Forms: 5 stiwe, stuwe, stewyn, stuwyn, stuyn, 5–6 stewe, 5–7 stue, 5– stew. Pa. pple. 5 stewid, -yde, y-stwyde, -yed, 6 stuyd, 7 stewd. [a. OF. estuver (mod.F. étuver), related to estuve STEW sb.2 Cf. Pr. estubar, Sp., Pg. estufar, It. stufare.]
† 1. trans. To bathe in a hot bath or a vapor bath.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 69. Aftir þat stewe þe with stewynge couenable to þe tyme, for þat mekyl profytes.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 192. At morowe he schal be stewid, and whanne he swetiþ his bodi schal be frotid wiþ vinegre.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, II. xxxii. (1869), 87. Oon day thou chaufest him the bath, and sithe stiwest [orig. estuues] him.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom. (Addit. MS.), lxv. 381. Then seide the precidente, ‘steweth hyme, ande than shalle be speke.’
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/2. Stuwyn menn, or bathyn (v.r. stuyn in a stw), balneo.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, cxlv. 543. And the lady had iii ladyes to serue her and she was baynyd and stuyd, and aparaylyd.
1541. Copland, Guydon’s Form., X iij b. It were behouefull to bath or stewe the membre with the infusyon of a pyece of yren.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 2/1. For ach in the heade. Seeth Wormewoode in water…. Some there are which boyle the same in vineger, and soe stue therwithe their head.
1665. Sir T. Herbert, Trav. (1677), 39. The sweat dropt from us no otherwise than if we had been stew’d in Stoves or hot Baths.
2. Cooking. a. trans. To boil slowly in a close vessel; to cook (meat, fruit, etc.) in a liquid kept at the simmering-point.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum (1862), 14. Stue thy peions thus thou schalle.
c. 1430. Two Cookery-bks., I. 9. Pertrich stewyde. Ibid. Smale Byrdys y-stwyde.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 481/2. Stuwyn mete (v.r. stuyn) stupho.
1530. Palsgr., 735/2. I stewe wardens, or any frutes, or meates, je esteuue.
1594. Gd. Huswifes Handmaid Kitchin, 15 b. To stue a Neates foote.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 121. And in the height of this Bath when I was more then halfe stew’d in grease (like a Dutch-dish) to be throwne into the Thames. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., II. v. 65. Thou shalt be whipt with Wyer, and stew’d in brine.
1632. Sherwood, To stew meate. Cuire, ou bouillir la chair entre deux plats.
1669. Sir K. Digby’s Closet opened, 178. To stew a Breast of Veal.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 82/2. To Hash is to stew any Meat that is cold.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Engl. Housekpr. (1805), 121. To stew a Turkey brown.
c. 1770. Mrs. Glasse, Compl. Confectioner, 22. Pour it on your pippins, and stew them till they are quite tender.
1816. Tuckey, Narr. Exped. R. Zaire, iii. (1818), 122. Earthen pots … in which they boil or stew their meats.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xxviii. Pits, wrought in the hill-side and lined with heated stones, served for stewing immense quantities of beef, mutton, and venison.
1873. ‘Ouida,’ Pascarèl, II. 6. We saw the food stewed and fried ere it came to us.
b. intr. Of meat, fruit, etc.: To undergo stewing; to be cooked by slow boiling in a closed vessel.
1594. Gd. Huswifes Handmaid Kitchin, 1. Let them [Turneps, etc.] stew till they be verie tender.
1701. Compl. Caterer, 79. Let them all Stew well together.
c. 1770. Mrs. Glasse, Compl. Confectioner, 25. Let them [pears] stew over a slow fire for half an hour.
1842. Loudon, Suburban Hort., 548. Catillac [pear]…. Large, broadly turbinate, brownish-yellow, and red, stews a good colour.
c. In fig. phrases, with the sense: To be left to suffer the natural consequences of one’s own actions. Cf. FRY v.1 3, and F. cuire dans son jus.
1656. Earl Monm., trans. Boccalini’s Advts. fr. Parnass., II. liii. (1674), 204. [He] could not better discover Hypocrites, than by suffering them (like Oysters) to stew in their own water.
1885. Times, 21 May, 8/3. I have held that it would be possible … with some reservations, to allow the Soudan to ‘stew in its own grease.’
1885. Sir W. Harcourt, Sp. at Lowestoft, 14 Dec. Liberals must not be in a hurry to turn the Tories out. He would let them for a few months stew in their own Parnellite juice.
1901. Scotsman, 7 March, 7/4. Abyssinian soldiers are to be withdrawn, and the Tigreans are to be left to stew in their own juice.
3. transf. † a. trans. To bathe in perspiration.
1605. Shaks., Lear, II. iv. 31. Came there a reeking Poste, Stew’d in his haste, halfe breathlesse, painting forth From Gonerill his Mistris, salutations.
1620. J. Taylor (Water P.), Praise Hemp-seed (1623), 31. Drencht with the swassing waues, and stewd in sweat.
1673. R. Head, Canting Acad., 133. The expectation of … punishment had stew’d him in a cold sweat.
1686. trans. Chardin’s Trav. Persia, 226. We did not feel the Coldness of the Weather: For the Crowd of People … almost stew’d us before we got out.
1687. A. Lovell, trans. Thevenot’s Trav., II. 49. We encamped close by this Castle, all scorched with the Sun, and stewed in Sweat.
† b. fig. To soak, steep, imbue. Obs.
1602. Shaks., Ham., III. iv. 93. To liue In the ranke sweat of an enseamed bed, Stew’d in corruption.
c. 1630. Quarles, Solomons Recant., Solil. ii. Wks. (Grosart), II. 174/2. Stue thy heart in mirth, And crush the childe of sorrow in her birth.
1635. Brome, Sparagus Gard., V. xiii. His conscience is stewd in Bribes.
1822. Hazlitt, Table-t., Ser. II. (1869), 223. An opinion is vulgar that is stewed in the rank breath of the rabble.
c. To confine in close or ill-ventilated quarters. Chiefly with up.
1590. Greene, Mourn. Garm. (1616), 5. If Aristotle had still, like a Micher, been stewed vp in Stagyra, he had neuer written his workes.
1698. Fryer, Acc. E. India & P., 92. The Rich Banyans … stew themselves out of a penurious humour, crowding Three or Four Families together into a Hovel.
1714. J. Macky, Journ. Eng. (1729), II. 38. Formerly the Country Ladies were stewed up in their Fathers old Mansion Houses, and seldom saw Company.
1812. Sir J. Sinclair, Syst. Husb. Scot., I. 17. Cattle suffer much from being huddled together, and stewed close up in a low-roofed cow-house in winter.
d. intr. To stay excessively long in bed. Also, to remain in a heated or stifling atmosphere; hence slang, to study hard.
1671. Tuke, Adv. Five Hours, I. (ed. 3), 15. Sir, they have certain Niches in their Walls, Where they climb up a Nights, and there they stew, In their own Grease, till Morning.
1705. Vanbrugh, Confederacy, II. i. Abroad, abroad, abroad already? why, she uses to be stewing in her bed three hours after this time.
1832. Warren, Diary Late Physic., II. iv. 219. What a gloomy man that Dr. —— is…! he keeps one stewing in bed for a week, if one has but a common cold.
1866. Routledge’s Ev. Boy’s Ann., 706. Cooper was stewing over his books.
1870. Miss Bridgman, R. Lynne, I. vi. 81. The sea-breezes will freshen me up, after stewing in this hole.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 576. I had been stewing for nine months and more in tropic and equatorial swamps.
1906. Westm. Gaz., 17 Sept., 4/1. Should the charms of his book lure him to sleep,… the string tied to his tuft of hair would instantly remind him of the … necessity to ‘stew’ for the ensuing examination.
