Also 6–9 stile, 6 Sc. styell, 7 still(e, Sc. stylle, (8 pa. pple. stilen). [f. STYLE sb. F. styler means ‘to train, practise, instruct.’]
1. trans. To give a name or style to; to call by a name or style. Const. with complement; † also with for, with.
1563–83. Foxe, A. & M., 812/2. Howsoeuer it pleaseth … Syr Tho. Moore … to stile Richard Hunne for a knowne and desperate heretique.
c. 1580. Montgomerie, Misc. P., I. 2. Luiffaris, leif of to loif so hie Ȝour ladyes; and thame styell no mair, But peir, the erthlie A per se.
1607. Hieron, Wks. (1613), I. 119. Hee … is therefore stiled, A murtherer from the beginning.
1614. Raleigh, Hist. World, I. II. xvii. § 8. 491. So they [the Psalms] are intituled in the old Hebrew copies, though the vulgar and Septuagint … stile them otherwise.
1630. Reg. Mag. Sig. Scot., 1634, 13/2. Wmquhill Johnne lord Halyruidhous, then styllit Mr Johne Bothuell.
1648–9. Whitelocke, Mem. (1853), II. 497. Now the commons styled what were before ordinances at this time acts of parliament.
1663. in Verney Mem. (1907), II. 229. Such strainge and unbeseeming titles I forbeare to stile you with.
1667. Milton, P. L., VI. 289. The strife which thou call’st evil, but wee style The strife of Glorie.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, 12 March 1686. One Hall, who styl’d himselfe his Majesty’s printer.
1711. Hearne, Collect. (O.H.S.), III. 251. The present Queen (as she is styl’d).
1796. Burke, Regic. Peace, ii. Wks. VIII. 251. That liberty was found, under Monarchies stiled absolute, in a degree unknown to the ancient commonwealths.
1829. Cassan, Bps. of Bath & Wells, iii. 24. That from henceforward the Bishop should be stiled from both places.
1838. De Morgan, Ess. Probab., 151. What we have called a fixed error is in fact a part of the phenomenon, styled an error because it is not a part of the result we wish to observe.
1855. Browning, Fra Lippo Lippi, 39. Yes, I’m the painter, since you style me so.
1894. Lady M. Verney, Verney Mem., III. 95. The old man is still styled bailiff in 1639.
† b. Of a thing: To invest with a right to be called (so-and-so). Obs.
1634. Sir T. Herbert, Trav., 19. Both sexe goe naked, a linnen cloth only about their middles, which stiles them modest.
† c. To sign (a letter) with one’s name and title. Obs.
1618. Bolton, Florus, II. xii. (1636), 128. When hee wrote to the Roman Generall … and styled the letter, he put himselfe down in it by the name of ‘King.’
† 2. To name or address with honorific titles; to honor with a title. Sc. Obs.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 3. Quhilk hes thame self aboif the sternis styld. Ibid., 103. Sen thow with wirschep wald sa fane be styld, Haill, souerane senȝeour.
1535. Lyndesay, Satyre, 599. Howbeit I haif lang tyme bene exyllit, I traist in God my name suld ȝit be styllit. Ibid. (1552), Monarche, 4666. The pure Preist thynkis he gettis no rycht, Be he nocht stylit lyke ane Knycht, And callit ‘schir’ affore his name.
† 3. To relate or express in literary form. With adv.: To express or phrase in a specified style. Obs.
1605. Bacon, Adv. Learn., II. iv. § 1. In the later [sense] it [sc. poesy] is … one of the principall Portions of learning: and is nothing else but Fained History, which may be stiled as well in Prose as in Verse.
1605. First Pt. Jeronimo, I. ii. 43. The phraise he vseth must be gently stylde, The king hath warned him to be smooth and mild.
† 4. To order, direct to a purpose. Obs.
1584. Hudson, Du Bartas’ Judith, IV. (1608), 58. So wise Merari all his studie stilde, To facion well the maners of this childe.
5. To pierce with a stylet.
1736. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1757), II. 10. The Substance of the Ears should be … free from Flesh; and their Points when stiled or pricked should be nearer than their Roots.
6. To execute (a design) with a stylus on a prepared ground.
1864. Maclise, in Builder, 27 Feb., 150/3. The cartoon to be punctured or styled on the wall and slavishly copied.
