Forms: 1 stellan (3 sing. pres. steleþ, pa. t. -stelidæ, -stealde, -stalde), 3 stellen (pa. t. stalde, stolde, pa. pple. isteald), 5 stell. [OE. stęllan, stiellan, styllan (also in combs. á-stęllan ASTELL v., on-stęllan ONSTELL v.) = OS. stellian, (M)Du. stellen, OHG., MHG., mod.G. stellen:—WGer. *stalljan, f. OTeut. *stalloplace, STALL sb.]
† 1. trans. To set (an example); to establish (a law). Obs.
c. 893. K. Ælfred, Orosius, II. ii. § 1. Hwelce bisena he ðær stellende wæs. Ibid. (c. 897), Gregory’s Past. C., xxviii. 191. Ðonne he oðrum yfele bisene steleþ.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 6. Þe vttre riwle … nis for noþing elles istald bute forte seruie ðe inre. Ibid., 8. Þeos … ne beoð nout monnes fundles, ne riwle þet mon stolde.
c. 1230. Hali Meid., 19. Wedlac ham ikepte þat ilke lahe þat godd haueð istald for þe unstronge.
c. 1275. Serving Christ, 60, in O. E. Misc., 92. He wolde þe lawe leoflyche holde As god … i þis world stolde.
2. Sc. To fix, post, place; chiefly, to station (oneself, troops), to place (cannon) in position.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IV. 430. In a dern woode thai stellit thaim full law. Ibid., VII. 868. Heich in Cragmor he maid it [a decapitated head] for to stand, Steild on a stayne for honour of Ireland.
1559. Aberdeen Reg. (1844), I. 327. To desist and ceiss fra forther stelling and stenting of their netts athort the water.
1573. Burel, Diary (1798), 20. The Englisch cannone … began to shoute at ye castell of Edinburghe, being steillit at foure several places, viz. 5 at Egers hous [etc.].
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), II. 251. Thai … had with thame twa small cairted peices and stylled thame vpone the craigheid abone leith wynd.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., II. 298. The Jnglismen … raiset thair camp, to stel cannounes, and thair feild peices, at the hil of the place namet Pinkincleuch.
17[?]. Lads of Wamphray, vii. in Child, Ballads, III. 459. Twixt the Staywood Buss and Langside Hill, They stelld the broked cow and branded bull.
1819. Scott, Leg. Montrose, x. Yonder round hillock … whereon an enemy might stell such a battery of cannon as would make ye glad to beat a chamade within forty-eight hours.
1901. G. Douglas, House w. Green Shutters, 7. On the slope the horses were … forced to stell themselves back against the heavy propulsion of the carts behind.
b. To fix (one’s eyes). Also pass. and intr. of the eyes: To have a fixed stare, to set rigidly.
c. 1817. Hogg, Tales & Sk., IV. 57. John’s eyes stelled in his head.
1888. A. Wardrop, Poems & Sk., 201. Dinna stell yer een sae, but jest sit doon there.
1890. Blackw. Mag., Sept., 325. He tell’t us aboot the deid man wi the glowerin’ e’en—they were stell’t in his heed.
3. To portray, delineate. Obs. exc. arch.
1598. R. Haydocke, trans. Lomazzo, I. 16. Before you begin to Stell, delineat and tricke out the proportion of a man [It. prima che delinei, e disegni un’ huomo], you ought to know his true quantity and stature.
c. 1600. Shaks., Sonn., xxiv. Mine eye hath play’d the painter and hath steeld [sic; rhyme held] Thy beauties forme in table of my heart.
1657. R. Ligon, Barbadoes, Ded. Rough drawn, and unproportionably stell’d, though it be, I here present it.
1880. Bridges, Portr. Grandfather, Poems (1912), 390. If truly A painter had stell’d thee there, with thy lips ready to speak.
