n. & v.
--n.
1. a seat without a back or arms, usu. for one person and consisting of a wooden slab on three or four short legs.
2 a FOOTSTOOL. b a low bench for kneeling on.
3 (usu. in pl.) FAECES.
4 the root or stump of a tree or plant from which the shoots spring.
5 US a decoy-bird in hunting.
--v.intr. (of a plant) throw up shoots from the root.
Phrases and idioms:
fall between two stools fail from vacillation between two courses etc. stool-pigeon
1. a person acting as a decoy (orig. a decoy of a pigeon fixed to a stool).
2 a police informer.
Etymology: OE stol f. Gmc, rel. to STAND