stool

[stool]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR stool ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a single seat on legs or a pedestal and without arms or a back.

a short, low support on which to stand, step, kneel, or rest the feet while sitting.

Horticulture. the stump, base, or root of a plant from which propagative organs are produced, as shoots for layering.

the base of a plant that annually produces new stems or shoots.

a cluster of shoots or stems springing up from such a base or from any root, or a single shoot or layer.

a bird fastened to a pole or perch and used as a decoy.

an artificial duck or other bird, usually made from wood, used as a decoy by hunters.

a privy.

the fecal matter evacuated at each movement of the bowels.

the sill of a window.

a bishop's seat considered as symbolic of his authority; see.

the sacred chair of certain African chiefs, symbolic of their kingship.

verb (used without object)

to put forth shoots from the base or root, as a plant; form a stool.

Slang. to turn informer; serve as a stool pigeon.

Idioms

fall between two stools, to fail, through hesitation or indecision, to select either of two alternatives.

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. 2019

Related Words for stooling

reveal, disclose, show, unmask, stool, evince, manifest, inform, tattle, spill, snitch, sing, uncover, tell, squeal, dime

Examples from the Web for stooling

Historical Examples of stooling

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

a backless seat or footrest consisting of a small flat piece of wood, etc, resting on three or four legs, a pedestal, etc

a rootstock or base of a plant, usually a woody plant, from which shoots, etc, are produced

a cluster of shoots growing from such a base

mainly US a decoy used in hunting

waste matter evacuated from the bowels

a lavatory seat

(in W Africa, esp Ghana) a chief's throne

fall between two stools

to fail through vacillation between two alternatives
to be in an unsatisfactory situation through not belonging to either of two categories or groups

verb (intr)

(of a plant) to send up shoots from the base of the stem, rootstock, etc

to lure wildfowl with a decoy

Word Origin for stool

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

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).

stooling in Medicine

stool

[stōōl]

n.

Evacuated fecal matter.

Idioms and Phrases with stooling

stool

In addition to the idiom beginning with stool

stool pigeon

also see:

fall between the cracks (two stools)