▪ I. style, n.
(staɪl)
Forms: 4 styele, styyl, stele, 4–6 still, 5 stiel, styll, 5–6 styill, 6 steill, stylle, 6–7 steele, 4–9 stile, 4– style.
[a. OF. style, stile, stil, estile, etc. (mod.F. style), ad. L. stilus (also incorrectly written stylus) a stake or pale, pointed instrument for writing, style of speaking or writing; f. root *sti- (? to prick): cf. stimulus. Cf. Pr. estil, Sp., Pg. estilo, It. stilo, stile, G. stil.
The spelling style, originally a meaningless variant of stile, owes its modern currency, both in Fr. and Eng., to the erroneous notion that L. stilus is an adoption of Gr. στῦλος column. In senses 7 and 8, the early history of which is obscure, the word may possibly be ad. Gr. στῦλος; but without further knowledge it is impossible to say whether those who first used the word in these senses were thinking of the Gr. or the L. word; quite probably they regarded the two as identical. As these senses may quite easily have been developed from senses of the L. stilus, there is no sufficient reason against treating them as belonging to the present word.]
I. Stylus, pin, stalk.
1. a. Antiq. An instrument made of metal, bone, etc., having one end sharp-pointed for incising letters on a wax tablet, and the other flat and broad for smoothing the tablet and erasing what is written: = stylus 1. Also applied to similar instruments in later use.
| 1387 Trevisa Higden (Rolls) V. 297 Seinte Barnabe his body was founde in a den..with þe gospel of Mathew þat he hadde i-write wiþ his owne stile. c 1470 Harding Chron. lxiii. viii, Whiche me nede not with my stile auaunce. 1585 Higins Junius' Nomencl. 7/2 Graphium, a writing wyer, or a steele wherewith to write or note. 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ix. (1626) 187 Then fits her trembling hands to write: One holds the wax, the style the other guides. 1710 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) II. 395 Liber Ceylonicus, writ with a style upon the Leaves of Trees. 1766 Complete Farmer s.v. Surveying, A Welsh slate with a sharp stile..is more convenient at such a season, than pen, ink, and paper. 1840 Arnold Hist. Rome II. xxxii. 295 He had his tablets and his style in his hands, to record the votes. 1840 Lardner Geom. 270 To trace a curve..by the continued motion of a pencil or stile. 1864 Ticknor Life Prescott x. 134 The whole apparatus is called a noctograph. When it has been adjusted..the person using it writes with an ivory style, or with a style made of some harder substance, like agate, on the upper surface of the blackened paper. 1885–94 Bridges Eros & Psyche Nov. x, All which he took his silver stile to write In letters large upon a waxèd board. |
b. Used as a weapon of offence, for stabbing, etc.
| 1669 Addr. Hopeful Yng. Gentry Eng. 67 Methinks every point I direct my pen to should be the Sharp Execution of a Stile at their hearts. 1770 Langhorne Plutarch, C. Gracchus (1879) II. 892/1 They immediately killed Antyllius with long styles, said to have been made for such a purpose. 1845 Lingard Anglo-Sax. Ch. II. xii. 246 note, A vague tradition that the boys, whom the sophist taught, provoked by his severity, had stabbed him with their styles for writing. 1856 Merivale Rom. Emp. xlviii. (1865) VI. 94 The senators fell upon the wretched man and stabbed him to death with their styles. |
c. fig., or as a symbol of literary composition.
| 1579 Fenton Guicciard. Ep. Ded., Suche as for the grauitie and fidelitie of their penne and style were cherished with the greatest Princes of those dayes. 1614 C. B. Ghost Rich. III (Shaks. Soc. 1844) 27 Crown'd be his stile with fame, his head with bayes. 1640 Denham Cooper's H. 132 But Princes swords are sharper then their styles. 1820 Hazlitt Lect. Dram. Lit. 329 Their swords and their styles carved out their way with equal sharpness. 1827 Hood Ode to Melancholy 55 Where Death, with his keen-pointed style, Hath writ the common doom. |
† d. Phrase. to turn one's style: to change to another subject; also, to speak on the other side. [So stilum vertere in late L.] Similarly to address, bend, direct, dress, gye, etc. one's style. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 13001 Leue we him a littel quille And turn we to sant Iohn vr still. c 1407 Lydg. Reson & Sens. 4890 To declare yt and expresse, A noon I wil my style dresse. c 1410 ― Life Our Lady lxvii. (1484) k iij, That thorow thyn helpe I may my style gye Somwhat to sey of thyn epyphanye. c 1412–20 ― Chron. Troy iv. 3362 Wher, for a tyme, I wil leue him dwelle, And to Grekis..directe ageyn my stile. 1420–22 ― Thebes 2124 Thus leue I hym ride forth a while, whilys that I retourne ageyn my style Vnto the kyng. a 1529 Skelton P. Sparowe 772, I..cannot in effect My style as yet direct With Englysh wordes elect. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. I. 220 At this dewys I leif thame heir ane quhile, And to the Romanis turne I will my style. 1581 Lambarde Eiren. iii. i. (1588) 333 Here let us..addresse our stile to other statutes. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vii. §16 But saith hee, Turne your stile, and let vs heare what you can say against vs. 1639 Du Verger tr. Camus' Admir. Events 159 This young man quite turning his stile when his Master had strayed from the right way of vertue, beganne to cry out against his inconstancy. a 1656 Bp. Hall Revelat. Unrevealed §4 Reverend and holy Dionysius bent his style in two Books of the Promises of God. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. iii. 202 Where, leave we Him and Ralph a while, And to the Conj'rer turn out stile. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 34 To gentle Arcite let us turn our Style. |
2. An engraving-tool; a graver.
| 1662 Evelyn Chalcogr. (1906) 7 The γλυϕεῖον Style, or Scalprum. 1682 Dryden Medal 22 The Style that copy'd every grace, And plough'd such furrows for an Eunuch face. 1785 Cowper Task i. 706 Nor does the chissel occupy alone The pow'rs of sculpture, but the style as much. 1801 Fuseli in Barry etc. Lect. Paint. (1848) 350 The outlines were traced with a firm but pliant style, which they called cestrum. |
† 3. A pointed instrument used for marking. Obs.
| 1659 Twysden S. Foster's Miscell. xv. 12 With some stile or dent make a mark where the point of the Gnomon is reposed through the water, upon the side of the Vessel. |
4. Surg. A blunt-pointed probe.
| 1631 H. C[rooke] Expl. Instrum. Chirurg. 7 Then it will be necessary to seare the Vlcer with a Style blunt at the end, and red hot running in a hollow pype. 1846 J. Miller Pract. Surg. 98 To accomplish this, styles—or small bougies—are employed. 1895 Arnold & Sons' Catal. Surg. Instrum. 157 Style for Fistula Lachrymalis (Walton's), silver. |
5. A hard point for tracing, in manifold writing; the marking-point in a telegraph or phonograph.
| 1871 Culley Pract. Telegr. (ed. 5) 205 A lever carrying a point or style, which embosses a mark upon a band of paper carried forward by wheelwork. 1878 M. Foster Physiol. iii. iii. §1. 451 A very light style attached to the incus or stapes is made to write on a travelling surface. 1881 Nature 20 Oct. 582/2 A style concentric with the shaft presses lightly against a compound sheet of tracing and carbonised paper attached to the under side of the table. |
6. gen. A fixed pointer, pin, or finger for indicating a point or position. Cf. stylus 4.
| 1555 Eden Decades (Arb.) 390 We must tary vntyll the poynt or style of the clocke do exactly come to the poynt of sum houre. 1594 Blundevil Exerc., Mercator's Globes (1597) 209 A little round Squire of brasse,..the head or stile whereof is to shew the shadow of the Sunne being set vpon the Globe. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. ii. iii. 76 Placing therein two stiles or needles composed of the same steele, touched with the same Loadstone, and at the same point. 1664 Evelyn tr. Freart's Parallel Archit. etc. 152 The Style is a streight Ruler, one end whereof is fixt in the center of the said Circle, the other end moves about at pleasure, so as that it may be easily transfer'd and directed from one division of the Circle to another. |
7. a. The pin, rod, or triangular plate which forms the gnomon of a sun-dial.
| 1577–87 Harrison England ii. vi. 171/1 in Holinshed, Among the Persians onelie the king dined when the sunne was at the highest, and shadow of the stile at the shortest. 1594 Blundevil Exerc., Descr. Tables of Sines (1597) 52 b, That shadowe is called Vmbra versa, which proceedeth from some right style or pearch being thrust into a wall or post standing right vp, and not leaning. 1651 J. White Rich Cabinet (1677) 44 The Stile may be made of a thin Iron plate, and cemented in, or of a stiffe wire. 1764 J. Ferguson Lect. 197 The edge of the plane by which the time of the day is found, is called the stile of the dial. 1834 M. Somerville Connex. Phys. Sci. xiii. 104 The shadow of the stile of a dial. 1868 Lockyer Elem. Astron. §402. 193 In practice,..all we want is a projection called a style, parallel to the earth's axis,..and a dial. |
b. defined as a line.
| 1690 Leybourn Curs. Math. 704 Draw the Line CF for the Axis, or Stile of your Dial. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. Style, in Dyalling, is that Line whose Shadow on the Plane of the Dyal, shews the true Hour-Line. This is always supposed to be a part of the Axis of the Earth, and therefore must always be so placed, as that with its two extreme Points it shall respect the two Poles of the World, and with its Upper-end, the elevated Pole. This Line is the Upper-edge of the Cock, Gnomon, or Index. |
8. Bot. A narrowed prolongation of the ovary, which, when present, supports the stigma at its apex.
| 1682 S. Gilbert Florists Vade-Mecum (1702) 122 The flowers..opening into five fair broad leaves, with a stile and small threds in the middle of a Saffron colour. 1691 Ray Creation i. (1692) 92 The figure of the Stile and Seed-vessel. 1784 J. King Cook's 3rd Voy. vi. vi. III. 335 From the centre of the flower rises a style of a triangular form, and obtuse at the end. 1872 Oliver Elem. Bot. i. i. 9 In many plants the stalk of the stigma is of considerable length,..whether long or short, however, it is called a style. |
9. Ent. a. A slender bristle-like process in the anal region. b. The bristle or seta of the antenna of a dipter.
| 1826 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. III. xxxiii. 392 Styli (the Styles). Rigid, exarticulate, long and narrow anal organs. Ex. Staphylinus. 1895 D. Sharp Insects i. 238 The ninth pair [of abdominal appendages]..form the ventral styles. Ibid. ii. 442 The part of the antenna beyond the scape is called the ‘flagellum’; an appendage of the flagellum is called ‘arista’ when bristle-like, when thicker ‘style’. |
10. Zool. a. A small slender pointed process or part; a stylet.
| 1851 Woodward Mollusca 67 Octopodidæ:..shell represented by two short styles, encysted in the substance of the mantle. 1875 Huxley in Encycl. Brit. I. 762/1 There are five digits in the manus of the Anura; but the pollex is rudimentary, being represented only by a cartilaginous or more or less ossified style. 1876 ― in Nature 11 May 34/2 A horse-like animal..with three toes,..but having, in addition, a little style of bone on the outer side of the fore foot. |
b. A sponge-spicule pointed at one end.
| 1879 H. N. Moseley Notes Nat. ‘Challenger’ 530 The ‘style,’ a rod of the calcareous skeleton, which in many genera of Stylasteridæ acts as a support to the mouth-bearing polyp within its pore. 1888 W. J. Sollas in Challenger Rep. XXV. p. lviii, When the single actine is strongylate at the origin and oxeate at the termination the term style is used without qualification. |
¶ 11. A post, stake. nonce-use (tr. L. stilus).
| 1579 Hake Newes out of Powles (1872) G ij, Entending..to..seuer places by themselues, with styles and parting stakes. 1609 Holland Amm. Marcell. xxiii. iii. 222 When as..a round stone is put into the sling, foure lustie young men..unfolding the barres whereto the ropes are incorporate, draw backe the style or standard up to the hooke. |
II. [Developed in L. from sense 1.] Writing; manner of writing (hence also of speaking).
† 12. a. A written work or works; literary composition; in later use occas. a composition spoken or sung. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 21293 Þe stile o matheu, water it was, And win þe letter o lucas. c 1430 Lydg. Min. Poems (Percy Soc.) 87 As seynt Jerom rehersithe in his style. 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxxiv. 22 And sen thir clarkis hes writtin in thair stylis To ȝoungar folk and thair successioun. 1508 ― Goldyn Targe 68 Noucht thou, [H]omer, als fair as thou coud wryte, For all thine ornate stilis so perfyte. 1579 W. Wilkinson Confut. Fam. Love To Rdr. *iiij b, Against whose opinions my whole stile and writyng is especially directed. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Jan. 10 Well couth he tune his pipe, and frame his stile. 1595 Locrine v. iv. 200 Addresse your eares to heare a mournfull stile! |
† b. An inscription or legend. Obs.
| c 1512 Earl Northumb. Househ.-Bk. (1770) 199 And a Still on the Hede of every Quarter of the Parcellis that is provided forre. 1640 Sandys Christs Passion iv. 110 The Governour intreating to take down That glorious Stile [the superscription on the Cross]. 1689 Luttrell Brief Rel. I. 502 There is a new great seal made, with this stile round it: Willielmus 3. et Maria 2 [etc.]. |
† c. An entry, clause, or section in a legal document. Also ? the heading or introductory formula of a will, a writ, or other document. Obs.
| 1570–6 Lambarde Peramb. Kent (1826) 192 Without shewing for what auncient service..the same Rent grew due and payable, as in the first stile or entrie is expressed. 1619 Depositions Bk. Archdeaconries Essex & Colchester 103 b, Robert Wistocke..had begun to write the stile of the will, but went no farther. 1648–9 Whitelock Mem. (1853) II. 492 That the name of any one particular person should not be inserted as the style of any common writ. |
13. a. The manner of expression characteristic of a particular writer (hence of an orator), or of a literary group or period; a writer's mode of expression considered in regard to clearness, effectiveness, beauty, and the like.
† in frankis stile (quot. 1330): in the French language.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 16705 (Petyt MS.) Pers of Langtoft..On frankis stile þis storie wrote. c 1386 Chaucer Clerk's T. 1092 Therfore petrak writeth This storie, which with heigh stile he enditeth. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy i. 3090 After þe maner of my rude stile. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 475/2 Style, forme of indytynge, or spekynge or wrytynge, stilus. 1517 H. Watson Ship of Fools Argt. A j, In facyle sentence and famylyer style. a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV. 227 A letter of diffiance, bothe for the stile & the pennyng excellently endited. 1609 B. Jonson Epicœne ii. ii, So shee may censure Poets, and Authors, and stiles, and compare 'hem. 1721 Swift Let. Yng. Gentl. Holy Orders Wks. 1898 III. 201 Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style. 1728 Law Serious C. vii. (1732) 96 She will sometimes read a book of Piety..if it is much commended for stile and language. a 1817 T. Dwight Trav. (1821) I. 510 The Boston style is a phrase, proverbially used..to denote a florid, pompous manner of writing. 1845 Pattison Ess. (1889) I. 13 St. Gregory of Tours has no style, barely grammar. 1870 Ruskin Lect. Art iii. 68 No man is worth reading to form your style, who does not mean what he says. 1889 Swinburne Stud. B. Jonson 174 The incomparable style of Mr. Ruskin. |
b. Used for: A good, choice or fine style.
| 1589 Pappe w. Hatchet (1844) 17 All this is but bad English, when wilt thou come to a stile? |
c. Proverbial phr. the style is the man.
| [1624 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy (ed. 2) 7 It is most true, stylus virum arguit, our stile bewrayes vs. 1753 G. Buffon Histoire Naturelle VII. p. xvii, Le style est l'homme même.] 1901 G. B. Shaw Caesar & Cleopatra 208 Going to Caesar's books, and concluding that the style is the man. 1901 A. Whyte Bible Characters: Stephen to Timothy civ. 72 If the style is the man in Holy Scripture also,..we feel a very great liking for Luke. 1942 H. F. Heard Reply Paid (1943) ix. 141 Usually I don't like to have my style modified. ‘The style is the man.’ 1978 Language LIV. 284 In describing Achilles' speech, we have also been describing his character, since ‘style is the man’. |
14. In generalized sense: Those features of literary composition which belong to form and expression rather than to the substance of the thought or matter expressed. Often used for: Good or fine style.
| 1577 Harrison England Ep. Ded., I neuer made any choise of stile, or picked wordes. c 1618 E. Bolton Hypercrit. iv. §1 Language and Style, the Coat and Apparel of matter. 1713 Steele Englishm. No. 7. 46 The Rules of Method, and the Propriety of Thought and Stile. 1749 Chesterfield Let. to Son 24 Nov., Style is the dress of thoughts. 1840 De Quincey Lang. Wks. 1858 IX. 93 It is certain that style, or..the management of language,..is able..to yield a separate intellectual pleasure quite apart from the interest of the subject treated. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 331 Some cultivated rhetoric with such assiduity and success that their discourses are still justly valued as models of style. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) IV. 121 The Parmenides in point of style is one of the best of the Platonic writings. |
15. A manner of discourse, or tone of speaking, adopted in addressing others or in ordinary conversation.
| 1567 Turberv. Epit. etc. 77 Stop vp thine eares this Syren to beguile,..be sure To lend no eare vnto hir flattring stile. 1614 Bacon Charge touching Duels. 28 No man tooke himselfe fowled by them [sc. reproaches], but tooke them but for breath, and the stile of an enemy. 1667–8 Pepys Diary 23 Feb., But here talking, he did discourse in this stile: ‘We’, and ‘We’ all along, ‘will not give any money’ [etc.]. 1711 Swift Cond. Allies 32 This hath been the Style of late Years; which whoever introduced among us, they have taught our Allies to speak after them. 1722 Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. II. 362 When Threats moved him very little, some others of them changed their Stile, and calmly asked him, What is the Reason you will not comply as your elder Brother hath done. 1791 Boswell Johnson an. 1768, May, He talked in his usual style with a rough contempt of popular liberty. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 907 To a new style his reverence rashly took; Loud grew his voice, to threat'ning swell'd his look. 1832 Greville Mem. (1874) II. 289 Able as he is, he has adopted a tone and style..unusual on the Episcopal bench. 1875 Jowett Plato (ed. 2) V. 5 The Athenian talks to the two others..in the style of a master discoursing to his scholars. |
† 16. A form of words, phrase, or formula, by which a particular idea or thought is expressed.
| 1594 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. ii. 571 Neuerthelesse wee meane according to the stile of the holy scriptures, that hee [etc.]. 1642 D. Rogers Naaman 589 To use Saint Iames his stile..saying, If God will blesse it, it shall heale. 1649 Jer. Taylor Gt. Exemp. ii. Disc. viii. 60 Every sinner in the stile of Scripture is a fool. 1653 T. Watson Art Div. Contentm. vii. (1668) 42 Ipse dixit was enough among Pythagoras his Scholars; Be it enacted, is the Royal Style. 1654 H. L'Estrange Chas. I (1655) 4 In the stile of the Court he [James I.] went for Great Britain's Solomon. 1710 Prideaux Orig. Tithes i. 9 The Stile and Phrase of the Text plainly speaks of it as such. 1736 Butler Anal. i. iii. 64 The eastern Stile would be literally applicable to him, that all People, Nations, and Languages should serve him. |
17. a. Scots Law. The authorized form for drawing up a deed or instrument.
| c 1480 Henryson Sheep & Dog 8 For by the vse, and cours, and commoun style On this maner maid his Citatioun. 1490 Munim. de Melros (Bannatyne Club) 600 In þe sikkyrast forme & styill of obligatioune wsyt..within the Realme. 1585 Sc. Acts Jas. VI (1814) III. 377/2 That euerie writtair subscribe his name on þe bak of þe signatour or lettre as allowit be him That it is writtin according to þe ordiner stile and forme. 1697 G. Dallas (title) System of Stiles, as now Practicable within the Kingdom of Scotland. 1708 J. Spottiswoode Introd. Stile of Writs (1727) 28 When the Bond of Provision is made by a Father, in favours of his whole Children, the Stile is thus. I A. for the paternal Love and fatherly Affection that I have and bear to B, C, &c. my lawful Children, by these Presents [etc.]. 1862 Hendry (title) Styles of Deeds and Instruments..Second Edition. |
b. In generalized sense: Legal technicality of language or construction; as in words or clauses of style.
| 1743 Kames Decis. Crt. Sess. 1730–52 (1799) 75 The extent of the obligation is to be gathered from the nature of the transaction, rather than from clauses of style slightly or imperfectly framed. 1765–8 Erskine Inst. Law Scot. iii. 11. §1 Their verborum obligatio, to the forming of which it behoved both parties to utter certain verba solennia, or words of style. 1912 Black & Chrystal Life W. R. Smith vi. 237 Libels were drawn up in the old ratiocinative form, bristling with words of style and verbosities of all kinds. |
18. a. A legal, official, or honorific title; the proper name or recognized appellation of a person, family, trading firm, etc.; the ceremonial designation of a sovereign, including his various titles and the enumeration of his dominions.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 16082 He es na godd ne godds sun, of him we knau þe stile. c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 2832 He þat noble is of blode, and a lorde In stile. 1414 Dede is worchyng 115 in 26 Pol. Poems 59 To ffraunce kyng Edwarde had queryle, Hit was his kynde heritage; And ȝe han þe same style. c 1470 Henry Wallace ix. 87 The Rede Reffayr thai call him in his still. 1543–4 Act 35 Hen. VIII, c. 3 (title) The Bill for the Kinges Stile. 1625 Bacon Ess., Prophecies (Arb.) 537 The Kings Stile, is now no more of England, but of Britaine. 1639 Fuller Holy War iii. x. (1640) 126 King Richard, with some of his succeeding English Kings wore the title of Jerusalem in their style. 1667 Milton P.L. ii. 312 Or these Titles now Must we renounce, and changing stile be call'd Princes of Hell? 1758 Payne's Universal Chron. 29 July–5 Aug. 141/1 A Grant..of the dignity of an Earl of the said kingdom, by the name, stile and title of Earl of Wandesford, in the county of Kilkenny. 1796 Morse Amer. Geog. I. 232 Articles of Confederation..in which they took the style of ‘The United States of America.’ 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. x. II. 667 The title of king of France, assumed by the conqueror of Cressy, was not omitted in the royal style. 1863 H. Cox Instit. iii. viii. 715 Conferring the whole Admiralty jurisdiction..on one person, under the style of High Admiral. 1865 M. Arnold Ess. Crit. Pref. p. xiv, My native modesty is such, that I have always been shy of assuming the honourable style of Professor. 1886 Law Rep. Weekly Notes 198/1 The covenant was.. that he would not use a particular name or style in trade. 1913 Times 13 Sept. 17/6 Partnerships Dissolved... P. Lawford and P. W. Billing,..under the style of A. S. Wilson and Co. |
b. gen. Any distinguishing or qualifying title, appellation, or denomination. Now rare or Obs.
| c 1400 Pilgr. Sowle iv. xx. (Caxton 1483) 67 And eke of moder hast thou lost the style. 1508 Kennedie Flyting w. Dunbar 282 Wallace..callit Corspatrick tratour be his style. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, i. i, The name of father, and the style of friend. 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. i. vi. §2 The one carrying the stile of a Manufacture, and the other of a lawe, decree, or Councell. 1611 Middleton & Dekker Roaring Girl K 4, A ruffler is my stile, my title, my profession. 1631 Heywood 2nd Pt. Fair Maid of West i. C 2 b, T' impose on me The hatefull stile and blot of pandarisme, That am a Gentleman. 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseud. Ep. i. iii. 10 Their soberest adversaries have ever afforded them the stile of fooles and mad men. 1673 Penn Chr. Quaker vii. Wks. 1726 I. 542 Which excellent Principles..do worthily deserve, in my Esteem, the Stile of Divinity. 1711 Swift Cond. Allies 30 The Style of Maritime Powers, by which our Allies, in a sort of contemptuous manner, usually couple us with the Dutch. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iv. 788 A Christian is the highest stile of man. |
III. Manner, fashion.
† 19. a. A method or custom of performing actions or functions, esp. one sanctioned by usage or law. style of court: see quot. 1726. Obs.
| c 1430 Pilgr. Lyf Manhode iii. xxxi. (1869) 152 But whan j wole, þe style j haue, and hippe a while bi lesinges and lyinge. 1530 Palsgr. 276/1 Style a processe, stile. 1535 Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 10 Tua legatis he hes send..To execute the law in Romane stylis. 1549 Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Club) I. 434 Togyddyr with seruice in ostijng and vthir generall raidis furneist þairto efter þe forme and styill of þe schyir. 1647 Clarendon Hist. Reb. i. §20 According to the style of that Court and the slow progress in all things of ceremony. 1721 Strype Eccl. Mem. (1822) I. i. 145 He did an act against the custom and common style of the Court. 1726 Ayliffe Parergon 193 The Style of Court is properly the Practice observ'd by any Court in its way of Proceeding. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. ii. i, I like to give them a hearty reception in the old style at my gate. |
† b. A particular manner of life or behaviour.
| c 1412 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 4024 Allas! Þat Kynges nobleye Turne schulde into style of tirannye! Ibid. 4516 [addressing a miser] Thus may thy style likned be to thefte. |
† c. ? Outward demeanour. Obs.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. ii. 29 Ne certes can that friendship long endure, How euer gay and goodly be the style, That doth ill cause or euill end enure. |
† 20. Condition with regard to external circumstances. Obs.
| c 1450 Holland Howlat 658 The stern Empriouris Style thus staitly restord is. Ibid. 709 Quhar sic statis will steir, thar stylis till ostend, Ȝe wait all worschip and welth dayly induris. c 1480 Henryson Robene & Makyne 57 Robene, I stand in sic a styll [rimes quhyle, begyle]; I sicht, and þat full sair. |
21. a. A particular mode or form of skilled construction, execution, or production; the manner in which a work of art is executed, regarded as characteristic of the individual artist, or of his time and place; one of the modes recognized in a particular art as suitable for the production of beautiful or skilful work.
| 1706 Art of Painting (1744) 63 When a curious person has well consider'd the different pictures of a master, and has form'd a perfect idea of his stile. 1728 Chambers Cycl., Style, in Music, the manner of Singing and Composing. Thus we say, the Style of the Charissimi, of Lully, of Lambert; the Style of the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, &c. 1743 Francis tr. Hor., Odes iii. i. 61 On Columns, rais'd in modern Style. 1763 J. Brown Poetry & Mus. xii. 210 It [Modern Church Music] is infected with the same Puerility of Stile, with their Opera Airs. 1777 Robertson Hist. Amer. (1778) II. vii. 286 The hardest Egyptian stile, stiff and imperfect as it was, is more elegant [than that of Mexican painting]. 1801 Fuseli Lect. Paint. ii. 69 Michael Angelo lived to see the electric shock which his design and style had given to art. 1812 Crabbe Tales v. 533 The shining tables, curiously inlaid, Were all in comfortless proud style display'd. 1832 G. Downes Lett. Cont. Countries I. 84 At Lausanne we only stopped for dinner (which we obtained in sufficiently bad style at the Lion d'Or). 1858 Hingeston Capgrave's Chron. (Rolls) p. xxvi, The style of the writing corresponds very closely with that of those MSS. of Capgrave which are known..to have been written by his own hand. 1865 Nat. Hist. Rev. 338 The ‘style’ in which the book has been produced is excellent. 1910 Encycl. Brit. II. 28/1 British manufacturers are building [fishing-] rods after the American style. |
b. In generalized sense. Often used for: Beauty or loftiness of style.
| 1801 Fuseli in Barry, etc. Lect. Paint. (1848) 381 The few nudities which he [Fra Bartolomeo] allowed himself to exhibit show sufficient intelligence and still more style. |
c. A definite type of architecture, distinguished by special characteristics of structure or ornamentation. Often with prefixed designation, as the Grecian style, Gothic style, Italian style, Romanesque style; the Norman style, Early English style, Decorated style, Perpendicular style, Tudor style, Renaissance style, Palladian style; and the like.
| 1777 Dalrymple Trav. Sp. & Port. cxxxiii, A very handsome church..in the Gothic stile. 1817 Rickman Styles Engl. Archit. 46 The first or Norman style. Ibid. 56 The Second, or Early English Style. Ibid. 71 The Third, or Decorated English Style. 1838 Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl. I. 157 The beauties or defects of either the Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, or Gothic style. 1874 J. T. Micklethwaite Mod. Par. Churches 251 A man can no more invent a new style than he can invent a new language. a 1878 Sir G. Scott Lect. Archit. I. 6 Each age had its architectural style distinctly and strongly marked. |
d. Printing. The rules and methods, in regard to typography, display, etc., observed in a particular printing-office.
| 1871 Amer. Encycl. Printing (ed. Ringwalt) 451 It is highly important for a compositor to thoroughly familiarize himself with the style of the office in which he is employed, as well as the style adopted for any special work. Ibid., After a compositor has been at an office for years, where, habituated to the style of the house, he sets up words in type as follows. 1894 Amer. Dict. Printing, etc. 530 Most printing-offices have their own particular method in the matter of display, spelling, &c., and this is known as the style of the house. |
e. Calico printing. (a) See quot. 1844. (b) Any of the various methods in use for producing the coloured design.
| 1844 G. Dodd Textile Manuf. ii. 58 Among calico-printers the term pattern is applied to disposition of forms, while style is applied to disposition of colours. 1874 Crookes Dyeing & Calico-Printing 566 The madder styles have for a long time played the most important part in calico-printing. 1892 Arlidge Dis. Occupations 523 The art of dyeing is one characterised by very diverse methods, or, as they are called, ‘styles’. |
22. a. A kind, sort, or type, as determined by manner of composition or construction, or by outward appearance.
| 1794 Mrs. Radcliffe Myst. Udolpho xxxii, Of the latter style of countenance..were those of the peasant and his wife. 1797 Jane Austen Sense & Sens. xxxiii, There was something in her style of beauty to please them [i.e. men] particularly. 1836 Dickens Sk. Boz, Visit Newgate, The former [murderer]..exhibiting a style of head and set of features, which might have afforded sufficient moral grounds for his execution at any time. 1849 N. Brit. Rev. XI. 479 Emilia Wyndham is a complete example of the style of novel in which Mrs. Marsh is qualified to succeed. 1899 Allbutt's Syst. Med. VII. 659 The ‘style’ of the symptoms, as I am in the habit of calling it. |
b. transf. Said predicatively of a person or thing: What suits (a person's) taste; the ‘sort’ that (a person or set of persons) would choose or approve.
| 1811 L. M. Hawkins C'tess & Gertr. I. 358 Had he continued to live en gar{cced}on, his own Chariot, little less weight than a farmer's loaded waggon, with gilt springs..would have been his style. 1880 ‘Ouida’ Moths I. 145 She is not the style of the day at all, you know. |
† c. in a..style. (a) Of a (specified) kind; (made) on a certain scale. (b) In a (good or bad) condition as regards health, mode of life, etc. Obs.
| 1772 Test Filial Duty II. 24 Every thing here is in a great stile; I shall hence forward look on the middle part of England as the miniature of nature. 1789 C. Smith Ethelinde II. 269 By all accounts he's in a bad style. He was always, I thought, a giddy unpromising boy. Ibid. III. 5 Nor should I have thrown away a thought on this [lady], had not she had the reputation of an understanding in a superior style. Ibid. 264 My horses are all in a fine style. |
23. a. Manner of executing a task or performing an action or operation. Often with reference to athletics, racing, games: The manner of action of a particular performer, racehorse, etc. Also gen., one's characteristic manner of acting or reacting. Phr. to cramp one's style: see cramp v. 5 c.
| 1774 Burke Sp. Amer. Tax. Wks. 1792 I. 551 To repeal by a denial of our right to tax in the preamble..would have cut, in the heroic style, the Gordian knot with a sword. 1815 J. Smith Panorama Sci. & Art II. 157 The bold adventurer ascended from Belvidere Grounds, Dublin,..and in a gradual and majestic style left the shores of Ireland. 1819 in Lond. Gaz. (1820) No. 17629. 1670/1 That the service entrusted to him has been executed in a stile most creditable to the professional skill of the Major-General himself. 1833 H. Martineau Tale of Tyne i. 11 A barge was coming up in fine style. 1833 Q. Rev. XLIX. 382 The style in which he [a horse] ran, his nose almost sweeping the ground. 1879 Proctor Rough Ways (1880) 159 They row in a style, which without being actually identical with that of the London waterman, resembles it in all essential respects. 1879 Oxf. & Camb. Undergrad. Jrnl. 13 Mar. 291/2 If his staying powers can be trusted he is perhaps the best man in the boat, his style being very good. 1891 B. Harte First Fam. Tasajara x, It was like you to..say all those mean, silly things to dad,..in your regular looney style. 1937 C. Odets Golden Boy i. iii. 47 Joe knows his own needs, as he says. Don't ask him to change his style. 1970 G. F. Newman Sir, You Bastard viii. 247 It hadn't been his original intention to make her suffer, but he couldn't alter his style. 1978 S. Brill Teamsters vi. 260 Lying low just isn't his style. |
b. Used absol. for: Good or fine style.
| 1864 Times 21 Mar. 9/6 Mr. Hawkshaw, in speaking for the Cambridge crew, said they had been beaten by style. |
24. a. A mode of deportment or behaviour; a mode or fashion of life, esp. in regard to expense, display, etc.
| 1770 C. Jenner Placid Man iii. iv. I. 163 He found Lady Clayton in a very high stile of passion. a 1775 Hobie Noble xv. in Child Ballads IV. 3 Then Hobie Noble is that deer; I wat he carries the style fu hie! 1780 New Newgate Cal. V. 161 Living in the stile of a gentleman. 1788 A. Hughes Henry & Isab. III. 66 An opportunity of marrying in such a manner as would enable her to live in a certain style, among a certain class. c 1789 Gibbon Autobiog. Misc. Wks. 1796 I. 117 Between the expensive style of Paris and of Italy it was prudent to interpose some months of tranquil simplicity. 1792 Gouv. Morris in Sparks Life & Writ. (1832) I. 374 The society is noisy and in bad style. 1798 S. Lee Canterb. T., Young Lady's T. II. 14 [He] had already brought home an immense fortune from the East, and was now to return in a high style. 1814 Scott Wav. lxii. ¶1 That gentleman..lived in what is called great style. 1816 Remarks Eng. Manners 87, I was convinced by their style that any overture on my part would be deemed an intrusion. 1825 Lamb Lepus Papers v. Wks. 1903 I. 278 What a style you do live in! what elegant curtains! 1847 C. Brontë J. Eyre xv, I began the process of ruining myself in the received style, like any other spoony. 1885 ‘E. Garrett’ At any Cost xiii. 246, I don't say your Miss Chrissie did anything in that style, but she lost her place here through her carryings on. 1892 E. Reeves Homeward Bound 270 So we left in great style, with bands playing and soldiers presenting arms. |
b. Used absol. for: Fashionable air, appearance, deportment, etc. Also, more generally, attractive or impressive quality; originality.
| 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. viii. (1860) 176 Style..consists in certain fashions, or certain eccentricities, or certain manners, of certain people, in certain situations, and possessed of a certain share of fashion or importance. 1835 Willis Pencillings I. xxv. 175 A plain German city, with little or no pretensions to style. 1848 Alb. Smith Chr. Tadpole xxvi. 233 An evident wish to throw a little style into their costume. 1885 Howells Ind. Summer ii. 16 The refined and indefinite perfume which exhaled from the ensemble of her silks, her laces, and her gloves, like an odorous version of that otherwise impalpable quality which women call style. 1967 Trans-Action Apr. 11/1 Style is difficult to define as it has so many referents. It means to carry one's self well, dress well, to show class... A person with style must also show respect..for another's superior power. 1968 Listener 13 June 761/3 Jack, the prime Kennedy,..had a quality which practically everybody recognised as ‘style’. 1979 R. Jaffe Class Reunion (1980) ii. xi. 288 How much more dignified it would have been if Rusty could have trusted her... But Rusty had never had style. |
c. in style: splendidly, showily, according to fashionable requirements. Also † in a style.
| 1781 W. Blane Ess. Hunting (1788) 31 note, All other kind of Hounds are now entirely laid aside by those who affect to hunt in style. 1782 F. Burney Cecilia iv. ii, We began with cotillons, and finished with country dances. It was the most elegant thing you ever saw in your life; everything quite in a style. 1807 Sporting Mag. XXIX. 23 Every gentleman who perambulates Bond-street and the Steyne in style. 1835 Dickens Sk. Boz, Publ. Dinners, The driver..—no doubt that you may do the thing in style—turns a deaf ear to your earnest entreaties to be set down at the corner. 1874 Ruskin Fors Clav. IV. 39 This is what the modern British public thinks is ‘living in style’. |
d. transf. Attractive quality (in a thing).
| 1897 Daily News 18 Mar. 8/7 They found that the beer had ‘more style,’ as it was called, when there was a certain admixture of foreign barley. |
25. A particular mode or fashion of costume.
| 1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park xxiv, A better style of dress. 1833 H. Martineau Brooke Farm viii, His daughters look very well in their better style of dress. 1860 Draper & Clothier I. 129/1 The dress is of the style called in Paris, the robe Impératrice. 1866 Geo. Eliot F. Holt xvi, Got up, both inside and out, as candidates in the style of the period. 1891 Truth 10 Dec. 1240/2 The front was all white satin, made in Empire style. |
26. A person's characteristic bearing, demeanour, or manner, esp. as conducing to beauty or striking appearance.
| 1826 Disraeli Viv. Grey v. xv, Most amusing, delightful girl, great style! 1861 Mrs. H. Wood Shadow of Ashlydyat i. ii, I do not see much beauty in Charlotte Pain. I do not like her style. 1870 Dickens E. Drood iv, Mr. Sapsea is very proud of this, and of his voice, and of his style. 1869 Mrs. Stowe Oldtown Folks vi. (1870) 61 There are some very homely women who have a style that amounts to something like beauty. |
IV. 27. a. A mode of expressing dates. Chiefly, Either of the two methods of dating that have been current in the Christian world since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582: viz., the New Style (abbreviated N.S.), which is the result of the Gregorian reform, and the Old Style (O.S.) which follows the unreformed calendar. The New Style is occasionally called the Roman Style, and the Old Style the English Style. In historical dates earlier than 1582, however, Roman Style, as used by modern writers, means only that the year mentioned is to be understood as beginning on 1 Jan.
The Julian calendar was based on the assumption that the tropical year consisted of 3651/4 days. In order that the average calendar year should have this length, it was provided that the normal year should contain 365 days, but every fourth year 366 days. Down to a.d. 1582 the Julian calendar continued to be used by all Christian nations. In calendars and almanacs, the year began on 1 Jan. (like the Roman consular year); but for ordinary purposes the time of beginning the year was different in different places; in England, after some fluctuations, the beginning of the legal year was fixed for 25 March. After the adoption of the Christian era, the leap years were those whose number a.d. (reckoned from 1 Jan.) was divisible by 4.
The Julian estimate of 3651/4 days for the length of the tropical year was too great by about 11 minutes, an error which amounts to one day in about 128 years. Hence in 1581 the date of 21 March for the vernal equinox, assumed since the early 4th c. in the rule for computing Easter, was 10 days too late. To remedy this inconvenience, and to prevent its recurrence, Pope Gregory XIII, acting on the advice of the Jesuit Clavius and other eminent astronomers, ordained that in a.d. 1582 the day after 4 Oct. should be reckoned as 15 Oct., and that in future the years which had a number ending in two cyphers should not be leap years unless the number were divisible by 400. The Julian date of 1 Jan. for the beginning of the year was retained. The difference between the old and new calendars continued to be 10 days until 1700 (the first disputed leap-year), when it became 11 days; in 1800 it became 12 days, and in 1900 13 days, from which there will be no further increase till 2100.
The Gregorian calendar (so called from the name of the Pope) was speedily adopted in all Roman Catholic countries, while the other nations of Europe adhered to their traditional reckoning. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was often found necessary to state whether a date was according to Old or New Style, or to give both datings. As the nations which accepted the reform usually began the year on 1 Jan., not, as in England, on 25 Mar., there was for the March quarter (in addition to the other difference) a discrepancy in the number of the year between the Old Style and New Style dates.
In England and Scotland the Gregorian calendar was established by the Act 24 Geo. II. c. 23 (1751), which provided that the year 1752 and all future years should begin on 1 Jan. instead of 25 Mar. (in Scotland this rule had been adopted in 1600), that the day after 2 Sep. 1752 should be reckoned the 14 Sep., and that the reformed rule for leap year should in future be followed. Ireland followed in 1788. The use of New Style is now universal throughout the Christian world with the exception of certain countries of the Greek Church; in Russia it was officially adopted by the revolutionary government in 1918.
The use of stilus for ‘mode of dating’ was current in med.L., as a specific application of the sense ‘usage’ (cf. 19 above). In France the expression New Style (nouveau style) had been current before the time of the Gregorian reform, with reference to the change in the beginning of the year from Easter to 1 Jan., which took place in that country in 1563.
| [1589: cf. stilo novo]. 1590 Wotton Life & Lett. (1907) I. 239 Written the xxv of September, 1590, style of England. 1615 Cocks Diary 18 June (Hakl. Soc.) I. 11, I receved a letter from Jorge Durois, dated in Langasaque, le 22nd of June, new stile. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 63 The ninth of September, after the old stile (for the new style is vsed in Poland) I tooke my iourney to Crakaw. 1625 Docum. Impeachm. Buckhm. (Camden) 160 The eight and twentieth day of this presente moneth of March, Old Stile of England. 1664 Sir R. Fanshawe Let. in Mem. Lady Fanshawe (1829) 329 Madrid, Wednesday, the 15th June, 1664, English Style. 1674 Moxon Tutor Astron. ii. (ed. 3) 84, I look in the Calender of Old Stile for June 1. 1678 Trial of Coleman 28 In the month of April old stile, May new stile. 1712 Budgell Spect. No. 395 ¶3 Telling me she looked upon the Month as then out, for that she had all along reckoned by the New Style. 1716 Mar Jrnl. in Patten Hist. Rebell. (1717) 269 It was about the middle of December (our Style) before he could reach Dunkirk. 1753 in Wilkins Polit. Ballads (1860) II. 311 In seventeen hundred and fifty three The Style it was chang'd to Popery. 1809 R. Langford Introd. Trade 35 Russia is..the only country in which bills are dated by the Old Style. 1829 S. Shaw Staffordsh. Potteries vi. 137 At the time of altering the Style, in 1752. 1862 L. F. Simpson Autob. Chas. V, p. v, Where he was born on February 24, 1500, according to Roman Style. 1879 Froude Cæsar xxii. 387 The 9th of August, old style [i.e. according to the pre-Julian reckoning], or towards the end of May by real time, Cæsar had [etc.]. |
¶ b. transf. (in nonce-uses).
| 1749 Fielding Tom Jones xv. ii, Then they parted to dress, it being now past three in the morning, or to reckon by the old style, in the afternoon. 1755 J. Shebbeare Lydia (1769) II. 80 By which manner of computation he was but fifty in his style, and sixty in that of all others. |
V. 28. Comb., as style-like adj.; (in sense 8) style-flag, style-flap; (in sense 21 d) style manual, style sheet; style analysis, analysis of the characteristic style of an artist, writer, composer, etc., or of a school or period, on the basis of which attribution of a particular work can be made; style-book, (a) a book containing ‘styles’ of writs, etc., according to Scots law (see 17); (b) orig. U.S., a book containing the methods and regulations observed in a particular printing-office (W. 1911) ; style critic, an expert in style analysis; style-setter, someone who or something which sets the fashion; so style-setting ppl. a.
| 1927 E. Rickert New Methods for Study of Lit. 274/2 (Index), Subjectivity in *style analysis. 1953 M. Schapiro in A. Kroeber Anthropol. Today 290/1 The refinement of style analysis has come about..through problems in which small differences had to be..described precisely. 1955 H. Read Icon & Idea vi. 112 Then are many other factors which can be used in style analysis..but though all these stylistic traits build up to an index of the painter's personality, they do not..indicate the painter's awareness of a self. 1969–70 Computers & Humanities IV. 41 These results, minor as they are, are of a nature that has not been achieved in any other use of the computer for style analysis in music. 1973 Black World Nov. 5/1 Conventional histories of music and style-analysis texts generally ignored the subject of the Black man's contribution to music. |
| 1708 J. Spottiswoode Introd. Stile of Writs Pref. (1727) a 6 b, I have thought fit to communicate the Scheme of a *Stile-book, form'd by James Hay of Carribber for the Use of the Gentlemen educated in his Writing-Chamber. 1873 Burton Hist. Scot. V. lvii. 178 A narrative of the method of the deed has a certain old quaintness that may relieve it of the stiffness of the modern style-book. 1898 (title) Stylebook of the Chicago Society of Proofreaders. 1930 [see Negro 1 d]. 1981 K. Waterhouse Daily Mirror Style 5 In most newspaper offices there is to be found a manual known as the style-book which lays down..the paper's rules on the usage of words and punctuation. |
| 1959 Times 26 May 13/5 On that hypothesis David stays as the author of the 75 pictures,..finally reinstated by modern *style-critics. 1978 Jrnl. R. Soc. Arts CXXVI. 718/2 He may be the less inclined to indulge in wild or subjective speculation than the style critic. |
| 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1816) I. ix. 295 The petal-like expansion or *style-flag [in Iris]. |
| 1907 G. F. S. Elliot Romance Pl. Life 197 In Mimulus the *style-flaps close when touched. |
| 1822 J. Parkinson Outl. Oryctol. 72 A round, lamellated star, with a projecting *style-like axis in the centre. 1847–9 Todd's Cycl. Anat. IV. 11/2 Urocentrum..is furnished posteriorly with a sharp style-like process. |
| 1922 (title) *Style manual of the Government printing office (U.S. Govt. Printing Office). 1964 E. D. Seeber (title) A style manual for students. |
| 1959 News Chron. 1 July 3/1, I have a feeling it is going to be a *style-setter. 1960 Ibid. 29 Feb. 6/7 Princess Margaret has always been a style-setter. |
| 1955 Keepnews & Grauer Pictorial Hist. Jazz iii. 44 Earl Hines..quickly developed into an outstanding and *style-setting pianist. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 1 Mar. 44/2 The Fordson Dexta with its proved style-setting three cylinder Diesel engine. |
| 1924 H. L. Mencken Let. 7 Dec. (1961) 272 Have you such a thing as a *Style Sheet for The Atlantic? 1982 R. Quirk Style & Communication in Eng. Lang. i. 16 This is not, of course, to say that the existence of the ‘style sheet’ mentality is always advantageous. |
▪ II. style, v.
(staɪl)
Also 6–9 stile, 6 Sc. styell, 7 still(e, Sc. stylle, (8 pa. pple. stilen).
[f. style n. F. styler means ‘to train, practise, instruct’.]
1. a. trans. To give a name or style to; to call by a name or style. Const. with complement; † also with for, with.
| 1563–83 Foxe A. & M. 812/2 Howsoeuer it pleaseth..Syr Tho. Moore..to stile Richard Hunne for a knowne and desperate heretique. c 1580 Montgomerie Misc. P. l. 2 Luiffaris, leif of to loif so hie Ȝour ladyes; and thame styell no mair, But peir, the erthlie A per se. 1607 Hieron Wks. (1613) I. 119 Hee..is therefore stiled, A murtherer from the beginning. 1614 Ralegh Hist. World i. ii. xvii. §8. 491 So they [the Psalms] are intituled in the old Hebrew copies, though the vulgar and Septuagint..stile them otherwise. 1630 Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot. 1634, 13/2 Wmquhill Johnne lord Halyruidhous, then styllit Mr Johne Bothuell. 1648–9 Whitelocke Mem. (1853) II. 497 Now the commons styled what were before ordinances at this time acts of parliament. 1663 in Verney Mem. (1907) II. 229 Such strainge and unbeseeming titles I forbeare to stile you with. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 289 The strife which thou call'st evil, but wee style The strife of Glorie. a 1700 Evelyn Diary 12 Mar. 1686, One Hall, who styl'd himselfe his Majesty's printer. 1711 Hearne Collect. (O.H.S.) III. 251 The present Queen (as she is styl'd). 1796 Burke Regic. Peace ii. Wks. VIII. 251 That liberty was found, under Monarchies stiled absolute, in a degree unknown to the ancient commonwealths. 1829 S. H. Cassan Bps. of Bath & Wells iii. 24 That from henceforward the Bishop should be stiled from both places. 1838 De Morgan Ess. Probab. 151 What we have called a fixed error is in fact a part of the phenomenon, styled an error because it is not a part of the result we wish to observe. 1855 Browning Fra Lippo 39 Yes, I'm the painter, since you style me so. 1894 Lady M. Verney Verney Mem. III. 95 The old man is still styled bailiff in 1639. |
† b. Of a thing: To invest with a right to be called (so-and-so). Obs.
| 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 19 Both sexe goe naked, a linnen cloth only about their middles, which stiles them modest. |
† c. To sign (a letter) with one's name and title. Obs.
| 1618 Bolton Florus ii. xii. (1636) 128 When hee wrote to the Roman Generall..and styled the letter, he put himselfe down in it by the name of ‘King’. |
† 2. To name or address with honorific titles; to honour with a title. Sc. Obs.
| 1508 Dunbar Flyting 3 Quhilk hes thame self aboif the sternis styld. Ibid. 103 Sen thow with wirschep wald sa fane be styld, Haill, souerane senȝeour. 1535 Lyndesay Satyre 599 Howbeit I haif lang tyme bene exyllit, I traist in God my name suld ȝit be styllit. 1552 ― Monarche 4666 The pure Preist thynkis he gettis no rycht, Be he nocht stylit lyke ane Knycht, And callit ‘schir’ affore his name. |
† 3. To relate or express in literary form. With adv.: To express or phrase in a specified style. Obs.
| 1605 Bacon Adv. Learn. ii. iv. §1 In the later [sense] it [sc. poesy] is..one of the principall Portions of learning: and is nothing else but Fained History, which may be stiled as well in Prose as in Verse. 1605 First Pt. Jeronimo i. ii. 43 The phraise he vseth must be gently stylde, The king hath warned him to be smooth and mild. |
† 4. To order, direct to a purpose. Obs.
| 1584 Hudson Du Bartas' Judith iv. (1608) 58 So wise Merari all his studie stilde, To facion well the maners of this childe. |
5. To pierce with a stylet.
| 1736 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 10 The Substance of the Ears should be..free from Flesh; and their Points when stiled or pricked should be nearer than their Roots. |
6. To execute (a design) with a stylus on a prepared ground.
| 1864 Maclise in Builder 27 Feb. 150/3 The cartoon to be punctured or styled on the wall and slavishly copied. |
7. To design, arrange, make, etc., in a particular (esp. fashionable) style.
| 1934 J. Rorty Our Master's Voice Advertising 11 ‘Styling’ clothes, kitchens, automobiles—everything, in the interest of more rapid obsolescence and replacement. 1936 H. L. Mencken Amer. Lang. (ed. 4) 194 The American liking for short cuts in speech, e.g...to style for to cut in accord with the style. 1958 J. Cannan And be a Villain i. 25 The fashions of the day, styled to suit gamines. 1958 Observer 25 May 17/2 Mgr. Knox seems to have styled his translation to fit in with the least sufferable conceptions of this, really, stout-hearted young girl. 1976 ‘Z. Stone’ Modigliani Scandal iii. iv. 137 Her hair had been styled by Sassoon. |
▪ III. style
obs. form of steel, stile, still.