sty

[stahy]

noun, plural sties.

a pen or enclosure for swine; pigpen.

any filthy place or abode.

a place of bestial debauchery.

verb (used with object), stied, sty·ing.

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

verb (used without object), stied, sty·ing.

to live in or as if in a sty.

Origin of sty

before 1000; (noun) Middle English; Old English *stī in stī-fearh sty-pig; probably identical with stig- in stigweard steward; cognate with Old Norse stī, Dutch stijg, German Steige

sty

or stye

[stahy]

noun, plural sties. Ophthalmology.

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

Origin of sty

1610–20; by false division of Middle English styanye sty (styan (Old English stīgend sty, literally, rising) + ye eye), taken to be sty on eye

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

Related Words for sties

pen, pigpen, hole, pigsty, dump, shack, den, hovel, hordeolum

Examples from the Web for sties

Historical Examples of sties

He brote doun me upon the sties of ritwisnesse; for his name.
Lectures on Bible Revision
Samuel Newth
And Circ shut them in sties, and gave them mast and acorns and cornel to eat.
Stories of the Old world
Alfred John Church
The pigs now began to direct their course towards the sties in which they had been so well fed the night before.
Phil Purcel, The Pig-Driver; The Geography Of An Irish Oath; The Lianhan Shee
William Carleton
On arriving at the sties, the ease with which they shot themselves over the four-feet walls was incredible.
Phil Purcel, The Pig-Driver; The Geography Of An Irish Oath; The Lianhan Shee
William Carleton
Cottagers cannot afford barley-meal, but they certainly could keep their sties much cleaner.
The Hills and the Vale
Richard Jefferies

British Dictionary definitions for sties

sty

noun plural sties

a pen in which pigs are housed and fed

any filthy or corrupt place

verb sties, stying or stied

to enclose or be enclosed in a sty

Word Origin for sty

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

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 sties

sty

n.1

"pen for pigs," Old English sti, stig "hall, pen" (in sti-fearh), from Proto-Germanic *stijan (cf. Old Norse stia "sty, kennel," Old High German stiga "pen for small cattle").

sty

n.2

"inflamed swelling in the eyelid," 1610s, probably a back-formation from Middle English styany (as though sty on eye), mid-15c., from Old English stigend "sty," literally "riser," from present participle of stigan "go up, rise," from Proto-Germanic *stig- (see stair).

sties in Medicine

sty

n. pl. sties

Inflammation of one or more sebaceous glands of an eyelid.hordeolum