footstool
(ˈfʊtstuːl)
1. a. A stool upon which to rest the foot or feet.
| 1530 Palsgr. 222/2 Fote stole, marchepied. c 1611 Chapman Iliad xiv. 201 A footstool for the ease Of thy soft feet. 1725 Pope Odyss. xvii. 271 With many a footstool thund'ring at thy head. 1849 James Woodman ii, There she sat with her feet on a footstool. |
b. fig.
| 1535 Coverdale Ps. cix. [cx.] 1 Syt thou on my right hande, vntill I make thine enemies thy fotestole. 1593 Shakes. 3 Hen. VI, v. vii. 14. 1668 H. More Div. Dial. iv. xxvi. (1713) 363 The Popes have as well made Foot-balls of the Crowns of Emperours as Foot-stools of their Necks. 1860 Farrar Orig. Lang. iv. 86 A nobler destiny than to become the footstool of a few families. |
c. U.S. colloq. The earth. (Cf. Isaiah lxvi. 1.)
| 1821 T. Dwight Trav. New Eng. (1823) III. 231 We felt a total superiority to all the humble beings who were creeping on the footstool beneath us. 1859 Congress. Globe 18 Feb. 1122/1, I would give that power [of declaring war] to no President—none that has ever stood upon this footstool. 1891 Boston (Mass.) Jrnl. 12 Sept. 5/1, I found Mauchline to be the most God-forsaken place on the footstool. 1906 N.Y. Globe 20 Feb. 8 This New York of ours, regarded by many the wickedest city on the footstool. |
† 2. a. A stool to step upon, in order to climb to a higher position. Also fig. b. (See quot. 1611.)
| 1599 Minsheu, A Foot-stoole to lift a woman to horse, vide Andilla. 1611 Cotgr., Suppied d'orgues, the foot⁓stoole, or pedalls to a paire of Organs. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. v. xv. 418 He..by making a foot-stool of his friends head, climbs up the higher into the Princes favour. 1702 Rowe Tamerl. ii. ii. 697, I would have taught thy neck to know my Weight And mounted from that Footstool to my Saddle. |
Hence ˈfootstooled ppl. a., provided with a footstool.
| 1791 Cowper Odyss. i. 163 Leading her toward a foot⁓stool'd throne. 1856 Dobell Eng. in Time War, Grass fr. Battlefield, My shoe, soft footstooled on this hearth. |