swine-sty Now chiefly dial.
(ˈswaɪnstaɪ)
Forms: see swine and sty; also 5 swinysty, swynysty, 6 swines-stie.
[f. swine + sty n. Cf. MDu. swijnstie, ON. sv{iacu}nst{iacu}.]
A pigsty.
| 1340 Hampole Pr. Consc. 9002 Als mykelle difference..suld be Bitwene heven and swilk a cete, Als es bitwene a kynges palays And a swynsty. 1423 Cov. Leet Bk. 59 Þai orden þat..all þe pryves & swynesties þeron be done away. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 483/2 Swyyne kote, howse for swyyn (K. swinysty, or sty). 1587 Holinshed Chron. III. 83/2 To reuoke the king..from the swines-stie of vice to the statelie throne of vertue. 1647 Trapp Comm. Heb. xii. 16 Many such Edomites..now-adaies that prefer earth before heaven, a swine-sty before a sanctuary. 1756 C. Lucas Ess. Waters II. 13 There are waters..smelling as offensively as a swine-stie. 1857 Dufferin Lett. High Lat. xii. (ed. 3) 370 She..conceals the Jarl and his companion in a hole dug for this purpose, in the swine-stye, and covered over with wood and litter. 1887 Morris Odyssey x. 389 She opened the swine-stye door And drave them out. |