Forms: 4 stu, stuwe, stuyue, styue, 4–5 stwe, 5 stw, stywe, 4–6 stue, 4–7 stewe, 5 styewe, 6 stuue, pl. stuse, 6– stew. [a. OF. estuve (mod.F. étuve), a Com. Romanic word, represented by Pr. estuba, Sp., Pg. estufa, It. stufa; the discrepant forms seem to proceed from the two vulgar Latin forms, stūpha (stūfa) and stūpa, both which are recorded in med. Latin. The ulterior etymology is obscure: some regard the word as a verbal noun f. a vulgar L. vb. *extūfāre, f. *tūfus (It. tufo) vapor, a. Gr. τῦφος. Connection of some kind no doubt exists between the Rom. word and the Teut. root *stuƀ- in OE. stuf-bæþ hot-air bath, stofa masc. bath (mod.Eng. STOVE sb.), MDu. stove, mod.Du. stoof fem. stove, footwarmer, Du. stoven to stew, OHG. stuba fem. heated room, bath-room (MHG., mod.G. stube room), ON. stufa, stofa wk. fem. room with a fireplace (Sw. stufva, stuga cottage, Da. stue room).
The It. stufa was in the 17th c. adopted as STUFE.]
I. A stove, heated room.
† 1. A vessel for boiling, a caldron. Obs.
c. 1305. Land Cokaygne, 109. Þe leuerokes … Liȝtiþ adun to man is muþ Idiȝt in stu ful swiþe wel Pudrid wiþ gilofre and canel.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. xi. 44. As burning Aetna from his boyling stew Doth belch out flames, and rockes in peeces broke.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., V. 321. Here in Vienna, Where I haue seene corruption boyle and bubble, Till it ore-run the Stew.
† b. A furnace for heating rooms by flues. Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 424/1. A Stew or Stove…. This is a thing by which Rooms are made warm, for Sick and Crazy Bodies, which cannot approach near a Fire.
† 2. A heated room; a room with a fireplace.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 601. Troylus … myght it se Thurgh out a lytel wyndowe in a stuwe, Ther he by-shet syn mydnyght was [in] mewe.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xi. 131. It fresethe more strongly in tho Contrees than on this half; and therfore hathe every man Stewes in his Hous, and in tho Stewes thei eten and don here Occupatiouns.
1572. R. H., trans. Lavater’s Ghostes & Spir., xvi. 156. They heard a knyfe falling from the vpper parte, or floore of the stewe, wherein they were, yet sawe they nothing.
† b. ‘A hatter’s drying room.’ Obs. or spurious; the F. étuve has this sense.
1847. Halliwell.
3. A heated room used for hot air or vapor baths: hence, a hot bath. Obs. exc. Hist. or arch.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 291. The bathes and the stwes bothe Thei schetten in be every weie.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 192. His bodi schal be wel frotid in þe baþ ouþer in a stewe.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/1. Stwe, bathe, stupha, terme.
1460–70. Bk. Quintessence, 16. Þe paralitik man schal be hool … if ȝe make him a stewe hoot and moist with herbis, þat is to seye, eerbe yue [etc.].
1483. Caxton, Dialogues, 42. Natalye the wyf of the stewes Kepeth a good styewe,… They goon thedyr to be stewed Alle the strangers.
1540–1. Elyot, Image Gov., 84. After his exercise … he entred into a baine or stew not hotte, where he taried sometyme by the space of one houre.
c. 1550. H. Lloyd, Treas. Health, lxiii. (Copland), U ij. Then put the pacient in a stewe or hote house.
1648. Gage, West Ind., 142. There is scarce any house which hath not also in the yard a stew, wherein they bath themselves with hot water.
1656. W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 467. 135. Being entred into a stew or hot-hous, wee get up into the sweating-tub, and draw out the sweat.
1799. Tooke, View Russian Emp., I. 357. A messuage consists of a dwelling-house, a few little store-rooms, stables, and a stew or hot-bath, by which the yard is inclosed.
c. 1800. Canning, Poet. Wks. (1827), 39. Oh! where is the great Doctor Dominicetti, With his stews and his flues, and his vapours to sweat ye?
1809. A. Henry, Trav., 301. Stews, sudatories, or sweating-houses, are resorted to for cure of sickness, for pleasure, or [etc.].
1855. Dunglison, Med. Lex., Stove … is used for drying various substances, as plants, extracts, conserves, &c. or for taking vapour baths. In this case the stew or stove is said to be wet or humid; in the opposite case, it is said to be dry.
1865. Pall Mall Gaz., 23 Sept., 6/2. Above the vaults the original Turkish bath, or ‘stew,’ remains in good preservation.
4. A brothel. (Developed from sense 3, on account of the frequent use of the public hot-air bath-houses for immoral purposes. Cf. BAGNIO.) a. In plural (chiefly collect.; sometimes, a quarter occupied by houses of ill-fame).
1362. Langl., P. Pl., A. VII. 65. Iacke þe Iogelour And Ionete of þe stuyues.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Friar’s T., 34. So been wommen of the styves,… yput out of my cure.
1436. Rolls of Parlt., IV. 511/1. No person that had dwelled at the comone Stywes.
c. 1450. Capgrave, St. Aug., vi. 8. He used tauernes and stewis and swech sory gouernauns as [etc.].
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., xxx. 350. Ye Ianettys of the stewys, and lychoures on lofte.
c. 1520. Skelton, Magnyf., 1226. Some of them renneth strayght to the stuse.
1550. Crowley, Epigr., 281. The bawdes of the stues be turned all out.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv., II. (1586), 90 b. Many Gentlemen … thinke it no lesse shame to be seene in ye companie of ye baser sort, than to be taken in the common stewes.
1593. Nashe, Christ’s T., 77. London, what are thy Suburbes but licensed Stewes?
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. ii. II. i. (1624), 367. In Italy and Spaine, they haue their stewes in every great Citty.
1655. Fuller, Ch. Hist., V. 239. At this time also, by the King’s command, were the Stewes suppressed.
1681. [D’Urfey], Progr. Honesty, iv. 4. Tickets from the Beldame of the Stews.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 33, ¶ 9. All Affectation by any other Arts to please the Eyes of Men, would be banished to the Stews for ever.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1776. 5 April. He strongly censured the licensed stews at Rome.
1838. Dickens, O. Twist, xl. Among the most noisome of the stews and dens of London.
1865. J. Hatton, Bitter Sweets, xxxvi. He frequented the dens and fashionable stews of the metropolis.
1873. Dixon, Two Queens, III. i. I. 118. Their ranks were filled by rogues and scare-crows from the styes and stews.
fig. 1657. Trapp, Comm. Job iv. 13. II. 43. Carnall hearts are … stewes of unclean thoughts.
¶ Erroneous explanation.
1836. S. Cooper, Pract. Surg. (ed. 6), 332 (Cassell). In the borough of Southwark … there were places called stews, where prostitutes were confined, and received the benefit of surgical assistance.
1888. Cassell’s Encycl. Dict., Stew … an early form of lock hospital.
† b. in plural form construed as sing. Obs.
1530. Tindale, Answ. More, IV. ii. Wks. (1573), 320/1. His setting vp in Rome a stues not of women onely, but of the male kynde also agaynst nature, and a thousand abhominations to grosse for a Turke, are tokens good inough that he is ye right Antichrist.
1572. R. T., Discourse, 33 b. Hee deflowred Maydes and straungers: made Lateranense (that holy Pallace) a Stewes, and brothall house.
1611. Cotgr., Huleu, the name of a Stewes in Paris.
1632. Lithgow, Trav., IX. 406. A playne Stewes or Brothel house.
1650. W. Brough, Sacr. Princ. (1659), 230. Lasciviousness … is sacrilegiously to make the Body (God’s Temple) a Stewes.
1691. d’Emiliane’s Frauds Rom. Monks, 61. A Monk … very scandalously kept a publick Stews.
† c. in sing. Obs.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 26. By abstinence, or by sekenesse, Prison, stewe, or grete distresse.
1554. Bale, Declar. Bonner’s Articles, 43. Hys house was nothing elles but a common stewe.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., I. vi. 152. To Mart As in a Romish Stew.
1634. Canne, Necess. Separ. (1849), 145. For the glory of God, that it may appear his house to be no cage of unclean birds, no sty of swine, no den of thieves, no stew or brothel-house.
1640. Depos., 5 March, in Glouc. Dioc. Reg. The breeding of the said Judith Ansley was noe better then in a Stewe or whorehouse.
1790. By-stander, 373. Father and son may, with propriety, be seen together at the same stew.
1809. Kendall, Trav., I. xiii. 155. Dost thou suppose, villain, I am acquainted with bad houses? What dost thou want of a stew?
† d. (sing. and pl.) A bawd or prostitute. Obs.
1552. Huloet, Stew, bavde, or marchaunt of whores, leno.
1578. Whetstone, 1st Pt. Promos & Cass., IV. iii. Shall Cassandra now be termed, in common speeche, a stewes?
1639. Mayne, City Match, V. v. I have matcht a Stewes; The notedst woman oth’ Towne.
1650. Sir A. Weldon, Crt. King James, 146. Instead of that beauty he had a notorious Stew sent him.
II. Senses derived from STEW v.2
5. A preparation of meat slowly boiled in a stew-pan, generally containing vegetables, rice, etc.
1756. Mrs. Calderwood, in Coltness Collect. (Maitl. Club), 252. They can dress … upon this stove, a roast, a boill, a fry, a stew and a bake.
1817. Byron, Beppo, vii. Because they have no sauces to their stews.
1840. Dickens, Old C. Shop, xviii. It’s a stew of tripe … and cow-heel … and bacon … and peas, cauliflowers, new potatoes, and sparrow-grass, all working up together in one delicious gravy.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, I. 53. Mariuccia poured her stew into a dish.
fig. 1859. Dickens, T. Two Cities, II. iv. The last sediment of the human stew that had been boiling there all day.
b. Irish stew: a dish composed of pieces of matton, potatoes, and onions stewed together.
1814. Byron, Devil’s Drive, i. The Devil … dined on … a rebel or so in an Irish stew.
1826. in Sheridaniana, 253. An Irish stew was that on which he particularly plumed himself.
1891. Spectator, 14 Nov., 669/2. A recipe for Irish stew.
8. A state of excitement, esp. of great alarm or anxiety.
1806. J. Beresford, Miseries Hum. Life, I. Introd. Our perplexities and alarms, at which they presume to sneer under the nick-names of rubs, bores, stews, takings, &c.
1809. Lady Lyttelton, Corr. (1912), 85. Poor Mr. Allen is in a stew about his sermon.
1817–8. Cobbett, Resid. U.S. (1822), 18. What a stew a man would be in, in England, if he had his grain lying about out of doors in this way!
1825. Brockett, N. C. Gloss., s.v., In a sad stew, in a state of great perplexity.
1849. E. E. Napier, Excurs. S. Africa, II. 248. As you may readily fancy, I was all the time in a most confounded stew, lest the tender, pulpy branches should give way.
1884. Sword & Trowel, Jan., 41. As to France,—socially, politically, religiously,—she is in an everlasting stew.
7. colloq. A state of being overheated or bathed in perspiration. Cf. STEW v. 3 a, d.
1892. A. M. Fairbairn, in W. B. Selbie, Life (1914), ix. 330. I never was in such a stew, as it were confined in a stove within stoves.
1911. Webster.
III. 8. attrib., as (sense 2) † stew-door; (sense 4) † stew-holder, stew-instructed adj.; also stew-hole, a hole in the floor of a kitchen to serve as a cooking fireplace; † stew-side, a quarter occupied by stews or brothels; stew-stove, a cooking stove. Also STEW-HOUSE.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, III. 698. He … gan þe *stewe dore al soft vn-pynne.
c. 1430. in Phil. Trans., XXX. 842. That no *Stew-holder keep noo Woman wythin his Hous that hath any Sycknesse of Brenning.
1598. Stow, Surv., 331. In a Parliament holden at Westminster the 8. of Henry the second, it was ordayned … That no stewholder or his wife should let or stay any single woman to go and come freely at all times.
1780. A. Young, Tour Irel., I. 100. The *stew hole in his kitchen.
1633. Ford, Love’s Sacrif., IV. i. Her *stewe-instructed Art.
1552. Huloet, *Stewside or place for whores, suburrana regio.
1727. [E. Dorrington], Philip Quarll (1816), 56. He cut a hole in the ground…, after the manner of *stew-stoves in noblemen’s kitchens.
