall to the ground between two stools,—having two lovers, neither of whom could serve her turn. |
b. Phrases.
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iii. iv. 82 But now they rise againe With twenty mortall murthers on their crownes, And push vs from our stooles. 1730 T. Boston Mem. x. (1899) 276 The work was begun on Thursday with a sermon on Amos vi. 1, which I believe drew the stool from under most of us. 1749 Fielding Tom Jones i. xiii, One of the Maxims..is, when once you are got up, to kick the Stool from under you. In plain English, when you have made your Fortune by the good Offices of a Friend, you are advised to discard him as soon as you can. |
† 4. The lair of a hare;
= form n. 21,
seat n. 10.
| 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 271 In such places doth the Hare seek her lodging... Then let him [the hunter] draw his nets round about them..and then raise her from her stoole. |
5. a. A seat enclosing a chamber utensil; a commode; more explicitly
stool of ease. Also, a privy.
For
groom of the stool (
stole), see
stole n.2| 1410–1869 [see close-stool]. 1501 Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot. II. 25 Item,..giffin for ane stule of es bocht to the King viij d. 1516–17 Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905) 292 Paid for makyng clene of the Rectors stolys ij d. 1528 A prevey stole [see privy a. 8 c]. 1561 Invent. R. Wardr. (1815) 139 Item ane stuill of ease coverit with crammosie broun velvot. 1573 L. Lloyd Pilgr. Princes (1586) 145 The Emperour Heliogabalus was killed vpon his stole at his easement. 1645 Milton Colast. 13, I send them by his advice to sit upon the stool and strain. 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) II. 147 If Alexander and Cæsar could never be easy off the stool, I would not deny them that needful utensil. |
b. In phrases originally meaning ‘the place of evacuation’, now (without
the) the action of evacuating the bowels.
| 1542 Boorde Dyetary viii. (1870) 248 Than go to your stole to make your egestyon. 1558 Warde tr. Alexis' Secr. 32 b, The sayde pylles..prouoke not to the stoole. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Parnass. i. ii, They..write as men go to stoole, for needes. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke 33 Though they be reading Papers of State, or at the Stool more seasonably [he] obtrudes his Pamphlet. 1705 Phil. Trans. XXV. 2110 He did not go to Stole for a fortnight or three weeks together. Ibid. 2111 When he dy'd it was nine weeks after he had any Stole. 1726 Swift Gulliver iii. vi, Men are never so serious, thoughtful, and intent, as when they are at stool. 1871 G. H. Napheys Prev. & Cure of Dis. iii. ix. 980 To go to stool twice a day. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 263 When the veins are congested by straining at stool. |
c. The action of evacuating the bowels; an act of discharging fæces.
by stool: by fæcal as distinguished from other means of evacuation.
| 1533 Elyot Cast Helthe (1541) 38 b, By experience and diligent serch by their stoole, their nourices shal perceyve what digesteth wel. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax C 5, Hee heard him say, hee thanked God, hee had had a good stoole. 1623 Hart Arraignm. Urines i. 2 Having his vacuations by stoole as orderly as other healthfull men. a 1625 Fletcher Noble Gent. v. i, I fear this loss of honor will give him some few stools. 1663 Pepys Diary 24 May, Having taken one of Mr. Holliard's pills last night it brought a stool or two this morning. 1682 Digby's Chym. Secrets ii. 228 A second Dose..will work either by Stool or Vomit, or Sweat. 1783 Wesley Jrnl. 16 Mar., It gave me four or five and twenty stools, and a moderate vomit. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. X. 110, I do not feel the least anxiety if the patient remains without having a stool for two or three days. 1875 H. C. Wood Therap. (1879) 106 The stools are at times normal in character and frequency. |
| fig. 1592 Nashe Four Lett. Confut. 11 A Letter whereof his inuention had a hard stoole, and yet it was for his ease. |
d. A discharge of fæcal matter of a specified colour, consistency, etc.; the matter discharged (chiefly
pl.).
| 1597 A. M. tr. Guillemeau's Fr. Chirurg. 3 b/2 The patient can nether retayne his vrine, Sperma, or Stole. Ibid. 4/1 His vrine bloodye; his stoels like matter. 1607 Topsell Four-f. Beasts 104 Her nature is to hide her own dung..the little Mouse being able by that stoole, to smell the presence of her mortall foe. 1698 Sloane in Phil. Trans. XX. 69 Stools resembling the Dregs of Wine. 1789 W. Buchan Dom. Med. (1790) 497 He must..drink freely of water-gruel to prevent bloody stools. 1845–6 G. E. Day Simon's Anim. Chem. II. 386 Calomel is frequently given..: its administration is succeeded by numerous, very green, bilious stools. 1871 Garrod Mat. Med. (ed. 3) 97 It often produces in children the so-named calomel stools, or green-coloured fæces. |
† 6. A frame upon which to work embroidery or tapestry.
Obs.| c 1385 Chaucer L.G.W. 2352 So that she werkyn & enbroude couthe And weuyn in hire stol the radyuore. ? c 1475 Promp. Parv. 305/2 (Camb. MS.) Lyncet, a werkynge stole, liniarium. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 7 Item..for the stuff and making of iiij working stoles for the Quene..v s. iiij d. 1513 Papers 5 Hen. VIII No. 4101 (P.R.O.), A frontlett for an aulter wrought in the stole. 1523 Skelton Garl. Laurel 790 To weue in the stoule sume were full preste, With slaiis, with tauellis, with hedellis well drest. 1538 Elyot Dict., Licia, be thredes, whiche sylke women do weaue in lyncelles or stooles. a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VIII, 7 On their heades bonets of Damaske, syluer flatte wouen in the stole. |
7. Naut. a. (See
quot. 1867.
Cf. channel n.2)
b. (See
quot. c 1850.)
c. (See
quot. 1846.)
| a. 1711 W. Sutherland Shipbuild. Assist. 37 Backstays or Topmast Shrouds are to be fasten'd down to the Channels, or Stools fixed for that purpose. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Stool, a minor channel abaft the main channels, for the dead-eyes of the backstays. |
| b. 1750 T. R. Blanckley Nav. Expositor. c 1850 Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 153 Stools,..ornamental blocks for the poop lanterns to stand on abaft. |
| c. 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 395/2 This line will represent the lower edge of the rail that comes to the middle stool. 1830 Hedderwick Mar. Archit. 120 Stools, pieces of plank which are bolted edgeways to the quarters of small vessels, to form the mock quarter-galleries. 1846 A. Young Naut. Dict. 323 Stool, the lowest transom of a vessel's stern⁓frame; or, more correctly, a chock introduced beneath the lowest transom: to it the lower ends of the fashion-pieces are secured. |
8. Brick-making. A brick-moulder's shed or workshop; also, the gang of workmen employed in one shed; also, a moulder's bench.
| 1693 J. Houghton Collect. Improv. Husb. No. 70 ¶1 There are usually employed about a Stooles Work four Men, and two Boyes: The first, an Earth-maker that prepares the Earth. The second a Carter..to bring the Earth to the Stool. Ibid. ¶3 A Stool does ordinarily make..eight Thousand in a Day. 1850 E. Dobson Bricks & Tiles i. 34 In slop moulding, the mould is simply laid on the moulding stool. Ibid. 37 The area occupied by each stool is greater than in making slop-moulded bricks. 1886 Standard 10 May 8/5 To be let, a brickfield with four stools. 1891 Ibid. 24 Jan. 2/8 To distribute the funds to the different fields according to the number of stools or moulders' sheds worked. |
9. Arch. The sill of a window.
Obs. exc. U.S.| 1663 Gerbier Counsel 88 For the Capitol, to the stooles of those windowes. 1682 Sir C. Wren in W. H. St. John Hope Windsor Castle (1913) II. 387 By cleansinge from moss & weeds all the coapings of the Buttresses,..the stooles of the Windowes,..[etc.]. 1891 Century Dict. s.v., Stool of a window, or window-stool, in arch., the flat piece on which the sash shuts down, corresponding to the sill of a door. 1911 Webster s.v. [adds] In the United States, the narrow shelf fitted on the inside against the actual sill. |
10. a. A base or stand upon which a thing is set to raise it above the ground or general surface.
| 1481–3 in W. H. St. John Hope Windsor Castle (1913) II. 404 Cxx et xxxviij pedibus Chaptrelles et Braces. xvij Stolys. xlii. Botraces. cix panelles. 1535 Coverdale 2 Chron. iv. 14 He made the stoles also and y⊇ kettels vpon the stoles [Luther Gestühle]. 1554–5 Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1871) II. 309 For twa greit bakis to be stullis to the malt myln [etc.]. 1566 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 763/2 Dicti commendatarius [etc.] sustentarent dimidietatem scabelli lie mylne stuill. 1641 Invent. Goods C'tess Arundel in Burlington Mag. (1911) Nov. 98/1 In the Seller..is noething, but two stowelles to sett beare on & two Shelues. 1683 Moxon Mech. Exerc., Printing xv. ¶2 So much of this Bottom-Plate..is called the Stool,..because on it the lower end of the Matrice rests. 1827 Faraday Chem. Manip. iv. (1842) 97 This furnace..being raised upon a stool so as to bring the aperture of the air-chamber to a level with the nozzle of the bellows. 1888 Jacobi Printers' Vocab. 133 Stool, a platform or stage on which paper or printed work is stacked. |
b. The stand of a beehive. ?
Obs.| 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §122 Set a stole or a forme nyghe vnto the swarme,..shake the bees in-to the hyue, and shortely sette it vppon the stole. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. (1634) 14 As many as fall beside the stool, when it waxeth dark, ten to one they lie abroad all night. 1774 Phil. Trans. LXV. 274 We have seen fleas..swarming at the mouths of these holes like bees on the stools of their hives. |
11. A bench, counter, table, trestle.
Sc. and
north.| 1519 Reg. Aberd. (Maitl. Club) II. 177 The baikhouss witht..ij bakin stulis. 1559 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 135 The mylke house..a fleke, a stole. 1559 Peebles Burgh Rec. (1872) 257 The inqueist findis Thomas Dikesone in the wrang for..castin of his [John Edmond's] flesche stule in the gutter. 1870 J. K. Hunter Life Studies of Char. xlvi. 282 There was nae word o' John comin' wi' the spokes and stools [trestle for a coffin]. |
12. Mining. (See
quot. 1851.)
| 1653 E. Manlove Lead-mines 62 Then must the Miners chase the stole to th' stake; From meer to meer. 1670 Pettus Fodinæ Reg. 86 And the Miners shall work their Meers duly, and shall chuse their Stool on that one part there as he may find Mine between two Walls. 1747 Hooson Miner's Dict. N iv b, When the old-man is cleared out from a Shaft⁓foot, Forfield, Stool, or Stope, we say we have bared it. 1778 W. Pryce Min. Cornub. 63 The end or stool of the vein will run of itself, like sand. 1851 Tapping Gloss. to Manlove, Stool, is where the miners leave digging deeper and work in the ends forward; the end before you is called the stool... The term stool has also another signification, which is so far as the miner cuts before him, which is about two yards high. |
13. [
Cf. Du. stoel in similar uses. (In technical language sometimes spelt
stole.)]
a. The stump of a tree which has been felled; also the head of the stump, from which new shoots are produced.
| 1577–87 Holinshed Chron. I. 195/2 When a grene tree is cut in sunder in the middle, and the part cut off is caried three acres bredth from the stocke, and returning againe to the stoale, shall ioine therewith. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 209 The stooles or stumps of many trees. 1769 D. Barrington Indig. Trees in Phil. Trans. LIX. 33 No pine or fir ever shoots from the stool. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 286 If a graft is inserted either in the collar or stool, or in the amputated head, it will give an immediate direction to the sap. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm I. 116 The stools of hard-wood trees,..set on end.., form a very durable flooring. 1874 Lyell Elem. Geol. xxiv. 421 All the stools of the fossil trees dug out by us divided into four parts. 1886 Cheshire Gloss. s.v. Stoo, Clap yon owd stoo a' top o' th' foire. 1899 R. Munro Prehist. Scotland ii. 29 As evidence..we can still point to the stools of huge trees, at the bottom of extensive tracts of moorland peat. |
b. Forestry. A stock or stump of a tree felled or headed for the production of coppice-wood, underwood, saplings, or young timber. Also a set or group of stumps.
| a 1722 Lisle Husb. (1757) 365, I proposed to cut coppice⁓wood for the fire: my woodward said, it would not hurt the stools to cut it so late, but it would never..burn well. 1827 H. Steuart Planter's G. (1828) 298 The making up into one set or stool separate plants of the same species. 1832 Planting 41 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, The parent wood of coppice stools is most frequently suffered to rise too high from the roots. 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate (1881) 82 Between the stoles [of the copse]..the ground was quite covered in spring with dark-green vegetation. 1894 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. June 243 The [willow] rods being cut off close to the stools. |
c. Forestry and
Horticulture. The base of a plant cut down to produce shoots or branches for layering. Also, a plant laid down for layering (
rare).
| 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts VII. 126, I have likewise procured several small stools of the black mulberry [for propagating]. 1813 C. Marshall Gardening xix. (ed. 5) 317 In order to obtain suckers and shoots for layers [of elm], stools are to be formed, by cutting down some young trees, almost close to the ground. 1825 Greenhouse Comp. I. 221 Where entire plants are layed down to produce layers, they are called stools; and the main root remains there as a stool for several years. 1842 Loudon Suburban Hort. 711 Having been much troubled with caterpillars on our gooseberry stools in the nursery. 1880 C. R. Markham Peruv. Bark 223 He afterwards went round to all the old stools and put in as many layers from them as possible. |
d. Horticulture. The base containing the latent buds in plants which annually throw up new stems or foliage to replace the old.
| 1790 Phil. Trans. LXXX. 350 Stool of [sugar] canes (which is the assemblage of its numerous roots where the stems begin to shoot out) is almost impenetrable to rain. 1824 Loudon Encycl. Garden. §3339 Stools [of the strawberry] of two years standing, which have borne one crop, may be put into pots in August. 1839 Ure Dict. Arts 1194 Rattoons (a word corrupted from rejettons) are the sprouts or suckers that spring from the roots or stoles of the canes that have been previously cut for sugar. 1842 Florist's Jrnl. (1846) III. 95 Chrysanthemums may be struck and the old stools turned out. 1846 J. Baxter's Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4) II. 231 As the finest..of these fruits [raspberries] are..the produce of strong and well-ripened canes, it becomes necessary that the stools should have every advantage afforded them. 1877 S. Hibberd Amateur's Kitchen Gard. 158 Manure should be spread around the stool to insure some benefit to the roots of the [rhubarb] plant. 1882 Garden 14 Jan. 17/3 Each stool consisting of about eight canes. |
e. A cluster of stems or foliage springing from a stool or from the same root; the complement of stalks produced by one grain of corn.
| 1712 J. Morton Nat. Hist. Northamptonsh. 154 They much resembled the Bottom of a Cluster, or Stool, as it is here called, of large Rushes. 1807 Prize Ess. & Trans. Highl. Soc. III. 476 A single stole of corn growing in a dung hill, has plenty of air, light, and heat. 1880 F. W. Burbidge Gardens of Sun v. 94 Each tuft or stool [of rice] being about eight inches from its neighbours. 1882 Contemp. Rev. Aug. 233 From one wheat grain there were eighty-five stalks to the stool. 1887 Blackmore Springhaven III. vii, His shelter was a stool of hazel, thrown up to repair the loss of stem. 1894 ― Perlycross vii, A great stool of fern. |
f. a fine or good stool (of clover, of timber): clover or timber well stooled (see
stool v. 3).
| 1801 Farmer's Mag. Nov. 461 This year, the field was in barley, and yielded seven bolls per acre, leaving as fine a stool of young clover and rye-grass as ever I saw. 1814 4th Rep. Comm. Irish Bogs II. 188 The country possesses a good stool of timber. |
| transf. 1831 J. Wilson Noct. Ambr. Wks. 1856 III. 327 Hecate a beauty! I aye thocht she had been a furious fricht—black-a-viced, pockey-ort, wi' a great stool o' a beard. |
g. A shoot or layer from the stump or base of a plant. [Confused with L.
stolo: see
stole n.3,
stolon.]
| 1818 Todd, Stool, 4. [stolo Latin], a shoot from the trunk of a tree. 1821 S. F. Gray Brit. Plants I. 52 Stool, Stolo. A branch from the head of the root, bending down, taking root, and emitting leaves. 1824 Mactaggart Gallovid. Encycl., Stowl or Stole, a scion from a root. |
† 14. a. The scar left by a wound, a cicatrix.
Obs. rare—1. (
Cf. staddle n. 6.)
| 1601 Holland Pliny xx. i. II. 36 The root [of wild cucumber]..reduceth the stooles or skars left after any sore..to their fresh and native colour againe. |
† b. The ‘eye’ of an apple, pear or quince.
| 1671 Grew Anat. Plants i. vi. §2 Most of them [i.e. the branches of the endocarp of an apple] enarching themselves towards the Cork or Stool of the Flower. Ibid. ii. §9 [of a pear]. Ibid. §10 [of a quince]. |
† 15. The head or top of a mushroom. (
Cf. stool in
toadstool n.)
Obs. rare—1.
| 1743 Pickering Seeds of Mushrooms in Phil. Trans. XLII. 595, I began with one of the Gills carefully separated from the Head, or Stool, without bruising. |
16. U.S. (See
quot.)
| 1881 Ingersoll Oyster-Industr. (Hist. Fish. Industr. U.S.) 249 Stools.—Material spread on the bottom for oyster spawn to cling to. |
17. † a. ? Some part of a plough.
Obs. rare—1. (Possibly an error.)
b. The shank of a rake or hay-fork (
Northumbld. Gloss. 1893–4).
| 1523–34 Fitzherb. Husb. §5 It is necessarye for hym to lerne to make his yokes, oxe-bowes, stooles, and all maner of plough-geare. |
18. U.S. a. A decoy-bird (
perh. short for
stool-pigeon),
esp. one used in shooting wildfowl; also a perch upon which a decoy-bird is set. (
Cf. stale n.3,
stall n.2) Also
transf., a person employed as a decoy by criminals.
| 1825 Huntington (N.Y.) Town Rec. (1889) III. 322 No person [shall] be permitted to gun with macheanes or stools in sd. Town. 1847 J. Roach Let. 20 May in T. Coleman Passage to America (1972) xi. 183 There is three hundred emigrants in the Rochester tonight... The head man is a ‘Stool’—make him jump. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 452 Stool, an artificial duck or other water-fowl used as a decoy. 1872 Schele de Vere Americanisms 211 Stool-Pigeon... In the former [literal signification] it means the pigeon, with its eyes stitched up, fastened on a stool, which can be moved up and down by the hidden fowler. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wildfowl xvii. 205 Wood-ducks..are not easily decoyed, either by stools or calls. 1895 G. J. Manson Sporting Dict., Stool, a decoy for snipe, plover, and peach-birds. 1902 Greenough & Kittredge Words 363 A stool pigeon..is a ‘decoy pigeon’, so called from its being tied to a stool. |
b. A police informer.
Cf. stool-pigeon, sense 19 b.
| 1906 G. E. Stevens Wicked City 233 Under others were inscribed: ‘He is a {oqq}stool{cqq}.’.. ‘He was croaked by the cops.’ 1915 J. London Jacket ii. 10 They laughed at him and turned him away..for the stool that he was. 1932 E. Wallace When Gangs came to London xv. 129 I'm not so sure that I want to tell you anything—I never was a stool. 1939 J. Steinbeck Grapes of Wrath xx. 338 I'll come for ya tonight. Maybe I'm wrong. There's stools aroun' all a time. 1962 B. Cobb Murder: Men Only i. 12 He said he wasn't a stool, he wasn't giving anybody away. |
19. a. attrib. and
Comb., (sense 2) as
stool cover; (sense 5), as
† stool door,
† stool house,
† stool pan; (sense 13), as
stool-growth,
stool shoot; (sense 7 c), as
stool rail; appositive (sense 1), as
stool stone; objective, as
stool-bearer,
stool-bearing,
stool-casting; similative, as
stool-like adj.| 1518 Perth Hammermen Bk. (1889) 2 The *stule berer. |
| 1821 S. F. Gray Brit. Plants I. 42 *Stool-bearing. Stoloniferæ. Throwing out stools, stolones, which take root. |
| 1637 Ld. Wariston Diary 23 July (S.H.S.) 265 Thair rayse..sik ane outcrying quhat be the people's murmuring, mourning, rayling, *stoolcasting, as the lyk was never seien. |
| 1837 A. Hayward Lett. (1886) I. 60, I am quite charmed with the *stool-cover. |
| 1564 in Archæol. Cant. (1874) IX. 234 Itm payd..for makyng and setting on of ij payer of Charnayles [hinges] uppon a *stoole doore, vj d. |
| 1909 Nation 1 May 156/2 We push through the rods of the *stool-growth with difficulty. |
| 1541–2 MS. Rawl. D. 781 lf. 160 Item in y⊇ *Stolle howse ij quarelles mendyd—j d. 16.. in Archæologia LXIV. 390 The Stowll hous. |
| 1868 Rep. U.S. Commissioner Agric. (1869) 251 A hedge becomes thin at the base..the sap ascending and forming a spreading, *stool-like form of growth. |
| 1620 in Unton Inventories (1841) 26, xj *stoole panns. 1688 Holme Armoury iii. xiv. (Roxb.) 9/2 He beareth Gules, a stoole pan, or close stoole pan, Argent. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) XVII. 395/2 Set off the depth of the middle *stool rail above the line already drawn. |
| 1907 Blackw. Mag. Apr. 488/2 Self-sown seedlings and *stool⁓shoots being then left to come up naturally. |
| 1664 J. Webb Stone-Heng (1725) 198 One only simple Circle of about twelve Slabbs of Stone, with a *Stool-stone for the King. |
b. Special comb.:
stool-bed (see
quot. 1879);
stool-bent (see
quot. 1789);
stool-crab (see
quot.);
stool land West Africa (see
quot.,
cf. 1 e);
stool-mail Sc., a fine imposed upon a person condemned to the stool of repentance;
stool-pigeon, (
a)
U.S., a pigeon fastened to a stool as a decoy; chiefly
fig. of a person employed, especially by gamblers, as a decoy; (
b) a police informer;
stool-pipe (see
quot.);
† stool table, ? a table on trestles;
† stool-wagon [G.
stuhl-wagen], a German chaise.
For
stool-chamber,
-room, see
stole n.2| 1859 F. A. Griffiths Artil. Man. (1862) 126 Place *stool⁓bed and quoin. 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. II. 391/2 A third point of support..for the gun..is supplied..by a ‘quoin’..placed immediately under the breech, and resting on a block called a ‘stool-bed’. |
| 1789 J. Lightfoot Flora Scot. 1131 Juncus squarrosus. *Stool-Bent. Scotis australibus. 1835 S. Oliver [W. A. Chatto] Rambles Northumbld. 165 Spreats and stool-bent, which, in moist places, always indicate the spot where the pedestrian may be sure of firm footing. |
| 1880 E. Cornw. Gloss., *Stool-crab, the male of the edible crab, Platycarcinus pagurus. |
| 1909 D. Moore We Two in West Africa 146, I..mean the lands belonging to the tribe governed by the chief in question. On the ‘Coast’ these are called *stool lands. |
| 1837 Voluntary Ch. Mag. Nov. 493 It was poinded by the session because its owner would not pay the *stool-mail for having had a bastard child. |
| 1830 Workingman's Gaz. (Woodstock, Vermont) 1 Dec. 79/2 A wag who keeps an oyster cellar in Newark advertises, among other things, ‘wildbirds domesticated and *stool pigeons trained to catch voters for the next Presidency—warranted to suit either party.’ 1836 W. Irving Astoria I. 137 One man..was used like a ‘stool pigeon’, to decoy the others. 1844 [see roper 5]. 1845 Yankee (Boston) 9 Aug. 2/6 If this business is so profitable to thieves, how much do those [sc. police officers] make out of it who encourage the stool pigeon business? 1849 Bankers' Mag. Aug. 89 The senior high constable of Philadelphia..recollected that Harry White..who he had been lately using as a ‘stool pigeon’, or secret informer, had informed him..that ‘a big thing’ was coming off shortly. 1850 Congress. Globe 18 July 1403/1 Sheltering this aggression, on the part of the United States, behind ‘poor New Mexico’, who is only a stool-pigeon. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 452 Stool-pigeon, a decoy robber, in the pay of the police, who brings his associates into a trap laid for them. 1865 Pall Mall Gaz. 13 Nov. 2 The harrowing narrative of ‘Antilles’ may be after all only an ingenious ‘stool-pigeon,’ concocted for the purpose of terrifying the Republican party. 1906 L. H. Vincent Amer. Literary Masters 46, I am not going to be made a stool-pigeon to attract birds of passage that may be flying about. 1910 E. A. Walcott Open Door 134 Rafferty..assured the chief that he would pass word to certain stool-pigeons to keep their eyes and ears open for trace of the missing canvas. 1930 Times Lit. Suppl. 4 Dec. 1047/3 Occasionally a masterful rogue arose who shot a few people as ‘stool-pigeons’, even though they had never imparted any information to the police. 1974 J. Thomson Long Revenge ii. 23 A stool pigeon planted in a local Gestapo prison to eavesdrop on the detainees. |
| 1886 J. Barrowman Sc. Mining Terms 64 *Stool-pipe, Stool-piece, the pipe on which a column of pipes rests. |
| 1630 Maldon (Essex) Documents Bundle 217 No. 22 In the hall..1 *stoole table. |
| 1829 Sporting Mag. XXIV. 201 Four horses were next put to the *stool-wagon, and we drove to Faulenrost. |
▪ II. stool, v. (
stuːl)
Also 6, 9
stole.
[f. stool n.] 1. trans. To put or set (a person) on a stool.
a. To condemn (a person) to the stool (of repentance).
nonce-use. In
quot. absol.| 1682 Hickeringill Hist. Whiggism ii. 38 Horning, Cursing, Damning, Imprisoning, Stooling or Fooling upon the Stool of Repentance. |
b. W. Afr. (
Cf. stool n. 1 e.)
| 1898 R. A. Freeman Trav. Ashanti i. 3 Until the king [of Ashanti] had been enthroned on the gold stool his title was not officially recognised... But the ceremony of ‘stooling’ a new king was one that involved considerable expense. |
2. intr. To evacuate the bowels; also
trans., to evacuate as excrement.
| 1545 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde P j, The greate labour and payne the whiche the partie hath in..enforsynge her selfe other to stole or to make water. 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. v. 57 They are..almost constantly confined to bed except when rising to stool. |
3. Of a plant: To throw up young shoots or stems; of corn, grass, herbage, to throw out lateral shoots producing a thick head of stems or foliage. Also with
out,
forth.
| 1789 Trans. Soc. Arts I. 260 Some sorts of Cotton did not rattoon or stool so well as others. 1790 W. H. Marshall Midl. II. 443 To Stool; to ramify as corn. 1795 Vancouver Agric. Essex 152 Strong and luxuriant shoots stool forth. 1830 M. T. Sadler Law Popul. I. 93 Wheat is one of those plants which, according to the phraseology of agriculturists, stools; that is, throws out lateral roots capable of producing separate stems. 1844 H. Stephens Bk. Farm III. 857 New grass, if moderately eaten down in spring, stools out, and affords a thicker cutting at hay time. 1853 G. Johnston Nat. Hist. E. Bord. I. 121 The herbage..does not spread nor stool upon the ground. 1869 Blackmore Lorna Doone xxxviii, I worked very hard in the copse of young ash,..cutting out the saplings where they stooled too close together. |
| fig. 1835 Tait's Mag. II. 491 From the original hardy stem of the Surrey yeomen, this vigorous branch ‘stooled out’, and put forth arms. |
4. a. trans. To entice (wild-fowl) by means of a decoy-bird; also
intr. (of a bird) to come (well) to a decoy.
U.S.| 1842 W. P. Hawes Sporting Scenes i. 55 I'll tell you all about that..the next time we're stooling snipe together. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 452 Stooling, decoying ducks or other fowls by the means of ‘stools’. 1874 J. W. Long Amer. Wild-fowl xviii. 209 Widgeon..stool well to almost any decoys. |
b. intr. To act as a stool or stool-pigeon; to inform
on (someone).
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
| 1911 [see boob n. 1]. 1938 Amer. Speech XIII. 191/2 To stool, to act as a stool-pigeon. 1950 Patterson & Conrad Scottsboro Boy iii. v. 224 There were little mice in Kilby. They ran in the cells. They weren't the trouble that the big rats were, though, them that stooled on you. 1960 ‘E. McBain’ See them Die v. 48 You'd stool on Pepe for that rotten cop?.. A stoolie is a stoolie. 1973 ‘B. Mather’ Snowline xi. 133 ‘I stand in a sort of special relationship with these bums. If they thought I was stooling on them—well, you see what I mean?’ ‘No,..I don't see that putting me in touch..could possibly be construed as stooling. I'm not a policeman.’ |
5. Mining. To work (a vein).
Cf. stool n. 12.
| 1824 J. Mander Derbysh. Miner's Gloss. 69 Then it is common to say, the vein is Stoled, or Stooled, ten or twelve fathoms. |
▪ III. stool obs. form of
stole n.1 and n.2