Forms: 4 styele, styyl, stele, 4–6 still, 5 stiel, styll, 5–6 styill, 6 steill, stylle, 6–7 steele, 4–9 stile, 4– style. [a. OF. style, stile, stil, estile, etc. (mod.F. style), ad. L. stilus (also incorrectly written stylus) a stake or pale, pointed instrument for writing, style of speaking or writing; f. root *sti- (? to prick): cf. STIMULUS. Cf. Pr. estil, Sp., Pg. estilo, It. stilo, stile, G. stil.
The spelling style, originally a meaningless variant of stile, owes its modern currency, both in Fr. and Eng., to the erroneous notion that L. stilus is an adoption of Gr. στῦλος column. In senses 7 and 8, the early history of which is obscure, the word may possibly be ad. Gr. στῦλος; but without further knowledge it is impossible to say whether those who first used the word in these senses were thinking of the Gr. or the L. word; quite probably they regarded the two as identical. As these senses may quite easily have been developed from senses of the L. stilus, there is no sufficient reason against treating them as belonging to the present word.]
I. Stylus, pin, stalk.
1. Antiq. An instrument made of metal, bone, etc., having one end sharp-pointed for incising letters on a wax tablet, and the other flat and broad for smoothing the tablet and erasing what is written: = STYLUS 1. Also applied to similar instruments in later use.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), V. 297. Seinte Barnabe his body was founde in a den … with þe gospel of Mathew þat he hadde i-write wiþ his owne stile.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron., LXIII. viii. Whiche me nede not with my stile auaunce.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 7/2. Graphium, a writing wyer, or a steele wherewith to write or note.
1621. G. Sandys, Ovid’s Met., IX. (1626), 187. Then fits her trembling hands to write: One holds the wax, the style the other guides.
1710. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), II. 395. Liber Ceylonicus, writ with a style upon the Leaves of Trees.
1766. Complete Farmer, s.v. Surveying, A Welsh slate with a sharp stile … is more convenient at such a season, than pen, ink, and paper.
1840. Arnold, Hist. Rome, II. xxxii. 295. He had his tablets and his style in his hands, to record the votes.
1840. Lardner, Geom., 270. To trace a curve … by the continued motion of a pencil or stile.
1864. Ticknor, Life Prescott, x. 134. The whole apparatus is called a noctograph. When it has been adjusted … the person using it writes with an ivory style, or with a style made of some harder substance, like agate, on the upper surface of the blackened paper.
1885–94. R. Bridges, Eros & Psyche, Nov. x. All which he took his silver stile to write in letters large upon a waxèd board.
b. Used as a weapon of offence, for stabbing, etc.
1669. Address to Hopeful Young Gentry England, 67. Methinks every point I direct my pen to should be the sharp Execution of a stile at their hearts.
1770. Langhorne, Plutarch, C. Gracchus (1879), II. 892/1. They immediately killed Antyllius with long styles, said to have been made for such a purpose.
1845. Lingard, Anglo-Saxon Ch., II. xii. 246, note. A vague tradition that the boys, whom the sophist taught, provoked by his severity, had stabbed him with their styles for writing.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xlviii. (1865), VI. 94. The senators fell upon the wretched man and stabbed him to death with their styles.
c. fig., or as a symbol of literary composition.
1579. Fenton, Guicciard., Ep. Ded. Suche as for the grauitie and fidelitie of their penne and style were cherished with the greatest Princes of those dayes.
1614. C. Brooke, Ghost Rich. III. (Shaks. Soc., 1844), 27. Crown’d be his stile with fame, his head with bayes.
1640. Denham, Cooper’s H., 132. But Princes swords are sharper then their styles.
1820. Hazlitt, Lect. Dram. Lit., 329. Their swords and their styles carved out their way with equal sharpness.
1827. Hood, Ode to Melancholy, 55. Where Death, with his keen-pointed style, Hath writ the common doom.
† d. Phrase. To turn one’s style: to change to another subject; also, to speak on the other side. [So stilum vertere in late L.] Similarly to address, bend, direct, dress, gye, etc., one’s style. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 13001. Leue we him a littel quille And turn we to sant Iohn vr still.
c. 1407. Lydg., Reson & Sens., 4890. To declare yt and expresse, A noon I wil my style dresse. Ibid. (c. 1410), Life Our Lady, lxvii. (1484), k iij. That thorow thyn helpe I may my style gye Somwhat to sey of thyn epyphanye. Ibid. (c. 1412–20), Chron. Troy, IV. 3362. Wher, for a tyme, I wil leue him dwelle, And to Grekis … directe ageyn my stile. Ibid. (1420–2), Thebes, 2124. Thus leue I hym ride forth a while, whilys that I retourne ageyn my style Vnto the kyng.
a. 1529. Skelton, P. Sparowe, 772. I … cannot in effect My style as yet direct With Englysh wordes elect.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., I. 220. At this dewys I leif thame heir ane quhile, And to the Romanis turne I will my style.
1581. Lambarde, Eiren., III. i. (1588), 333. Here let us … addresse our stile to other statutes.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vii. § 16. But saith hee, Turne your stile, and let vs heare what you can say against vs.
1639. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 159. This young man quite turning his stile when his Master had strayed from the right way of vertue, beganne to cry out against his inconstancy.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Revelation Unrevealed, § 4. Reverend and holy Dionysius bent his style, in two Books of the Promises of God.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. iii. 202. Where, leave we Him and Ralph a while, And to the Conj’rer turn our stile.
1700. Dryden, Pal. & Arc., II. 34. To gentle Arcite let us turn our Style.
2. An engraving-tool; a graver.
1662. Evelyn, Chalcogr. (1906), 7. The γλυφεῖον Style, or Scalprum.
1682. Dryden, Medal, 22. The Style that copy’d every grace, And plough’d such furrows for an Eunuch face.
1785. Cowper, Task, I. 706. Nor does the chissel occupy alone The pow’rs of sculpture, but the style as much.
1801. Fuseli, in Barry, etc. Lect. Paint. (1848), 350. The outlines were traced with a firm but pliant style, which they called cestrum.
† 3. A pointed instrument used for marking. Obs.
1659. Twysden, S. Foster’s Miscell., xv. 12. With some stile or dent make a mark where the point of the Gnomon is reposed through the water, upon the side of the Vessel.
4. Surg. A blunt-pointed probe.
1631. H. C[rooke], Expl. Instrum. Chirurg., 7. Then it will be necessary to seare the Vlcer with a Style blunt at the end, and red hot running in a hollow pype.
1846. J. Miller, Pract. Surg., 98. To accomplish this, styles—or small bougies—are employed.
1895. Arnold & Sons’ Catal. Surg. Instrum., 157. Style for Fistula Lachrymalis (Walton’s), silver.
5. A hard point for tracing, in manifold writing; the marking-point in a telegraph or phonograph.
1871. Culley, Pract. Telegr. (ed. 5), 205. A lever carrying a point or style, which embosses a mark upon a band of paper carried forward by wheelwork.
1878. M. Foster, Physiol., III. iii. § 1. 451. A very light style attached to the incus or stapes is made to write on a travelling surface.
1881. Nature, 20 Oct., 582/2. A style concentric with the shaft presses lightly against a compound sheet of tracing and carbonised paper attached to the under side of the table.
6. gen. A fixed pointer, pin or finger for indicating a point or position. Cf. STYLUS 4.
1555. Eden, Decades (Arb.), 390. We must tary vntyll the poynt or style of the clocke do exactly come to the poynt of sum houre.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., Mercator’s Globes (1597), 209. A little round Squire of brasse,… the head or stile whereof is to shew the shadow of the Sunne being set vpon the Globe.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., II. iii. 76. Placing therein two stiles or needles composed of the same steele, touched with the same Loadstone, and at the same point.
1664. Evelyn, trans. Freart’s Parallel Archit., etc. 152. The Style is a streight Ruler, one end whereof is fixt in the center of the said Circle, the other end moves about at pleasure, so as that it may be easily transfer’d and directed from one division of the Circle to another.
7. The pin, rod, or triangular plate that forms the gnomon of a sun-dial.
1577–87. Harrison, England, II. vi. 171/1, in Holinshed. Among the Persians onelie the king dined when the sunne was at the highest, and shadow of the stile at the shortest.
1594. Blundevil, Exerc., Descr. Tables of Sines (1597), 52 b. That shadowe is called Vmbra versa, which proceedeth from some right style or pearch being thrust into a wall or post standing right vp, and not leaning.
1651. J. White, Rich Cabinet (1677), 44. The Stile may be made of a thin Iron plate, and cemented in, or of a stiffe wire.
1764. J. Ferguson, Lect., 197. The edge of the plane by which the time of the day is found, is called the stile of the dial.
1834. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sci., xiii. 104. The shadow of the stile of a dial.
1868. Lockyer, Elem. Astron., § 402. 193. In practice,… all we want is a projection called a style, parallel to the earth’s axis,… and a dial.
b. defined as a line.
1690. Leybourn, Curs. Math., 704. Draw the Line CF for the Axis, or Stile of your Dial.
1704. J. Harris, Lex. Techn., I. Style, in Dyalling, is that Line whose Shadow on the Plane of the Dyal, shews the true Hour-Line. This is always supposed to be a part of the Axis of the Earth, and therefore must always be so placed, as that with its two extreme Points it shall respect the two Poles of the World, and with its Upper-end, the elevated Pole. This Line is the Upper-edge of the Cock, Gnomon, or Index.
8. Bot. A narrowed prolongation of the ovary, which, when present, supports the stigma at its apex.
1682. S. Gilbert, Florists Vade-Mecum (1702), 122. The flowers … opening into five fair broad leaves, with a stile and small threds in the middle of a Saffron colour.
1691. Ray, Creation, I. (1692), 92. The figure of the Stile and Seed-vessel.
1784. J. King, Cook’s 3rd Voy., VI. vi. III. 335. From the centre of the flower rises a style of a triangular form, and obtuse at the end.
1872. Oliver, Elem. Bot., I. i. 9. In many plants the stalk of the stigma is of considerable length,… whether long or short, however, it is called a style.
9. Ent. a. A slender bristle-like process in the anal region. b. The bristle or seta of the antenna of a dipter.
1826. Kirby & Sp., Entomol., III. xxxiii. 392. Styli (the Styles). Rigid, exarticulate, long and narrow anal organs. Ex. Staphylinus.
1895. D. Sharp, Insects, I. 238. The ninth pair [of abdominal appendages] … form the ventral styles. Ibid., II. 442. The part of the antenna beyond the scape is called the ‘flagellum’: an appendage of the flagellum is called ‘arista’ when bristle-like, when thicker ‘style.’
10. Zool. A small slender pointed process or part; a stylet.
1851. Woodward, Mollusca, 67. Octopodidæ:… shell represented by two short styles, encysted in the substance of the mantle.
1875. Huxley, in Encycl. Brit., I. 762/1. There are five digits in the manus of the Anura; but the pollex is rudimentary, being represented only by a cartilaginous or more or less ossified style. Ibid. (1876), in Nature, 11 May, 34/2. A horse-like animal … with three toes,… but having, in addition, a little style of bone on the outer side of the fore foot.
b. A sponge-spicule pointed at one end.
1879. H. N. Moseley, Notes Nat. ‘Challenger,’ 530. The ‘style,’ a rod of the calcareous skeleton, which in many genera of Stylasteridæ acts as a support to the mouth-bearing polyp within its pore.
1888. W. J. Sollas, in Challenger Rep., XXV. p. lviii. When the single actine is strongylate at the origin and oxeate at the termination the term style is used without qualification.
¶ 11. A post, stake. nonce-use (trans. L. stilus).
1579. E. Hake, Newes out of Powles (1872), G ij. Entending … to … seuer places by themselues, with styles and parting stakes.
1609. Holland, Amm. Marcell., XXIII. iii. 222. When as … a round stone is put into the sling, foure lustie young men … unfolding the barres whereto the ropes are incorporate, draw backe the style or standard up to the hooke.
II. [Developed in L. from sense 1.] Writing; manner of writing (hence also of speaking).
† 12. A written work or works; literary composition; in later use occas. a composition spoken or sung. Obs.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 21293. Þe stile o matheu, water it was, And win þe letter o lucas.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 87. As seynt Jerom rehersithe in his style.
1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, lxxxiv. 22. And sen thir clarkis hes writtin in thair stylis To ȝoungar folk and thair successioun. Ibid. (1508), Goldyn Targe, 68. Noucht thou, [H]omer, als fair as thou coud wryte, For all thine ornate stilis so perfyte.
1579. W. Wilkinson, Confut. Fam. Love, To Rdr. *iiij b. Against whose opinions my whole stile and writyng is especially directed.
1579. Spenser, Sheph. Cal., Jan., 10. Well couth he tune his pipe, and frame his stile.
1595. Locrine, V. iv. 200. Addresse your eares to heare a mournfull stile!
† b. An inscription or legend. Obs.
c. 1512. Earl Northumb. Househ.-Bk. (1770), 199. And a Still on the Hede of every Quarter of the Parcellis that is provided forre.
1640. Sandys, Christs Passion, IV. 110. The Governour intreating to take down That glorious Stile [the superscription on the Cross].
1689. Luttrell, Brief Rel., I. 502. There is a new great seal made, with this stile round it: Willielmus 3. et Maria 2 [etc.].
† c. An entry, clause or section in a legal document. Also ? the heading or introductory formula of a will, a writ, or other document. Obs.
1570–6. Lambarde, Peramb. Kent (1826), 192. Without shewing for what auncient service … the same Rent grew due and payable, as in the first stile or entrie is expressed.
1619. Depositions Bk. Archdeaconries Essex & Colchester, 103 b. Robert Wistocke … had begun to write the stile of the will, but went no farther.
1648–9. Whitelock, Mem. (1853), II. 492. That the name of any one particular person should not be inserted as the style of any common writ.
13. The manner of expression characteristic of a particular writer (hence of an orator), or of a literary group or period; a writer’s mode of expression considered in regard to clearness, effectiveness, beauty, and the like.
† In frankis stile (quot. 1330): in the French language.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 16705 (Petyt MS.). Pers of Langtoft … On frankis stile þis storie wrote.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Clerk’s T., 1092. Therfore petrak writeth This storie, which with heigh stile he enditeth.
1412–20. Lydg., Chron. Troy, I. 3090. After þe maner of my rude stile.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 475/2. Style, forme of indytynge, or spekynge or wrytynge, stilus.
1517. H. Watson, Ship of Fools, Argt. A j. In facyle sentence and famylyer style.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Edw. IV., 227. A letter of diffiance, bothe for the stile & the pennyng excellently endited.
1609. B. Jonson, Epicœne, II. ii. So shee may censure Poets, and Authors, and stiles, and compare ’hem.
1721. Swift, Let. Yng. Gentl. Holy Orders, Wks. 1898, III. 201. Proper words in proper places, make the true definition of a style.
1728. Law, Serious C., vii. (1732), 96. She will sometimes read a book of Piety … if it is much commended for stile and language.
a. 1817. T. Dwight, Trav. (1821), I. 510. The Boston style is a phrase, proverbially used … to denote a florid, pompous manner of writing.
1845. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 13. St. Gregory of Tours has no style, barely grammar.
1870. Ruskin, Lect. Art, iii. 68. No man is worth reading to form your style, who does not mean what he says.
1889. Swinburne, Stud. B. Jonson, 174. The incomparable style of Mr. Ruskin.
b. Used for: A good, choice or fine style.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet (1844), 17. All this is but bad English, when wilt thou come to a stile?
14. In generalized sense: Those features of literary composition which belong to form and expression rather than to the substance of the thought or matter expressed. Often used for: Good or fine style.
1577. Harrison, England, Ep. Ded. I neuer made any choise of stile, or picked wordes.
c. 1618. E. Bolton, Hypercrit., iv. § 1. Language and Style, the Coat and Apparel of matter.
1713. Steele, Englishm., No. 7. 46. The Rules of Method, and the Propriety of Thought and Stile.
1749. Chesterf., Lett. to Son, 24 Nov. Style is the dress of thoughts.
1840. De Quincey, Lang., Wks. 1858, IX. 93. lt is certain that style, or … the management of language,… is able … to yield a separate intellectual pleasure quite apart from the interest of the subject treated.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 331. Some cultivated rhetoric with such assiduity and success that their discourses are still justly valued as models of style.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 121. The Parmenides in point of style is one of the best of the Platonic writings.
15. A manner of discourse, or tone of speaking, adopted in addressing others or in ordinary conversation.
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc. 77. Stop vp thine eares this Syren to beguile,… be sure To lend no eare vnto hir flattring stile.
1614. Bacon, Charge touching Duels, 28. No man tooke himselfe fowled by them [sc. reproaches], but tooke them but for breath, and the stile of an enemy.
1667–8. Pepys, Diary, 23 Feb. But here talking, he did discourse in this stile: ‘We,’ and ‘We’ all along, ‘will not give any money’ [etc.].
1711. Swift, Cond. Allies, 32. This hath been the Style of late Years; which whoever introduced among us, they have taught our Allies to speak after them.
1722. Wodrow, Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot., II. 362. When Threats moved him very little, some others of them changed their Stile, and calmly asked him, What is the Reason you will not comply as your elder Brother hath done.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1768, May, He talked in his usual style with a rough contempt of popular liberty.
1807. Crabbe, Par. Reg., III. 907. To a new style his reverence rashly took; Loud grew his voice, to threat’ning swell’d his look.
1832. Greville, Mem. (1874), II. 289. Able as he is, he has adopted a tone and style … unusual on the Episcopal bench.
1875. Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), V. 8. The Athenian talks to the two others … in the style of a master discoursing to his scholars.
† 16. A form of words, phrase, or formula, by which a particular idea or thought is expressed.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. 571. Neuerthelesse wee meane according to the stile of the holy scriptures, that hee [etc.].
1642. D. Rogers, Naaman, 589. To use Saint Iames his stile … saying, If God will blesse it, it shall heale.
1649. Jer. Taylor, Gt. Exemp., II. Disc. viii. 60. Every sinner in the stile of Scripture is a fool.
1653. T. Watson, Art Div. Contentm., vii. (1668), 42. Ipse dixit was enough among Pythagoras his Scholars; Be it enacted, is the Royal Style.
1654. H. L’Estrange, Chas. I. (1655), 4. In the stile of the Court he [James I.] went for Great Britain’s Solomon.
1710. Prideaux, Orig. Tithes, i. 9. The Stile and Phrase of the Text plainly speaks of it as such.
1736. Butler, Anal., I. iii. 64. The eastern Stile would be literally applicable to him, that all People, Nations, and Languages should serve him.
17. Scots Law. The authorized form for drawing up a deed or instrument.
c. 1480. Henryson, Sheep & Dog, 8. For by the vse, and cours, and commoun style On this maner maid his Citatioun.
1490. Munim. de Melros (Bannatyne Club), 600. In þe sikkyrast forme & styill of obligatioune wsyt … within the Realme.
1585. Sc. Acts Jas. VI. (1814), III. 377/2. That euerie writtair subscribe his name on þe bak of þe signatour or lettre as allowit be him That it is writtin according to þe ordiner stile and forme.
1697. G. Dallas (title), System of Stiles, as now Practicable within the Kingdom of Scotland.
1708. J. Spottiswoode, Introd. Stile of Writs (1727), 28. When the Bond of Provision is made by a Father, in favours of his whole Children, the Stile is thus. I A. for the paternal Love and fatherly Affection that I have and bear to B, C, &c. my lawful Children, by these Presents [etc.].
1862. Hendry (title), Styles of Deeds and Instruments … Second Edition.
b. In generalized sense: Legal technicality of language or construction; as in words or clauses of style.
1743. Kames, Decis. Crt. Sess. 1730–52 (1799), 75. The extent of the obligation is to be gathered from the nature of the transaction, rather than from clauses of style slightly or imperfectly framed.
1765–8. Erskine, Inst. Law Scot., III. 11. § 1. Their verborum obligatio, to the forming of which it behoved both parties to utter certain verba solennia, or words of style.
1912. Black & Chrystal, Life W. R. Smith, vi. 237. Libels were drawn up in the old ratiocinative form, bristling with words of style and verbosities of all kinds.
18. A legal, official or honorific title; the proper name or recognized appellation of a person, family, trading firm, etc.; the ceremonial designation of a sovereign, including his various titles and the enumeration of his dominions.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 16082. He es na godd ne godds sun, of him we knau þe stile.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 2832. He þat noble is of blode, and a lorde in stile.
1414. Dede is worchyng, 115, in 26 Pol. Poems, 59. To ffraunce kyng Edwarde had queryle, Hit was his kynde heritage; And ȝe han þe same style.
c. 1470. Henry, Wallace, IX. 87. The Rede Reffayr thai call him in his still.
1543–4. Act 35 Hen. VIII., c. 3 (title), The Bill for the Kinges Stile.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Prophecies (Arb.), 537. The Kings Stile, is now no more of England, but of Britaine.
1639. Fuller, Holy War, III. x. (1640), 126. King Richard, with some of his succeeding English Kings wore the title of Jerusalem in their style.
1667. Milton, P. L., II. 312. Of these Titles now Must we renounce, and changing stile be call’d Princes of Hell?
1758. Payne’s Universal Chron., 29 July–5 Aug., 141/1. A Grant … of the dignity of an Earl of the said kingdom, by the name, stile and title of Earl of Wandesford, in the county of Kilkenny.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 232. Articles of Confederation … in which they took the style of ‘The United States of America.’
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., x. II. 667. The title of king of France, assumed by the conqueror of Cressy, was not omitted in the royal style.
1863. H. Cox, Instit., III. viii. 715. Conferring the whole Admiralty jurisdiction … on one person, under the style of High Admiral.
1865. M. Arnold, Ess. Crit., Pref. p. xiv. My native modesty is such, that I have always been shy of assuming the honourable style of Professor.
1886. Law Rep., Weekly Notes 198/1. The covenant was … that he would not use a particular name or style in trade.
1913. Times, 13 Sept., 17/6. Partnerships Dissolved…. P. Lawford and P. W. Billing,… under the style of A. S. Wilson and Co.
b. gen. Any distinguishing or qualifying title, appellation or denomination. Now rare or Obs.
c. 1400. Pilgr. Sowle, IV. xx. (Caxton, 1483), 67. And eke of moder hast thou lost the style.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 282. Wallace … callit Corspatrick tratour be his style.
a. 1592. Greene, Jas. IV., I. i. The name of father, and the style of friend.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., I. vi. § 2. The one carrying the stile of a Manufacture, and the other of a lawe, decree, or Councell.
1611. Middleton & Dekker, Roaring Girl, K 4. A ruffler is my stile, my title, my profession.
1631. Heywood, 2nd Pt. Fair Maid of West, I. C 2 b. T’ impose on me The hatefull stile and blot of pandarisme, That am a Gentleman.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. iii. 10. Their soberest adversaries have ever afforded them the stile of fooles and mad men.
1673. Penn, Chr. Quaker, vii. Wks. 1726, I. 542. Which excellent Principles … do worthily deserve, in my Esteem, the Stile of Divinity.
1711. Swift, Cond. Allies, 30. The Style of Maritime Powers, by which our Allies, in a sort of contemptuous manner, usually couple us with the Dutch.
1742. Young, Nt. Th., IV. 788. A Christian is the highest stile of man.
III. Manner, fashion.
† 19. A method or custom of performing actions or functions, esp. one sanctioned by usage or law. Style of court: see quot. 1726. Obs.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, III. xxxi. (1869), 152. But whan j wole, þe style j haue, and hippe a while bi lesinges and lyinge.
1530. Palsgr., 276/1. Style a processe, stile.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., II. 10. Tua legatis he hes send … To execute the law in Romane stylis.
1549. Registr. Aberdon. (Maitl. Club), I. 434. Togyddyr with seruice in ostijng and vthir generall raidis furneist þairto efter þe forme and styill of þe schyir.
1647. Clarendon, Hist. Reb., I. § 20. According to the style of that Court and the slow progress in all things of ceremony.
1721. Strype, Eccl. Mem. (1822), I. I. 145. He did an act against the custom and common style of the Court.
1726. Ayliffe, Parergon, 193. The Style of Court is properly the Practice observ’d by any Court in its way of Proceeding.
1773. Goldsm., Stoops to Conq., II. i. I like to give them a hearty reception in the old style at my gate.
† b. A particular manner of life or behavior.
c. 1412. Hoccleve, De Reg. Princ., 4024. Allas! Þat Kynges nobleye Turne schulde into style of tirannye! Ibid., 4516. [addressing a miser] Thus may thy style likned be to thefte.
† c. ? Outward demeanor. Obs.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., IV. ii. 29. Ne certes can that friendship long endure, How euer gay and goodly be the style, That doth ill cause or euill end enure.
† 20. Condition with regard to external circumstances. Obs.
c. 1450. Holland, Howlat, 658. The stern Empriouris Style thus staitly restord is. Ibid., 709. Quhar sic statis will steir, thar stylis till ostend, Ȝe wait all worschip and welth dayly induris.
c. 1480. Henryson, Robene & Makyne, 57. Robene, I stand in sic a styll [rhymes quhyle, begyle]; I sicht, and þat full sair.
21. A particular mode or form of skilled construction, execution or production; the manner in which a work of art is executed, regarded as characteristic of the individual artist, or of his time and place; one of the modes recognized in a particular art as suitable for the production of beautiful or skilful work.
1706. Art of Painting (1744), 63. When a curious person has well consider’d the different pictures of a master, and has form’d a perfect idea of his stile.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., Style, in Music, the manner of Singing and Composing. Thus we say, the Style of the Charissimi, of Lully, of Lambert; the Style of the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, &c.
1743. Francis, trans. Hor., Odes, III. i. 61. On Columns, rais’d in modern Style.
1763. J. Brown, Poetry & Mus., xii. 210. It [modern Church Music] is infected with the same Puerility of Stile, with their Opera Airs.
1777. Robertson, Hist. Amer. (1778), II. VII. 286. The hardest Egyptian stile, stiff and imperfect as it was, is more elegant [than that of Mexican painting].
1801. Fuseli, Lect. Paint., ii. 69. Michael Angelo lived to see the electric shock which his design and style had given to art.
1812. Crabbe, Tales, v. 533. The shining tables, curiously inlaid, Were all in comfortless proud style display’d.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 84. At Lausanne we only stopped for dinner (which we obtained in sufficiently bad style at the Lion d’Or).
1858. Hingeston, Capgrave’s Chron. (Rolls), p. xxvi. The style of the writing corresponds very closely with that of those MSS. of Capgrave which are known … to have been written by his own hand.
1865. Nat. Hist. Rev., 338. The ‘style’ in which the book has been produced is excellent.
1910. Encycl. Brit., II. 28/1. British manufacturers are building [fishing-] rods after the American style.
b. In generalized sense. Often used for: Beauty or loftiness of style.
1801. Fuseli, in Barry, etc. Lect. Paint. (1848), 381. The few nudities which he [Fra Bartolomeo] allowed himself to exhibit show sufficient intelligence and still more style.
c. A definite type of architecture, distinguished by special characteristics of structure or ornamentation. Often with prefixed designation, as the Grecian, Gothic, Italian, Romanesque style; the Norman, Early English, Decorated, Perpendicular, Tudor, Renaissance, Palladian style; and the like.
1777. Dalrymple, Trav. Sp. & Port., cxxxiii. A very handsome church … in the Gothic stile.
1817. Rickman, Styles Engl. Archit., 46. The first or Norman style. Ibid., 56. The Second, or Early English Style. Ibid., 71. The Third, or Decorated English Style.
1838. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., I. 157. The beauties or defects of either the Egyptian, Grecian, Roman, or Gothic style.
1874. Micklethwaite, Mod. Par. Churches, 251. A man can no more invent a new style than he can invent a new language.
a. 1878. Sir G. Scott, Lect. Archit., I. 6. Each age had its architectural style distinctly and strongly marked.
d. Printing. The rules and methods, in regard to typography, display, etc., observed in a particular printing-office.
1871. Amer. Encycl. Printing (ed. Ringwalt), 451. It is highly important for a compositor to thoroughly familiarize himself with the style of the office in which he is employed, as well as the style adopted for any special work. Ibid. After a compositor has been at an office for years, where, habituated to the style of the house, he sets up words in type as follows.
1894. Amer. Dict. Printing, etc. 530. Most printing-offices have their own particular method in the matter of display, spelling, &c., and this is known as the style of the house.
e. Calico printing. (a) See quot. 1844 (b) Any of the various methods in use for producing the colored design.
1844. G. Dodd, Textile Manuf., ii. 58. Among calico-printers the term pattern is applied to disposition of forms, while style is applied to disposition of colours.
1874. Crookes, Dyeing & Calico-Printing, 566. The madder styles have for a long time played the most important part in calico-printing.
1892. Arlidge, Dis. Occupations, 523. The art of dyeing is one characterised by very diverse methods, or, as they are called, ‘styles.’
22. A kind, sort, or type, as determined by manner of composition or construction, or by outward appearance.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xxxii. Of the latter style of countenance … were those of the peasant and his wife.
1797. Jane Austen, Sense & Sensib., xxxiii. There was something in her style of beauty to please them [i.e., men] particularly.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Visit Newgate. The former [murderer] … exhibiting a style of head and set of features, which might have afforded sufficient moral grounds for his execution at any time.
1849. N. Brit. Rev., XI. 479. Emilia Wyndham is a complete example of the style of novel in which Mrs. Marsh is qualified to succeed.
1899. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., VII. 659. The ‘style’ of the symptoms, as I am in the habit of calling it.
b. transf. Said predicatively of a person or thing: What suits (a person’s) taste; the ‘sort’ that (a person or set of persons) would choose or approve.
1811. Miss L. M. Hawkins, C’tess & Gertr., I. 358. Had he continued to live en garçon, his own Chariot, little less weight than a farmer’s loaded waggon, with gilt springs … would have been his style.
1880. ‘Ouida,’ Moths, I. 145. She is not the style of the day at all, you know.
† c. In a … style. (a) Of a (specified) kind; (made) on a certain scale. (b) In a (good or bad) condition as regards health, mode of life, etc. Obs.
1772. Test Filial Duty, II. 24. Every thing here is in a great stile; I shall hence forward look on the middle part of England as the miniature of nature.
1789. Charlotte Smith, Ethelinde, II. 269. By all accounts he’s in a bad style. He was always, I thought, a giddy unpromising boy. Ibid., III. 5. Nor should I have thrown away a thought on this [lady], had not she had the reputation of an understanding in a superior style. Ibid., 264. My horses are all in a fine style.
23. Manner of executing a task or performing an action or operation. Often with reference to athletics, racing, games: The manner of action of a particular performer, racehorse, etc.
1774. Burke, Sp. Amer. Tax., Wks. 1792, I. 551. To repeal by a denial of our right to tax in the preamble … would have cut, in the heroic style, the Gordian knot with a sword.
1815. J. Smith, Panorama Sci. & Art, II. 157. The bold adventurer ascended from Belvidere Grounds, Dublin,… and in a gradual and majestic style left the shores of Ireland.
1819. in Lond. Gaz. (1820), No. 17629. 1670/1. That the service entrusted to him has been executed in a stile most creditable to the professional skill of the Major-General himself.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Tale of Tyne, i. 11. A barge was coming up in fine style.
1833. Q. Rev., XLIX. 382. The style in which he [a horse] ran, his nose almost sweeping the ground.
1879. Proctor, Rough Ways (1880), 159. They row in a style, which without being actually identical with that of the London waterman, resembles it in all essential respects.
1879. Oxf. & Camb. Undergrad. Jrnl., 13 March, 291/2. If his staying powers can be trusted he is perhaps the best man in the boat, his style being very good.
1891. B. Harte, First Fam. Tasajara, x. It was like you to … say all those mean, silly things to dad,… in your regular looney style.
b. Used absol. for: Good or fine style.
1864. Times, 21 March, 9/6. Mr. Hawkshaw, in speaking for the Cambridge crew, said they had been beaten by style.
24. A mode of deportment or behavior; a mode or fashion of life, esp. in regard to expense, display, etc.
1770. C. Jenner, Placid Man, III. iv. I. 163. He found Lady Clayton in a very high stile of passion.
a. 1775. Hobie Noble, xv. in Child, Ballads, IV. 3. Then Hobie Noble is that deer; I wat he carries the style fu hie!
1780. New Newgate Cal., V. 161. Living in the stile of a gentleman.
1788. Mrs. Hughes, Henry & Isabella, III. 66. An opportunity of marrying in such a manner as would enable her to live in a certain style, among a certain class.
c. 1789. Gibbon, Autobiog., Misc. Wks. 1796, I. 117. Between the expensive style of Paris and of Italy it was prudent to interpose some months of tranquil simplicity.
1792. Gouv. Morris, in Sparks, Life & Writ. (1832), I. 374. The society is noisy and in bad style.
1798. Sophia Lee, Canterb. T., Young Lady’s T., II. 14. [He] had already brought home an immense fortune from the East, and was now to return in a high style.
1814. Scott, Wav., lxii. ¶ 1. That gentleman … lived in what is called great style.
1816. Remarks Eng. Manners, 87. I was convinced by their style that any overture on my part would be deemed an intrusion.
1825. Lamb, Lepus Papers, v. Wks. 1903, I. 278. What a style you do live in! what elegant curtains!
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xv. I began the process of ruining myself in the received style, like any other spoony.
1885. ‘E. Garrett’ (Mrs. Mayo), At Any Cost, xiii. 246. I don’t say your Miss Chrissie did anything in that style, but she lost her place here through her carryings on.
1892. E. Reeves, Homeward Bound, 270. So we left in great style, with bands playing and soldiers presenting arms.
b. Used absol. for: Fashionable air, appearance, deportment, etc.
1807–8. W. Irving, Salmag., viii. (1860), 176. Style … consists in certain fashions, or certain eccentricities, or certain manners, of certain people, in certain situations, and possessed of a certain share of fashion or importance.
1835. Willis, Pencillings, I. xxv. 175. A plain German city, with little or no pretensions to style.
1848. Alb. Smith, Chr. Tadpole, xxvi. 233. An evident wish to throw a little style into their costume.
1885. Howells, Ind. Summer, ii. 16. The refined and indefinite perfume which exhaled from the ensemble of her silks, her laces, and her gloves, like an odorous version of that otherwise impalpable quality which women call style.
c. In style: splendidly, showily, according to fashionable requirements. Also † in a style.
1781. W. Blane, Ess. Hunting (1788), 31, note. All other kind of Hounds are now entirely laid aside by those who affect to hunt in style.
1782. Miss Burney, Cecilia, IV. ii. We began with cotillons, and finished with country dances. It was the most elegant thing you ever saw in your life; everything quite in a style.
1807. Sporting Mag., XXIX. 23. Every gentleman who perambulates Bond-street and the Steyne in style.
1835. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Publ. Dinners. The driver…—no doubt that you may do the thing in style—turns a deaf ear to your earnest entreaties to be set down at the corner.
1874. Ruskin, Fors Clav., IV. 39. This is what the modern British public thinks is ‘living in style.’
d. transf. Attractive quality (in a thing).
1897. Daily News, 18 March, 8/7. They found that the beer had ‘more style,’ as it was called, when there was a certain admixture of foreign barley.
25. A particular mode or fashion of costume.
1814. Jane Austen, Mansf. Park, xxiv. A better style of dress.
1833. Ht. Martineau, Brooke Farm, viii. His daughters look very well in their better style of dress.
1860. Draper & Clothier, I. 129/1. The dress is of the style called in Paris, the robe Impératrice.
1866. Geo. Eliot, F. Holt, xvi. Got up, both inside and out, as candidates in the style of the period.
1891. Truth, 10 Dec., 1240/2. The front was all white satin, made in Empire style.
26. A person’s characteristic bearing, demeanor, or manner, esp. as conducing to beauty or striking appearance.
1826. Disraeli, Viv. Grey, V. xv. Most amusing, delightful girl, great style!
1861. Mrs. H. Wood, Shadow of Ashlydyat, I. ii. I do not see much beauty in Charlotte Pain. I do not like her style.
1870. Dickens, E. Drood, iv. Mr. Sapsea is very proud of this, and of his voice, and of his style.
1869. Mrs. Stowe, Oldtown Folks, vi. (1870), 61. There are some very homely women who have a style that amounts to something like beauty.
IV. 27. A mode of expressing dates. Chiefly, Either of the two methods of dating that have been current in the Christian world since the introduction of the Gregorian calendar in 1582: viz., the New Style (abbreviated N.S.), which is the result of the Gregorian reform, and the Old Style (O.S.), which follows the unreformed calendar. The New Style is occasionally called the Roman Style, and the Old Style the English Style. In historical dates earlier than 1582, however, Roman Style, as used by modern writers, means only that the year mentioned is to be understood as beginning on 1 Jan.
The Julian calendar was based on the assumption that the tropical year consisted of 3651/4 days. In order that the average calendar year should have this length, it was provided that the normal year should contain 365 days, but every fourth year 366 days. Down to A.D. 1582 the Julian calendar continued to be used by all Christian nations. In calendars and almanacs, the year began on 1 Jan. (like the Roman consular year); but for ordinary purposes the time of beginning the year was different in different places; in England, after some fluctuations, the beginning of the legal year was fixed for 25 March. After the adoption of the Christian era, the leap years were those whose number A.D. (reckoned from 1 Jan.) was divisible by 4.
The Julian estimate of 3651/4 days for the length of the tropical year was too great by about 11 minutes, an error which amounts to one day in about 128 years. Hence in 1581 the date of 21 March for the vernal equinox, assumed since the early 4th c. in the rule for computing Easter, was 10 days too late. To remedy this inconvenience, and to prevent its recurrence, Pope Gregory XIII., acting on the advice of the Jesuit Clavius and other eminent astronomers, ordained that in A.D. 1582 the day after 4 Oct. should be reckoned as 15 Oct., and that in future the years which had a number ending in two cyphers should not be leap years unless the number were divisible by 400. The Julian date of 1 Jan. for the beginning of the year was retained. The difference between the old and new calendars continued to be 10 days until 1700 (the first disputed leap-year), when it became 11 days; in 1800 it became 12 days, and in 1900 13 days, from which there will be no further increase till 2100.
The Gregorian calendar (so called from the name of the Pope) was speedily adopted in all Roman Catholic countries, while the other nations of Europe adhered to their traditional reckoning. In the 17th and 18th centuries, it was often found necessary to state whether a date was according to Old or New Style, or to give both datings. As the nations which accepted the reform usually began the year on 1 Jan., not, as in England, on 25 March, there was for the March quarter (in addition to the other difference) a discrepancy in the number of the year between the Old Style and New Style dates.
In England and Scotland the Gregorian calendar was established by the Act 24 Geo. II. c. 23 (1751), which provided that the year 1752 and all future years should begin on 1 Jan. instead of 25 March (in Scotland this rule had been adopted in 1600), that the day after 2 Sept. 1752 should be reckoned the 14 Sept., and that the reformed rule for leap year should in future be followed. Ireland followed in 1788. The use of New Style is now universal throughout the Christian world with the exception of certain countries of the Greek Church; in Russia it was officially adopted by the revolutionary government in 1918.
The use of stilus for ‘mode of dating’ was current in med.L., as a specific application of the sense ‘usage’ (cf. 19 above). In France the expression New Style (nouveau style) had been current before the time of the Gregorian reform, with reference to the change in the beginning of the year from Easter to 1 Jan., which took place in that country in 1563.
[1589: cf. STILO NOVO].
1590. Wotton, Life & Lett. (1907), I. 239. Written the xxv of September, 1590, style of England.
1615. Cocks, Diary, 18 June (Hakl. Soc.), I. 11. I receved a letter from Jorge Durois, dated in Langasaque, le 22nd of June, new siile.
1617. Moryson, Itin., I. 63. The ninth of September, after the old stile (for the new style is vsed in Poland) I tooke my iourney to Crakaw.
1625. Docum. Impeachm. Buckhm. (Camden), 160. The eight and twentieth day of this presente moneth of March, Old Stile of England.
1664. Sir R. Fanshawe, Lett., in Mem. Lady Fanshawe (1829), 329. Madrid, Wednesday, the 15th June, 1664, English Style.
1674. Moxon, Tutor Astron., II. (ed. 3), 84. I look in the Calender of Old Stile for June 1.
1678. Trial of Coleman, 28. In the month of April old stile, May new stile.
1712. Budgell, Spect., No. 395, ¶ 3. Telling me she looked upon the Month as then out, for that she had all along reckoned by the New Style.
1716. Mar, Jrnl., in Patten, Hist. Rebell. (1717), 269. It was about the middle of December (our Style) before he could reach Dunkirk.
1753. in Wilkins, Polit. Ballads (1860), II. 311. In seventeen hundred and fifty three The Style it was chang’d to Popery.
1809. R. Langford, Introd. Trade, 35. Russia is … the only country in which bills are dated by the Old Style.
1829. S. Shaw, Staffordsh. Potteries, vi. 137. At the time of altering the Style, in 1752.
1862. L. F. Simpson, Autob. Chas. V., p. v. Where he was born on February 24, 1500, according to Roman Style.
1879. Froude, Cæsar, xxii. 387. The 9th of August, old style [i.e., according to the pre-Julian reckoning], or towards the end of May by real time, Cæsar had [etc.].
¶ b. transf. (in nonce uses).
1749. Fielding, Tom Jones, XV. ii. Then they parted to dress, it being now past three in the morning, or to reckon by the old style, in the afternoon.
1755. J. Shebbeare, Lydia (1769), II. 80. By which manner of computation he was but fifty in his style, and sixty in that of all others.
V. 28. Comb., as style-like adj.; (in sense 8) style-flag, -flap; style-book, (a) a book containing ‘styles’ of writs, etc., according to Scots law (see 17); (b) U.S. a book containing the methods and regulations observed in a particular printing-office (W., 1911).
1708. J. Spottiswoode, Introd. Stile of Writs, Pref. (1727), a 6 b. I have thought fit to communicate the Scheme of a *Stile-book, form’d by James Hay of Carribber for the Use of the Gentlemen educated in his Writing-Chamber.
1873. Burton, Hist. Scot., V. lvii. 178. A narrative of the method of the deed has a certain old quaintness that may relieve it of the stiffness of the modern style-book.
1815. Kirby & Sp., Entomol. (1816), I. ix. 295. The petal-like expansion or *style-flag [in Iris]
1907. Scott Elliot, Romance Pl. Life, 197. In Mimulus the *style-flaps close when touched.
1822. J. Parkinson, Outl. Oryctol., 72. A round, lamellated star, with a projecting *style-like axis in the centre.
1847–9. Todd’s Cycl. Anat., IV. 11/2. Urocentrum … is furnished posteriorly with a sharp style-like process.
