Pa. t. and pa. pple. stilled. Forms: 1 stillan, styllan, 3–5 stille, 5–6 stylle, 5–7 stil, 6 styll, 4– still. [OE. stillan, cogn. w. OS. (gi)stillian trans., stillon intr. (LG., Du. stillen), OHG. stillen trans., stillén intr. (MHG., mod.G. stillen trans. and intr.), to make or become still, ON. stilla to soothe, calm, to temper, moderate, tune, intr. to walk with measured noiseless steps (Sw. stilla, Da. stille) related to WGer. *stilljo- STILL a.] To make or become still. (Very common in 16–17th c.; now chiefly poet. and rhetorical.)
I. trans. (In OE. sometimes with dative.)
1. To quiet, calm (waves, winds, etc.).
a. 1000. Andreas, 451. Engla eadʓifa yðum stilde.
a. 1175. Cott. Hom., 229. He ȝestilde windes mid his hesne.
c. 1425. Eng. Conq. Ireland, xlix. 126. & so the grete tempeste of that weddyr hape yn lytel whyle was I-queynt & I-stylled.
1535. Coverdale, Ps. lxxxix. 9. Thou rulest the pryde of the see, thou stillest the wawes therof, when they arise.
1634. Milton, Comus, 87. A Swaine … Who with his soft Pipe … Well knows to still the wilde winds when they roar.
c. 1639. Sir W. Mure, Ps. cvii. 30. He … brings them glade, (the tempest stild,) To their desyred heawen.
1720. Pope, Iliad, XVIII. 481. Wide with distorted Legs, oblique he goes, And stills the Bellows.
1782. Priestley, Corrupt. Chr., I. iv. 398. Power … to still winds and tempests.
1839. Longf., Wreck Hesperus, 55. And she thought of Christ, who stilled the wave On the Lake of Galilee.
1856. Rossetti, Blessed Damozel, 4. Her eyes knew more of rest and shade Than waters still’d at even.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, xlvi. 3. Now doth Zephyrus … Still the boisterous equinoctial heaven.
1881. W. Black, Beautiful Wretch, I. 166. The hot sun had stilled the water.
b. In fig. context.
1786. Mme. D’Arblay, Diary, 10 Aug. This undid all again, though my explanation had just stilled the hurricane.
1810. Shelley, Marg. Nicholson, Despair, 14. Awhile it stills the tide of agony.
1840. A. Carson, Hist. Providence, 388. He suffers the fury of the enemy to swell against his cause, but he stills it at his pleasure.
1868. Helps, Realmah, vi. (1876), 118. Whom they stood aloof from only to break and still the opposing waves of popular opinion.
1903. Morley, Gladstone, IX. i. III. 220. The surface was thus stilled for the moment, yet the waters ran very deep.
c. To subdue, allay (sedition, tumult).
1570. Levins, Manip., 123/37. To stil a trouble, quietare, sedare.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch II. 253. But Timoleon stilled the tumult, by representing, That [etc.].
1868. Nettleship, Ess. Browning, vi. 196. Who like Saturn stilled the tumult and took throne supreme.
2. To relieve (pain); to assuage, allay (an appetite, desire).
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 59. Þæt stilð þam sare.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, III. vii. (Skeat), l. 36. Thus have I stilled my disese; thus have I covered my care.
1657. Trapp, Comm., Esther iii. 1. Honour is but … a glorious fancie, a rattle to still mens ambition.
1856. Trench, Serm. Camb., ii. (1857), 43. He tries … to still, or at least to deaden, the undying pain of his spirit.
1876. Geo. Eliot, Deronda, liv. But what can still that hunger of the heart which sickens the eye for beauty…?
1882. Rep. Prec. Metals U.S., 539. This thirst for land being stilled, we may count upon a greater stability in the number of miners.
† 3. To keep back, repress, desist or refrain from (words, tears); to keep (one’s tongue) still. Obs.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 1530. Stute nu þenne, & stew þe, & stille þine wordes.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 186. Þet child is wel ipaied … & stilleð þis teares.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Troylus, II. 230. Yet were it bet my tonge for to stille Than sey a soth þat were a-yens youre wylle.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet (1902), 51. Proibe linguam tuam a malo—In þe begining, still pi tung, And spek no uyl of ald na ȝong.
c. 1430. Syr Gener. (Roxb.), 307. Sore weping he coud nat stil.
4. To quiet, calm (a person’s mind); to subdue (agitation, emotion); † refl. to compose oneself.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 3924. And sente after balaam ðe prest, Wið riche men and giftes oc, for to stillen hise [vn-]eðe mod.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xliii. 31. He … stillide hym self [Vulg. continuit se].
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 363. Sche wolde noght hirselven stille, Bot deide only for drede of schame.
c. 1400. Beryn, 2565. Stillith ȝewe, quod Geffrey.
c. 1475. Partenay, 2969. Geffray thaim said, ‘stil you, noght dismay.’
1610. Shaks., Temp., IV. iv. 163. A turne or two, Ile walke To still my beating minde.
1818. Shelley, Rosal. & Helen, 874. I stilled the tingling of my blood.
1828. Lytton, Pelham, lxx. With this reflection, I stilled the beating of my heart.
b. To appease (anger).
c. 1290. Beket, 511, in S. Eng. Leg., 121. Þo … radden him wende to þe kinge is wrathþe for-to stille.
1535. Coverdale, Esther vii. 10. Then was the kynges wrath stylled.
1891. Farrar, Darkn. & Dawn, lxiv. Nero stood amazed—his wrath stilled before so majestic an indifference.
† 5. To pacify, induce to desist from complaint or opposition. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13075. To sla him was he noght in will, Bot for þat wicked wijf to still.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, xix. 408. Reynawde was wyse and well taughte for to stylle thus hys bretherne, to whom he sayd. [etc.].
1534. Tindale, Rom., Prol. 190. This fredome … ministreth that which the lawe requyreth, and where with the lawe is fulfilled, that is to vnderstond, luste and loue, where with the lawe is stylled and accuseth vs no moare.
1647. N. Bacon, Disc. Govt. Eng., I. xlvii. 130. It was but a noise to still the Clergy.
† 6. To lull, soothe (a child); to induce (a person) to cease from weeping. Obs.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, vi. 65. Ine þe hys god by-come a chyld;… þou hast y-tamed [hyt], and i-styld Wyþ melke of þy breste.
a. 1400. Isumbras, 199. Nowther of tham myghte other stille, Thaire sorowe it was fulle ranke!
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle, IV. i. (1483), 58. He wald styllen the child with some maner of comfortable myrthe of recreacion.
c. 1440. Bone Flor., 831. Allas, sche seyde, that y was borne!… Ther myght no man hur stylle.
1530. Palsgr., 736/1. Go styll the chylde, nourice, you wyll be shente els.
1545. Ascham, Toxoph. (Arb.), 42. Euen the little babes … are scarce so well stilled in suckyng theyr mothers pap, as in hearynge theyr mother syng.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, III. iii. 70. If you heare a child crie in the night you must call to the nurse, and bid her still it.
1660. F. Brooke, trans. Le Blanc’s Trav., 263. He … would still his Nephews when they cryed with plums.
7. To silence, cause (a sound) to cease. Also fig. to cause the cessation of (murmurs, complaints, etc.).
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 138. The softe word the loude stilleth.
c. 1430. How Gd. Wijf tauȝte hir Douȝtir, 37, in Babees Bk. A sclaundre reisid ille Is yuel for to stille.
1623. J. Taylor (Water P.), Honour Conceal’d, Wks. (1630), III. 124/2. And therefore ’twas ordain’d that thou shouldst come To hang the Colours vp, and still the Drum.
1631. R. Bolton, Comf. Affl. Consc., xvi. (1635), 314. Earthly pleasures may for the present still the noyse of an accusing conscience.
1663. Patrick, Parab. Pilgrim (1687), 365. In this manner he quieted and still’d all its grumblings.
1671. Milton, P. R., IV. 428. Morning … Who with her radiant finger still’d the roar Of thunder, chas’d the clouds, and laid the winds.
1690. W. Walker, Idiomat. Anglo-Lat., 143. I’ll still your din, i.e. make you hold your tongue.
1738. Wesley, Psalms XCIII. iii. The Floods, O Lord, lift up their Voice,… But God above can still their Noise.
1820. Scott, Monast., xxxvii. There was a deep and solemn pause. The monks stilled their chant.
1820. Keats, Isabella, xlvii. Those dainties made to still an infant’s cries.
1821–30. Ld. Cockburn, Mem., iv. (1874), 213. The murmur … used to be stilled when this image stuck its awful head through the lofty orifice.
1835. Lytton, Rienzi, II. iii. The murmurs of the people were stilled.
1887. J. Payn, Holiday Tasks, 206. We stilled our scruples by reflecting that it was very mean of the victim [etc.].
† b. To cause (a person) to be silent; to impose silence on (an assembly); to put to silence (an objector). Obs.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3519. The kyng ben comaund to … fetur hir fast in a fre prisoune,… to still hir of noise.
1608. Willet, Hexapla Exod., 753. Aaron sinned … in not staying the people and stilling them.
1611. Bible, Num. xiii. 30. And Caleb stilled the people before Moses.
1654. R. Whitlock, Ζωοτομια, 211. But it may be, according to my Assertion, his Name will sooner still opposers than his Reasons.
1665. Brathwait, Comm. Two Tales, 199. Which Answer still’d this Censor, and justified the Author.
† 8. To check the turbulence of (a person); to compel to cease. Obs.
1300–1400. R. Glouc. (Rolls), App. XX. 507. He gan to stryue To ȝenst his owene fadere, god stilde him in þis So þat raþer þane he ded he was ywis.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Grail, xlii. 345. Eche Oþer wold han slayn In that plas ȝif they ne hadde I-stilled be.
1602. trans. Guarini’s Pastor Fido, IV. vi. M 1 b. O glorious child of great Alcides race, That monsters stilst, and wild Beastes doth deface.
† b. To ‘quiet’ by killing or stunning. ? slang.
1778. Anburey, Trav. (1789), II. 167. We will suppose, he only orders them to knock a man down, or to prick him, or still him, and a soldier fires down a common road, sticks his bayonet into one, and strikes at the brains of another with the butt of his firelock.
9. In occasional uses: To stop the movement or activity of.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., VI. iii. O father,… Who pledgest now thy gallant son; A shot, ere half thy draught be done, Hath still’d the life that beat from thee.
1861. Temple Bar, III. 433. To disuse cotton wholly, to still the British cotton-factories.
1866. Mrs. H. Wood, St. Martin’s Eve, i. She stilled her feet and stared at the speaker.
1867. Augusta Wilson, Vashti, xiv. [She] struggled to steady her voice and still the twitching tell-tale muscles about her mouth.
II. 10. intr. To become still or calm.
a. 900. Martyrol., 11 Nov. Ða stylde se storm sona, and seo sæ wearð eft smylte.
1695. Sibbald, Autobiog. (1834), 128. When I cryed and weept upon any occasion I stilled upon the giving me the Psalms of Buchanan.
1798. W. Taylor, in Monthly Mag., VI. 366. Slow beams the blooming dawn as stills the strife. Hence, down the winding stairs.
a. 1851. Moir, Ruined Nunnery, ii. At length the winds began to still.
a. 1853. Robertson, Lect., ii. (1858), 67. The surges stilled below him, and the last cloud drifted from the sky above.
1888. L. Hearn, in Harper’s Mag., April, 737/2. The sea only swayed a little, and stilled again.
1898. H. Calderwood, Hume, viii. 153. The worst storm stills at length.
† b. To remain still or quiet; to keep silence.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 11749. When þei were stilled a party, ffirst spak sire Ohel.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxvii. 1. Deus meus, ne sileas a me … my god still not fra me. Ibid., xxxi. 3. For i stilled eldid my banes.
1450. Paston Lett., I. 180. Heruppon the people peacyd, and stilled unto the tyme the shire was doone.
1483. Cath. Angl., 364/1. To Stil[l]e, tacere.
c. To sound softly.
1900. N. Munro, Doom Castle, x. A bagpipe stilled in the hall, a lute breathed a melody from a neighbouring room.
