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stool

[stool]
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noun
  1. a single seat on legs or a pedestal and without arms or a back.
  2. a short, low support on which to stand, step, kneel, or rest the feet while sitting.
  3. Horticulture. the stump, base, or root of a plant from which propagative organs are produced, as shoots for layering.
  4. the base of a plant that annually produces new stems or shoots.
  5. a cluster of shoots or stems springing up from such a base or from any root, or a single shoot or layer.
  6. a bird fastened to a pole or perch and used as a decoy.
  7. an artificial duck or other bird, usually made from wood, used as a decoy by hunters.
  8. a privy.
  9. the fecal matter evacuated at each movement of the bowels.
  10. the sill of a window.
  11. a bishop's seat considered as symbolic of his authority; see.
  12. the sacred chair of certain African chiefs, symbolic of their kingship.
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verb (used without object)
  1. to put forth shoots from the base or root, as a plant; form a stool.
  2. Slang. to turn informer; serve as a stool pigeon.
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Idioms
  1. fall between two stools, to fail, through hesitation or indecision, to select either of two alternatives.
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Origin of stool

before 900; Middle English; Old English stōl; cognate with German Stuhl, Old Norse stōll, Gothic stols chair; all < Germanic *stō- (< Indo-European root of stand) + *-l- suffix; akin to OCS stolŭ throne
Related formsstool·like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

revealdiscloseshowunmaskstoolevincemanifestinformtattlespillsnitchsinguncovertellsquealdime

Examples from the Web for stooling

Historical Examples

  • It has the habit of stooling out, and commonly the several specimens will be deflected from a vertical from 20-45 degrees.

    Trees of Indiana

    Charles Clemon Deam

  • It should never be too much trouble to restore the lost impulse for stooling twice or thrice daily.

    Intestinal Ills

    Alcinous Burton Jamison

British Dictionary definitions for stooling

stool

noun
  1. a backless seat or footrest consisting of a small flat piece of wood, etc, resting on three or four legs, a pedestal, etc
  2. a rootstock or base of a plant, usually a woody plant, from which shoots, etc, are produced
  3. a cluster of shoots growing from such a base
  4. mainly US a decoy used in hunting
  5. waste matter evacuated from the bowels
  6. a lavatory seat
  7. (in W Africa, esp Ghana) a chief's throne
  8. fall between two stools
    1. to fail through vacillation between two alternatives
    2. to be in an unsatisfactory situation through not belonging to either of two categories or groups
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verb (intr)
  1. (of a plant) to send up shoots from the base of the stem, rootstock, etc
  2. to lure wildfowl with a decoy
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Word Origin

Old English stōl; related to Old Norse stōll, Gothic stōls, Old High German stuol chair, Greek stulos pillar
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 stooling

stool

n.

Old English stol "seat for one person," from Proto-Germanic *stolaz (cf. Old Frisian stol, Old Norse stoll, Old High German stuol, German Stuhl "seat," Gothic stols "high seat, throne"), from PIE *sta-lo-, locative of root *sta- "to stand" (cf. Lithuanian pa-stolas "stand," Old Church Slavonic stolu "stool;" see stet).

Originally used of thrones (cf. cynestol "royal seat, throne"); change of meaning began with adoption of chair from French, which relegated stool to small seats without arms or backs, then "privy" (early 15c.) and thence to "bowel movement" (1530s).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
stooling in Medicine

stool

(stōōl)
n.
  1. Evacuated fecal matter.
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The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Idioms and Phrases with stooling

stool

In addition to the idiom beginning with stool

  • stool pigeon

also see:

  • fall between the cracks (two stools)
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.