▪ I. stole, n.1
(stəʊl)
Forms: 1 stol, 4, 6 stoele, 4–6 stoole, 4, 7 stool, 5 stoll, 5–6 stolle, 6 stoale, stoel, stoile, stoill, stoyle, stoyll, 7 stoal, 4– stole.
[ad. L. stola, ad. Gr. στολή, orig. equipment, array, clothing, hence a robe, garment, f. root of στέλλειν to place, array. Cf. OF. estole (mod.F. étole), Sp., Pg. estola, It. stola. The use of L. stola = sense 2 has not been found earlier than the 9th century; its origin is obscure.]
1. A long robe. † a. In translations from or allusions to passages of the Vulgate or patristic texts. Obs.
first stole or prime stole, transl. of Vulg. stolam primam (Gr. στολὴν τὴν πρώτην), ‘the best robe’ in the parable of the Prodigal Son.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Mark xii. 38 From uðuutum ðaðe wallas in stolum geonga. a 1000 Durham Ritual (Surtees) 45 Stol wvldres ᵹiᵹeride hine stola glorie induit eum [Ecclus. xlv. 7]. a 1340 Hampole Psalter xxix. 15 He..vmgifs vs..with gladnes of þe first stole. 1380 Lay Folks Catech. (Lamb. MS.) 1115 [Crist] wyle cloþe our sowlys..with þe stole of vndedlynesse. 1382 Wyclif Isa. lxiii. 1 Who is this that cam fro Edom..? this shapli in his stole? c 1449 Pecock Repr. iv. ix. 473 Pharisees..louen forto walke in stolis. c 1450 Godstow Reg. 17 Þat we ben cladde in a snow whyȝt stole Thorgh þe vertue of þe holy goost. c 1520 Nisbet N.T., Apoc. vi. 11 And quhite stolis, for ilk saule a stole, war gevin to thame. 1540 Palsgr. Acolastus v. v. Bb j b, Brynge forth..at ones the fyrst stole. 1561 J. Daus tr. Bullinger on Apoc. (1573) 92 The saintes (saith S. Gregory) enioy as yet but one stole or robe a peece. 1596 T. Bell Surv. Popery iii. ix. 366 These (saith S. John) are they which came from great tribulation & washed their stoales, and made them white in the bloud of the Lambe. 1648 Bp. Hall Select Th. xiii. 52 It must be the main care of our lives, how to put on Christ upon our souls: This is the prime stole wherewith the father of the Prodigal, graceth his returned son. 1649 Jer. Taylor Great Exemp. iii. Ad Sec xv. 95 They might be reinvested with a robe of his righteousnesse wearing that till it were changed into a Stole of glory [cf. Ecclus. xlv. 7]. c 1850 Neale Hymns East. Ch. 94 In that same hour I lost the glorious stole Of innocence. |
b. In poetic or rhetorical use. Often fig.
| 1590 Spenser F.Q. i. i. 45 Her all in white he clad, and ouer it Cast a blacke stole. 1593 Peele Hon. Order Garter B 4, Fame in a Stoale of purple, set with eyes, And eares, and tongues, carryed a golden Booke. 1597 Shakes. Lover's Compl. 297 There my white stole of chastity I daft. c 1620 T. Robinson Mary Magd. i. 10 How night..Put on the glitteringe stole of brightest day. 1632 Milton Penseroso 35 And sable stole of Cipres Lawn, Over thy decent shoulders drawn. 1742 Shenstone Schcolmistr. 64 A russet stole was o'er her shoulders thrown. 1753 T. Warton Ode Approach Summer 255 When mild Morn in saffron stole First issues from her eastern goal. 1793 Coleridge Songs of Pixies 95 Graceful Ease in artless stole. 1845 L. Hunt Poems, Fancy Concert 37 With their singers in lily-white stoles. 1878 B. Taylor Pr. Denkalion ii. ii. 61 The phantom purple underneath thy stole We see. |
c. With reference to classical antiquity. (Cf. stola.) Also (in Scott) quasi-arch. with reference to mediæval costume.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) I. 223 In Albist[e]rio..were i-made white stolis for emperours [L. ubi fiebant stolæ imperatorum]. c 1510 Virgilius (Doesborcke) A iiij b, And there he sawe his vnkell a fore hym stand in his emperly stole. 1725 Pope Odyss. vi. 88 The blooming virgin with dispatchful cares Tunics, and stoles, and robes imperial bears. 1790 Cowper Odyss. iv. 378 Beside him, Helen of the sweeping stole. 1811 Scott Fam. Lett. 4 Apr. (1894) I. 212 The lady..should I think have a sort of stole or loose upper garment. 1812 Byron Ch. Har. ii. ii, The warrior's weapon and the sophist's stole Are sought in vain. 1847 J. Leitch tr. C. O. Müller's Anc. Art §246. 223 His courtiers in two different regularly alternating costumes,—the Median stole and the candys. 1850 Blackie æschylus I. 110 See! my rent and ragged stole Speaks the conflict of my soul. |
¶ d. Some writers have carelessly or ignorantly supposed the ecclesiastical ‘stole’ (sense 2) to be a gown or surplice.
| 1805 Scott Last Minstr. v. xxx, Behind, four priests, in sable stole, Sung requiem for the warrior's soul. 1831 Carlyle Sart. Res. iii. xi, The fair fabric of Society itself, with all its royal mantles and pontifical stoles. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Jackdaw of Rheims 35 Six little Singing⁓boys,—dear little souls! In nice clean faces, and nice white stoles. 1869 B. Taylor By-Ways Europe I. 219 Here the rustling of stoles and the muttering of prayers suggest incantation rather than worship. |
2. Eccl. A vestment consisting of a narrow strip of silk or linen, worn over the shoulders (by deacons over the left shoulder only) and hanging down to the knee or lower.
| c 1025 MS. Laud 482 f. 48 a, Scryde hine mid..alban & stolan & handline [etc.]. 13.. K. Alis. 4714 A withthe was heore stole, certes, With on othir they weoren y-gurte. c 1315 Shoreham Poems i. 1403 And nou þe stole a-fongeþ hy Ope here scholder lefte. c 1386 Chaucer Merch. T. 459 Forth comth the preest with stole aboute his nekke. a 1400–50 Wars Alex. 1581 Þan fyndis he in þis o ire flote fanons and stolis Practisirs & prematis & prestis of þe lawe. 1481 Caxton Godfrey cxli. 209 The men of the Chirche reuested with awbes and stooles. 1485 Device for Coronation Hen. VII in Rutland Papers (Camden) 18 The armyll is made in manner of a stole wovyn with gold & set with stones, to be putt by the Cardinall aboute the Kinges necke. c 1550 Bale K. Johan 1147 Put on yowr stolle then, and, I pray yow in Godes name, sytt. 1552 Invent. Ch. Goods York, etc. (Surtees) 42 Item, ij old whyt vestmentes with albe, and stoill, and fannells. 1561 T. Norton Calvin's Inst. iv. xix. (1634) 329 Upon the Deacon that is ordered, the Bishop..layeth a prayer booke and a Stoale upon his left shoulder. 1579 Fulke Heskins Parl. 84 M. Heskins mainteyneth reseruation by dipping of stoales, and linnen clothes in y⊇ cup. 1764 in J. H. Harting Hist. Sardinian Chapel (1905) 23 Two copes with a large stole embroidered in gold thread, with gold fringe round the back. 1844 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. (1858) II. ix. 69 The usual episcopal vestments, the amise..stole [etc.]. 1865 Walcott Cathedr. 93 A canon was to wear in all places the insignia of his rank;..in England now a broad scarf instead of the narrow stole. 1877 J. D. Chambers Div. Worship 48 The Stole, if worn by the Deacon, should be worn suspended over the left shoulder. 1885 Notes on Angels 38, 4. The Dominions, 5. The Virtues, and 6. The Powers wear albs down to the feet, golden girdles, and green stoles. 1904 L. Creighton Life Bp. Creighton II. 35 Each man to be ordained priest was bidden to bring his stole in his hand. |
† b. Often referred to as the vestment worn by a priest when engaged in exorcism or conjuration.
| c 1450 Lovelich Graal xlv. 312 Thanne the Goode Man took haliwater Anon, and his stole, and gan forth to gon. c 1590 Greene Fr. Bacon iv. iii. 1835 Coniuring and adiuring diuels and fiends, With stole and albe and strange Pentagonon. 1598 R. Barckley Felic. Man i. (1603) 55 Taking his stole and other instruments for his conjuration with him, to the sicke woman hee goeth. 1626 L. Owen Spec. Jesuit. (1629) 42 When the Coniurer did but touch her with the stole or with some of his rotten Relikes. |
c. Hist. In the names of certain knightly orders: see quots.
| 1728 Chambers Cycl. s.v. Stole, Order of the Stole, an Order of Knights instituted by the Kings of Arragon... The first Time we hear of it is under Alphonsus V, who mounted the Throne in 1416... Order of the Golden Stole, a military Order at Venice; thus called from a golden Stole which the Knights wear over the Left Shoulder. |
d. An embroidered strip of linen, hanging down in front of an altar.
| 1513 in Archæologia LXVI. 340 Itm a frontlett for an aulter wrought in the stole. 1845 Ecclesiologist IV. 103 We have not spoken of the stoles of the altar, because their use..was never general... They occur in..Van Eyck's..Adoration of the Lamb. |
3. A woman's fur or feather garment, something in the shape of an ecclesiastical stole, worn over the shoulders and hanging down nearly to the feet.
| 1889 Advt. Furs, Victorias, Capes, Stoles, and Muffs, in every description of fur. 1892 Lady 29 Dec. 826/3 One sees a cloak lined with sable..accompanied by a stole and muff to match. 1904 Daily Mail 28 Mar. 1/4 Fashionable feather stoles, Good Feather,..10/6. 1906 Ch. Times 28 Dec. 848 Advt., Real Russian Sable Hair long throwover Stole with extra fine quality tails. |
4. attrib. (senses 2, 3) as stole-end, stole-front, stole-tab; stole-like adj. and adv.; stole-fees pl. [after G. stolgebühren] = surplice-fees.
| 1896 Daily News 7 Mar. 6/3 Jackets..with Watteau pleats at the back and *stole ends in front. |
| 1845 S. Austin Ranke's Hist. Ref. v. iii. III. 83 The greater part of the *stole fees were abolished. 1897 Taunton Engl. Black Monks I. 56 Master Vicar..got his one-third clear, a house free of rent, and all his stole fees and dues. |
| 1892 Daily News 16 June 6/1 The collar had *stole fronts, and the bodice was finished with black ribbons. |
| 1876 Rock Textile Fabrics 90 A *stole-like band of rich white tissue. 1865 Direct Angl. (ed. 2) 24 The Amyss..is a large fur cape..; its ‘tippets’, i.e. two strips of fur in front, fall, stole-like, below the knees. |
| 1903 Daily Chron. 25 July 8/4 The collar..forms *stole-tabs upon the shoulders. |
▪ II. stole, n.2
(stəʊl)
Also 5–6 stoole, 6 stoolle, stowle.
[Commonly identified with stole n.1, to which the unauthenticated sense of ‘royal robe’ is assigned. But there seems to be little doubt that the ‘stole chamber’, served by the Groom or Yeoman of the Stole, was originally the room containing the king's close-stool, and that the word is properly a variant of stool n.1 As, however, the word as thus used was for centuries entirely dissociated from stool, and latterly had a different spelling, it is necessary to treat it separately.
In accounts of coronation ceremonies the king is said to have worn an ornament resembling a stole (stole n.1 2); but it does not appear that this was actually called a ‘stole’ until modern times. The view that the Groom of the Stole derived his designation from this ornament is quite improbable.
Sir H. Nicolas's supposition, that the ‘stole’ was a kind of packing-chest, is a mistaken inference from the stole and male being mentioned together in certain documents.]
1. groom of the stole: the title of a high officer of the king's household (formerly sometimes also in the household of a prince of the blood), ranking next below the vice-chamberlain of the household. Also † yeoman of the stole.
For the duties of the office as understood at various times, see the quots. In the household of a queen or a princess, the office and title were held by a lady. Under Queen Victoria no groom of the stole was appointed, and the office has not since been revived.
| [? a 1480 in Househ. Ord. (1790) 41 The King's chamberlayn to assigne for the ii. garderobes and the King's chambre, for the male and stoole, and other stuffe nedeful, to the some of xii. or xvi. sompter horses. 1502 Privy Purse Exp. Eliz. of York (1830) 45 Item the v{supt}{suph} day of Septembre for cariage of the Quenes stole from London to Oxonford and from Oxonford to Langley, xiiij d. Ibid. 81 For bering shetes trussing sheetes and sheetes for the stoele.] 1455 in Househ. Ord. (1790) *18 Yomen of the Chambre [8 names]. Gromes of the Chambre [9 names]. Yoman of the Stoole, William Grymesby. 1526 Ibid. 156 It is the King's pleasure, that Mr. Norres shall be in the roome of Sir William Compton, not onely giveing his attendance as groome of the King's stoole, but also in his bed-chamber [etc.]. 1596 Harington Metam. Ajax Answ. Let. A vj b, A seuenth (whome I woulde gesse by his writing to bee groome of the stoole to some Prince of the bloud of Fraunce) writes a beastly treatise onely to examine what is the fittest thing to wipe withall, alledging that white paper is too smooth [etc.]. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. v. §31 Groom of the Stole, which hath the reputation and benefit of being first Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber. 1669 E. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Eng. 262 Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber, whereof the first is called Groom of the Stole, that is (according to the signification of the word in Greek, from whence first the Latines, and thence the Italian and French derive it) Groom or Servant of the Robe or Vestment. He having the Office and Honour to present and put on His Majesties first Garment or Shirt every morning, and to order the things of the Bed-Chamber. Ibid. 320 Officers and Servants belonging to Her Royal Highness the Dutchess [of York]. Groom of the Stole, Countess of Rochester. 1702 Lond. Gaz. No. 3820/3 His Excellency had Audience of His Royal Highness Prince George of Denmark, being received..by the Rt. Hon. the Lord Delawar, Groom of the Stool to His Royal Highness. 1710 J. Chamberlayne Pres. St. Gt. Brit. ii. iii. (ed. 23) 541 Sarah Dutchess of Marlborough, Groom of the Stole. |
2. The office of Groom of the Stole.
| 1911 J. H. Rose Pitt & Gt. War v. 125 Dundas requested that he should have the first claim for the Privy Seal for Scotland, provided that Lord Chatham did not take the Stole. 1911 Riker Henry Fox 1st Ld. Holland II. x. 239 The man who..had once struggled, single-handed, to procure Bute the Stole. |
3. attrib. in stole-chamber, stole-room.
| 1532–3 in W. H. St. John Hope Windsor Castle (1913) I. 263 A Copple off Crosse Jamewis tynned ffor a new dore in the Kyngs stole chambre. 1676–7 Ibid. 315 The Kings Privy Backstairs & Closett and Stoole Roome. 1680–2 Ibid. 321 Isaac Thompson Engineer for making ijo new Close Stooles for his Ma{supt}{supi}⊇, One with two frames of Pullyes..and for Silvering the same to Keepe it from Rusting, & fitting & setting it up in his M{supt}{supi}⊇{sups} Stoole Roome. 1686–8 Ibid. 329 The lord Walgraves and Comptrollers Stoole Roomes. |
▪ III. stole, n.3 Bot.
(stəʊl)
[Irregularly ad. L. stolo: see stolon. (The anomalous form may have been due to confusion with stole var. stool n., tree-root.)]
= stolon.
| 1806 W. Turton Linné's Syst. Nat. VII. Expl. Terms, Stole, a sucker or scion from the root of plants. 1832 Planting 91 in Libr. Usef. Knowl., Husb. III, Stole.—The first stage of growth of a shoot emitted or sent out from the sides of a root or stub or coppice-stool. 1835 Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 182 The Stole (stolo), which may be considered the reverse of the sucker. 1866 Treas. Bot. 1101/2 Stole, stolon. |
▪ IV. stole, v.1
(stəʊl)
[f. stole n.1]
1. trans. To provide (an altar, a church) with altar-stoles: see stole n.1 2 d.
| c 1475 Crabhouse Reg. (1889) 60 The Prioresse..pathed the chirche and the quere, and stolid it,..the veyl of the chirche with the auter-clothes in sute cost xl s. 1848 B. Webb Cont. Ecclesiol. 165 A most singular altar is shewn in this window, stoled both in front and in the side. Ibid. 343 Several frontals are merely painted; but I remarked that they represented superfrontals properly fringed and stoled. |
2. [See stoled ppl. a.]
▪ V. stole, v.2 rare.
(stəʊl)
[f. stole n.3]
intr. Of a plant: To develop stolons.
| 1824 Loudon Encycl. Gard. (ed. 2) 1225/2 Succisæ repullulant, trees which stole, or which being cut over spring again. 1846 J. W. Loudon Gardening for Ladies 80 The verb, to stole, which signifies the power most deciduous trees possess, of sending up new stems from the collar of their roots when cut down. |
▪ VI. stole, ppl. a. Now colloq.
(stəʊl)
[Strong pa. pple. of steal v.]
= stolen ppl. a.
| 1393 Langl. P. Pl. C. xviii. 40 ‘Lord leyue’ quaþ þe lede ‘no stole þyng be here’. 1444 Lydg. in Pol. Poems (1859) II. 220 Tyl it be loost, stoole thyng is nat sought. 1884 Encycl. Brit. XVII. 359 Dead netting is a piece without either accrues or stole (stolen) meshes. 1923 [see hisn, his'n]. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 20 June 5-D/1 (Advt.), Found in Missoula: Male Great Dane Cross. Approx. 1½ yrs. old. Stole in Blgs. last Fall or Winter. |
▪ VII. stole
pa. tense and pple. of steal v.; obs. f. stool.