Obs. exc. dial. Also 4 stovyn, 7 stovene. [OE. stofn masc. and fem. = ON. stofn masc.] a. A stem or trunk of a tree. b. A sapling, shoot from the stump of a tree. Also fig.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 137/29. Stipes, stofn.
c. 1000. in Napier, Gloss., i. 117. Surculos, stofnas. Ibid., 1665. Progenie propaganda, mid ʓestrenendlicere stofne.
1295. Acc. Exch. K. R. 5/8 m. 5. Et xix. d. in Stouenes emptis … ad Galeam.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 8243. Quen all was closed a-boute þat tre, A siluer cercle son naild he, Þat was þe stouen for to strength.
1334–5. in Blount’s Law Dict. (1691), s.v. Zuche, Concedimus dilecto valecto nostro Ric. de Stelley omnes Zucheos aridos, qui Anglice vocantur Stovenes infra Hayam nostram de Beskewood.
[1524. Yorks. Deads (Yorks. Archæol. Soc.), II. 39. To sufficiently fence all trees, stoven, and undergrowth].
a. 1640. Jackson, Creed, XI. iv. (1657), 3347. The diffusion of life … from the roots into the stemmes, stovens or branches.
1788. W. H. Marshall, Yorks., II. 356. Stoven, a shoot of a tree.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 176. How sweet to be thus nestling deep in boughs, Upon an ashen stoven pillowing me.
1854. Miss Baker, Northampt. Gloss., Stoven, a stump, either growing or put into the ground as a post.
1896. J. K. Snowden, Web of Weaver, v. It was strangely ordered that my happiness and my shame should grow on one stoven (stock, or stem).
