sty
1- a pen or enclosure for swine; pigpen.
- any filthy place or abode.
- a place of bestial debauchery.
- to keep or lodge in or as if in a sty.
- to live in or as if in a sty.
Origin of sty
1sty
2or stye
- a circumscribed abscess caused by bacterial infection of the glands on the edge of the eyelid; hordeolum.
Origin of sty
2Examples from the Web for sties
Historical Examples of sties
He brote doun me upon the sties of ritwisnesse; for his name.
Lectures on Bible RevisionSamuel Newth
And Circ shut them in sties, and gave them mast and acorns and cornel to eat.
Stories of the Old worldAlfred John Church
The pigs now began to direct their course towards the sties in which they had been so well fed the night before.
On arriving at the sties, the ease with which they shot themselves over the four-feet walls was incredible.
Cottagers cannot afford barley-meal, but they certainly could keep their sties much cleaner.
The Hills and the ValeRichard Jefferies
sty
- a pen in which pigs are housed and fed
- any filthy or corrupt place
- to enclose or be enclosed in a sty
Word Origin for sty
Word Origin and History for sties
sty
"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
"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).
sty
- Inflammation of one or more sebaceous glands of an eyelid.hordeolum