subs. (old colloquial and literary).—1.  A fish-pond. Whence 2. (colloquial and literary), in pl. = a brothel, or a street of brothels. STEW (old) = a harlot is rare, and may very well be an effect of ignorance or affectation on the user’s part. But STEWISH (or STEWED), adj. = bordelesque, whorish, harlotry (in the worst sense).

1

  1362.  LANGLAND, Piers Plowman, 3936. Jonette of the STUWES.

2

  1383.  CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales, ‘The Friars Tale,’ Wommen of the STIVES. Ibid. (C) xxiii. 159. Sleuthe … wedded one Wanhope, a wenche of the STEWES.

3

  c. 1520.  Hickscorner [DODSLEY, Old Plays, 4th ed., 1875, i., 180].

        My mother was a lady of the STEWS’ blood born,
And (knight of the halter) my father ware an horn.

4

  c. 1520.  The Booke of Mayd Emlyn [HAZLITT, Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England, IV. 96].

        And bycause she loued rydynge,
At the STEWES was her abydynge.

5

  d. 1529.  SKELTON, The Bowge of Courte, 400.

        Now renne muste I to the STEWYS syde,
  To wete yf Malkyn, my lemman, haue gete oughte:
I lete her to hyre, that men may on her ryde.

6

  1530.  PALSGRAVE, Langue Francoyse, s.v. STEWES, a place for commen women, bordeau.

7

  1535.  Bible [COVERDALE], Ezek. xvi. 39. [They] shal breake downe thy STEWES, and destroy thy brodel houses.

8

  1546.  Proclamation [MSS. note by R. SMITH quoted by HEARNE, Diary, Oct. 12, 1713]. These abhominable STEW-HOUSES were kept in Southwark … being whited houses, painted with signes to know them. These bawdy houses were tollerated, and had lawes and orders made for the STEW-HOLDERS to observe.

9

  1550.  CROWLEY, Epigrams.

        The bawds of the STEWS be turned al out;
But some think they inhabit al England throughout.

10

  1564.  UDALL, The Apophthegmes of Erasmus, 66. O Aristippus, thou art a greate medler with this woman, beyng a STEWED strumpette.

11

  1566.  STILL, Gammer Gurton’s Needle [DODSLEY, Old Plays (HAZLITT), iii. 217]. Where is the strong STEWED whore?

12

  1573.  BARET, An Alvearie, or Triple Dictionarie in English, Latin, and French. The STEWES, or place without the wals of the citie where bawderie was kept.

13

  1578.  WHETSTONE, Promos and Cassandra, I. iv. 3. And shall Cassandra now be termed, in common speeche, a STEWES.

14

  1598.  JONSON, Every Man in his Humour, ii. 1.

        And here, as in a tavern, or a STEWS,
He and his wild associates spend their hours.

15

  1597.  SHAKESPEARE, Richard II., v. 3, 16.

                    He would unto the STEWS,
And from the common’st creature pluck a glove
And wear it as a favour.
    Ibid. (1598), 2 Henry IV., i. 2.
An I could get me but a wife in the STEWS.

16

  1599.  JOSEPH HALL, Satires, i. 9. Rhymed in rules of STEWISH ribaldry.

17

  1621.  BURTON, The Anatomy of Melancholy, I. II. ii. 4. A … Priest that, because he would neither willingly marry, nor make use of the STEWS, fell into grievous melancholy. Ibid., III. II. i. 2. In Italy and Spain they have their STEWS in every great city.

18

  1633.  HEYWOOD, The English Traveller, i. 2.

                    His modest House
Turn’d to a common STEWES?

19

  1650.  SIR A. WELDON, The Court and character of King James (1817), 46. It was so plotted betwixt the Lady, her Husband, and Bristol, that instead of that beauty, he had a notorious STEW sent him.

20

  1683.  England’s Vanity, 55. You may find them as Solomon sayes, not in the Corner of the Streets onely, but thick in the very midst of them, and turning the whole City into a STEWS.

21

  1687.  RICHARD KIRBY and JOHN BISHOP, The Marrow of Astrology, 57. Venus denotes in houses, all places belonging to women, as garnished beds, STEWS.

22

  d. 1704.  T. BROWN, Works, ii. 107. What Montaigne said formerly of the women, I now say of the priests … they send their conscience to the STEWS, and keep their countenance within rule.

23

  1733.  POPE, Imitations of Horace, I. vi. 130.

          Or shall we every decency confound,
Thro’ Taverns, STEWS, and Bagnios, take our round?

24

  3.  (colloquial).—Worry; fuss; mental disturbance.

25

  1837.  R. H. BARHAM, The Ingoldsby Legends, ‘The Merchant of Venice.’

            And Antonio grew    In a deuce of a STEW,
For he could not cash up, spite of all he could do.
    Ibid., i. 104, ‘The Ghost.’
And he, though naturally bold and stout,
  In short, was in a most tremendous STEW.

26

  1838.  WILLIAM WATTS (‘Lucian Redivivus’), Paradise Lost, 62.

          Now Adam, in a plaguy STEW,
Cried ‘’Zounds and blood! what must we do?’

27

  Verb. (Stonyhurst College).—To study: hence STEW-POT = a hard-working student.

28

  TO STEW (FRY or MELT) IN ONE’S OWN (or ANOTHER’S) JUICE (GREASE, FAT, or GRAVY), verb. phr. (common).—To be left vindictively or resentfully alone.

29

  1383.  CHAUCER, The Canterbury Tales, ‘The Wife of Bath’s Prologue.’

        But certainly I made folk such chere,
That IN HIS OWNE GREES I made him FRIE.

30

  1596.  SHAKESPEARE, Merry Wives of Windsor, iii. 5. I was more than HALF-STEWED IN GREASE.

31

  1772.  BRIDGES, A Burlesque Translation of Homer, 8.

        By Sol’s hot beams so sore we’re pelted,
That IN OUR GREASE we’re almost MELTED.

32

  1843.  G. P. R. JAMES, Forest Days, I. ix. If yonder cooks have not done their duty, and got all ready, I will FRY them IN their OWN GREASE.

33