▪ I. stythe, styth dial.
(staɪð, staɪθ)
Also 8 stith, 9 stithe.
[Of obscure origin; perh. altered from *stive cogn. w. stive v.3]
1. Foul air in a mine; = choke-damp.
| 1708 J. C. Compl. Collier (1845) 23 He may loose his Life by Styth, which is a sort of bad foul Air. 1765 Phil. Trans. LV. 240 The choak-damp, or stith, found in the coal-mines. 1818 W. Phillips Geol. 101 The after-damp or stythe, which follows these blasts, is a mixture of the carbonic acid and azotic gases. 1863 Tyneside Songs 12 But did they face the deadly styth, where scarce a single breath Held life..! 1885 Standard 5 June 3/4 They have..succumbed to the effects of the stythe. |
2. A suffocating smell.
| 1823 E. Moor Suffolk Words, Stithe. Rhyming to tithe... ‘The stithe is very oppressive.’ 1850 T. Bewick Howdy & Upgetting 15 She thout she wad ha' been skumfeesht wi the steyth. 1897 Allbutt's Syst. Med. II. 968 In burning off the old paint there is usually considerable stithe. |
▪ II. stythe
obs. form of stithy.