I. ˈst(y)ü noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English stu, stewe, from Middle French estuve, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin extufa, from extufare to stew — more at stew (v.)
1. obsolete
a. : a utensil used for boiling
b. : something resembling a stew
I have seen corruption boil and bubble till it o'errun the stew — Shakespeare
2.
a. : a heated room where hot baths are furnished
b. : a hot bath
3.
a. : brothel
squander every penny of their pay in waterfront stews — New Yorker
b. : a district characterized by brothels ; typically : a slum area — usually used in plural
housed hundreds of free Negroes in the stews of those days — Reporter
4.
a. : food prepared by stewing in liquid (as water or milk) ; especially : a combination of fish or meat usually with vegetables prepared in this way
beef stew
oyster stew
b. : something resembling a cooked stew: as
(1) : a heterogeneous mixture
a stew of all the … measures ever suggested by anyone — R.H.Rovere
(2) : a state of heat and congestion
the tropical stew of downtown Philadelphia — Alistair Cooke
5. : a state of agitating excitement, worry, or confusion
everyone went into a terribly silly stew about it — Eve Langley
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English stewe, from Middle French estui case, tub, tank, from estuier to enclose, watch, probably from (assumed) Vulgar Latin studiare to watch, guard, apply oneself to one thing, from Latin studium study — more at study
1. Britain : a tank or small pond for keeping fish often until they are wanted for cooking
2. : an artificial bed of oysters
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English stuen, stewen, from Middle French estuver, from (assumed) Vulgar Latin extufare, probably from Latin ex- ex- (I) + (assumed) Vulgar Latin tufus hot vapor, from Greek typhos vapor, smoke; akin to Latin fumus smoke — more at fume
transitive verb
1. : to boil slowly or with a simmering heat : to cook in a little liquid over a gentle fire without boiling
stewed the beef for goulash
2. archaic : to keep confined in or as if in a hot or stuffy atmosphere — usually used with up
3. archaic : imbue , steep
live … stewed in corruption — Shakespeare
4. obsolete : to bathe in perspiration
a reeking post, stewed in his haste, half breathless, panting — Shakespeare
5. : to bring to an extreme state usually by worry or excitement — usually used with up
so stewed up with anxiety that he couldn't wait — John Morrison
intransitive verb
1. : to undergo cooking in or as if in a slow simmering manner : become cooked by stewing
2. : to swelter especially from confinement in a hot or stuffy atmosphere
a handful of … secretaries stew in the cramped and cluttered Third Room — E.O.Hauser
3. : to study hard : sweat
4. : to become agitated or worried : fret
been stewing over this thing all night — Erle Stanley Gardner
•
- stew in one's own juice
IV. ˈstü noun
( -s )
Etymology: short for steward and stewardess
: an airline flight attendant