dial. Also 8 stith, 9 stithe. [Of obscure origin; perh. altered from *stive cogn. w. STIVE v.3]
1. Foul air in a mine; = CHOKE-DAMP.
1708. J. C., Compl. Collier (1845), 23. He may loose his Life by Styth, which is a sort of bad foul Air.
1765. Phil. Trans., LV. 240. The choak-damp, or stith, found in the coal-mines.
1818. W. Phillips, Geol., 101. The after-damp or stythe, which follows these blasts, is a mixture of the carbonic acid and azotic gases.
1863. Tyneside Songs, 12. But did they face the deadly styth, where scarce a single breath Held life…!
1885. Standard, 5 June, 3/4. They have … succumbed to the effects of the stythe.
2. A suffocating smell.
1823. E. Moor, Suffolk Words, Stithe. Rhyming to tithe.… ‘The stithe is very oppressive.’
1850. T. Bewick, Howdy & Upgetting, 15. She thout she wad ha’ been skumfeesht wi the steyth.
1897. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., II. 968. In burning off the old paint there is usually considerable stithe.
