sty

¹

[ stahy ]

noun

, plural sties.

1. a pen or enclosure for swine; pigpen.
2. any filthy place or abode.
3. a place of bestial debauchery.

verb (used with object)

, stied, sty·ing.

1. to keep or lodge in or as if in a sty.

verb (used without object)

, stied, sty·ing.

1. to live in or as if in a sty.

sty

²

or stye

[ stahy ]

noun

, Ophthalmology.

, plural sties.

1. a circumscribed abscess caused by bacterial infection of the glands on the edge of the eyelid; hordeolum.

sty

/ staɪ /

noun

1. a pen in which pigs are housed and fed
2. any filthy or corrupt place

verb

1. to enclose or be enclosed in a sty

Word History and Origins

Origin of sty¹

First recorded before 1000; (for the noun) Middle English; Old English stī- (as in stī-fearh “sty-pig”), probably identical to stig- in stigweard steward; cognate with Old Norse stī, Dutch stijg, German Steige

Origin of sty²

First recorded in 1610–20; by false division of Middle English styanye, from styan ( Old English stīgend “sty,” literally, “rising”) + ye eye ), misread as sty on eye

Word History and Origins

Origin of sty¹

Old English stig; related to Old Norse stīa pen, fold, Old High German stīga, Middle Dutch stije

Example Sentences

The place was a ruin; literally, the pig sty of a collective farm.

From The Daily Beast

It took a few days to turn this place into something other than a pig sty, which it was.

From The Daily Beast

Thereupon dug the thrall a large ditch in the sty & carried away the earth, and afterwards placed wood across it.

From Project Gutenberg

Now by them in the sty had they a light there with them, and the Earl said: Why art thou so pale, yet withal as black as earth?

From Project Gutenberg

Howbeit one place is there wherein would I never seek for such a man 62 as thou, and that is in the swine-sty.

From Project Gutenberg

In the village I just came from, the squire has had a pig stolen out of his sty.

From Project Gutenberg

In a few hours it will matter little whether old Ephraim Lovegrove lived and died in a pig-sty or a palace.

From Project Gutenberg