I. stew 1 /stjuː $ stuː/ BrE AmE noun
[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: estuve 'cooking pot, heated room' , from Vulgar Latin extufa ; ⇨ ↑ stove 1 ]
1 . [uncountable and countable] a hot meal made by cooking meat and vegetables slowly in liquid for a long time SYN casserole :
a pot of stew
beef stew
2 . in a stew informal confused or worried about a difficult situation you are in
II. stew 2 BrE AmE verb
1 . [transitive] to cook something slowly in liquid:
stewed apples
2 . let somebody stew informal ( also let somebody stew in their own juice ) to leave someone to suffer the unpleasant results of their own actions instead of helping them:
Let him stew – I'm not going to help him.