stool
Americannoun
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stools
plural
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a single seat on legs or a pedestal and without arms or a back.
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a short, low support on which to stand, step, kneel, or rest the feet while sitting.
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Horticulture. the stump, base, or root of a plant from which propagative organs are produced, as shoots for layering.
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the base of a plant that annually produces new stems or shoots.
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a cluster of shoots or stems springing up from such a base or from any root, or a single shoot or layer.
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a bird fastened to a pole or perch and used as a decoy.
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an artificial duck or other bird, usually made from wood, used as a decoy by hunters.
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a privy.
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the fecal matter evacuated at each movement of the bowels.
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the sill of a window.
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a bishop's seat considered as symbolic of his authority; see.
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the sacred chair of certain African chiefs, symbolic of their kingship.
verb (used without object)
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stools,
present (3rd person singular)
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stooled,
past participle, past
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stooling
present participle
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to put forth shoots from the base or root, as a plant; form a stool.
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Slang. to turn informer; serve as a stool pigeon.
idioms
noun
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a backless seat or footrest consisting of a small flat piece of wood, etc, resting on three or four legs, a pedestal, etc
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a rootstock or base of a plant, usually a woody plant, from which shoots, etc, are produced
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a cluster of shoots growing from such a base
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a decoy used in hunting
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waste matter evacuated from the bowels
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a lavatory seat
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(in W Africa, esp Ghana) a chief's throne
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to fail through vacillation between two alternatives
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to be in an unsatisfactory situation through not belonging to either of two categories or groups
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verb
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(of a plant) to send up shoots from the base of the stem, rootstock, etc
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to lure wildfowl with a decoy
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stoolsimple
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stoolssimple
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have stooledperfect
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has stooledperfect
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am stoolingprogressive
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are stoolingprogressive
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is stoolingprogressive
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have been stoolingperfect progressive
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has been stoolingperfect progressive
Past
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stooledsimple
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had stooledperfect
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was stoolingprogressive
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were stoolingprogressive
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had been stoolingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stool
First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English stōl; cognate with German Stuhl, Old Norse stōll, Gothic stols “chair”; all are from unattested Germanic stō- (from Indo-European root of stand ) + -l- suffix (unattested); akin to Old Church Slavonic stolŭ “throne”
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Architects Barry Simpson and Charles Hosford made a folding stool that could serve as a seat, stepstool or side table.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
Under a black coat, the petite and poised Navarrette sits on a stool.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026
Researchers also collected stool and urine samples to track changes in gut microbes, metabolism, mood, and perceived stress.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 28, 2026
The other was DNA metabarcoding, a molecular method that detects plant species represented in stool samples.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026
Winky was sitting on a stool, a sloppy look on his face.
From Full of Beans by Jennifer L. Holm
She tried to toilet-train her son when he was three but he had problems with withholding stools.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
Constipation, diarrhea, unusually narrow stools, or a lasting change in normal bowel habits may indicate an underlying problem.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 22, 2026
Looking inside the bar, an AFP reporter saw a row of stools and bottles of beer still on tables covered with white dust.
From Barron's ● Jul. 12, 2026
There, he met Sufia Begum, a young mother who made bamboo stools to sell.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
The bakery shops have little low stools and low tables out in front of them.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
He gazed round the stooled and tabled eaters, tightening the wings of his nose.
From Ulysses by James Joyce
The wheat had stooled well, and a couple of showers early in May had relieved the drought that threatens before the thunder-storms of June and July set in.
From The Bail Jumper by Robert J. C. Stead
They stood back and took stock of the neglected growth, tapped an elbow of hedge-oak here, a mossed beech-stub there, swayed a stooled ash back and forth, and looked at each other.
From A Diversity of Creatures by Rudyard Kipling
Do you recall that evening when you stooled against the column where the decrees are posted?
From The Eleven Comedies, Volume 2 by Aristophanes
Now," said Molly breathlessly, as the last madly protesting bird had been stooled, "let's get into the blind as soon as we can, Mr. Marche.
From Blue-Bird Weather by Charles Dana Gibson
“Even if they’re not stooling out and getting dehydrated and having trouble with fluids, I worry if they’re getting enough nutrition that they’re going to grow like they should,” he said.
From New York Times ● May 17, 2022
In the case of wheat and other grains, thin seeding also gives a plant a better chance for stooling, which is Nature's method of adapting the plant to the prevailing moisture and fertility conditions.
From Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall by John Andreas Widtsoe
Man needs to form the habit of stooling as frequently as birds, fowls, and quadrupeds—at least as many times in twenty-four hours as he partakes of food.
From Intestinal Ills Chronic Constipation, Indigestion, Autogenetic Poisons, Diarrhea, Piles, Etc. Also Auto-Infection, Auto-Intoxication, Anemia, Emaciation, Etc. Due to Proctitis and Colitis by Alcinous B. (Alcinous Burton) Jamison
This may have been partly the result of stooling but we have little doubt that judgment was exercised in planting, sowing less seed on the lighter soils where less moisture was available.
From Farmers of Forty Centuries; Or, Permanent Agriculture in China, Korea, and Japan by F. H. (Franklin Hiram) King
When plants are crowded, stooling cannot occur to any marked degree, and the crop is rendered helpless in attempts to adapt itself to surrounding conditions.
From Dry-Farming : a System of Agriculture for Countries under a Low Rainfall by John Andreas Widtsoe
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
