stew

[ stoo, styoo ]

/ stu, styu /

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verb (used with object)

to cook (food) by simmering or slow boiling.

verb (used without object)

to undergo cooking by simmering or slow boiling.

Informal. to fret, worry, or fuss: He stewed about his chaotic state of affairs all day.

to feel uncomfortable due to a hot, humid, stuffy atmosphere, as in a closed room; swelter.

noun

a preparation of meat, fish, or other food cooked by stewing, especially a mixture of meat and vegetables.

Informal. a state of agitation, uneasiness, or worry.

a brothel; whorehouse.

stews, a neighborhood occupied chiefly by brothels.

Obsolete. a vessel for boiling or stewing.

Nearby words

Idioms

stew in one's own juice, to suffer the consequences of one's own actions.

Origin of stew

1350–1400; Middle English stewen, stuwen to take a sweat bath < Middle French estuver, verbal derivative of estuve sweat room of a bath; see stove¹

SYNONYMS FOR stew

5. ragout.

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Related formsstew·a·ble, adjective

Synonym study

1. See boil¹.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for stewing

To originate a smash means more tasting than there is when there is no use in stewing more than has been put in there to stay.
Geography and Plays|Gertrude Stein
We never have regular tea; but you can always get some when you want: the servants keep it stewing all day.
Heartbreak House|George Bernard Shaw
Braising is a combination of stewing on the top of the range, and baking in the oven, with or without vegetables.
Better Meals for Less Money|Mary Green
Mix in a cup three spoonsful of flour and one-half cup of water, and stir into the stewing chicken.
The Hotel St. Francis Cook Book|Victor Hirtzler

On this she is now boiling potatoes, stewing some chicken-broth, heating a kettle of water, and has a large bread-pudding inside.
Woman's Work in the Civil War|Linus Pierpont Brockett

British Dictionary definitions for stewing

stew

/ (stjuː) /

noun

a dish of meat, fish, or other food, cooked by stewing
(as modifier)stew pot

informal a difficult or worrying situation or a troubled state (esp in the phrase in a stew)

a heterogeneous mixturea stew of people of every race

(usually plural) archaic a brothel

obsolete a public room for hot steam baths

verb

to cook or cause to cook by long slow simmering

(intr) informal to be troubled or agitated

(intr) informal to be oppressed with heat or crowding

to cause (tea) to become bitter or (of tea) to become bitter through infusing for too long

stew in one's own juice to suffer unaided the consequences of one's actions

Word Origin for stew

C14 stuen to take a very hot bath, from Old French estuver, from Vulgar Latin extūfāre (unattested), from ex- 1 + (unattested) tūfus vapour, from Greek tuphos

stew

/ (stjuː) /

noun British

a fishpond or fishtank

an artificial oyster bed

Word Origin for stew

C14: from Old French estui, from estoier to shut up, confine, ultimately from Latin studium study

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for stewing

stew

c.1400, "to bathe in a steam bath," from Old French estuver (French étuver) "bathe, stew," of uncertain origin. Common Romanic (cf. Spanish estufar, Italian stufare), possibly from Vulgar Latin *extufare "evaporate," from ex- "out" + *tufus "vapor, steam," from Greek typhos "smoke." Cf. Old English stuf-bæþ "hot-air bath;" see stove. Meaning "to boil slowly, to cook meat by simmering it in liquid" is attested from early 15c. The meaning "to be left to the consequences of one's actions" is from 1650s, from figurative expression to stew in one's own juices. Slang stewed "drunk" first attested 1737.

stew

c.1300, "vessel for cooking," from stew (v.). Later "heated room" (late 14c.). The noun meaning "stewed meat with vegetables" is first recorded 1756; Irish stew is attested from 1814. The obsolete slang meaning "brothel" (mid-14c., usually plural, stews) is from an earlier sense of "public bath house," carried over from Old French and reflecting the reputation of such houses.

Idioms and Phrases with stewing

stew

In addition to the idiom beginning with stew

stew in one's own juice

also see:

in a stew

stew

verb (used with object)

verb (used without object)

noun

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Examples from the Web for stewing

stew

noun

verb

Word Origin for stew

stew

noun British

Word Origin for stew

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