stell

See also: stëll and Stell

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English stellen, from Old English stellan (“to give a place to, set, place”), from Proto-Germanic *stallijaną (“to put, position”), from Proto-Indo-European *stel- (“to place, put, post, stand”). Cognate with Dutch stellen (“to set, put”), Low German stellen (“to put, place, fix”), German stellen (“to set, place, provide”), Old English steall (“position, place”). More at stall.

Verb

stell (third-person singular simple present stells, present participle stelling, simple past and past participle stelled or stold)

(transitive, Britain dialectal, Scotland) To place in position; set up, fix, plant; prop, mount.
(transitive, dialectal or obsolete) To portray; delineate; display.
- 1594, William Shakespeare, The Rape of Lucrece, 1443–44:
  To this well-painted piece is Lucrece come,
  
  To find a face where all distress is stelled.
- 1609, William Shakespeare, Sonnet 24:
  Mine eye hath play'd the painter and hath stell'd
  
  Thy beauty's form in table of my heart ...

Etymology 2

Alteration of stall, after the verb to stell.

Noun

stell (plural stells)

(archaic) A place; station.
A stall; a fold for cattle.
(Scotland) A prop; a support, as for the feet in standing or climbing.
(Scotland) A still.
- 1786, Robert Burns, "The Author's Earnest Cry And Prayer":
  Paint Scotland greetin owre her thrissle;
  
  Her mutchkin stowp as toom's a whissle;
  
  An' damn'd excisemen in a bussle,
  
  Seizin a stell,
  
  Triumphant crushin't like a mussel,
  
  Or limpet shell!
- 1791, Robert Burns, "Such a Parcel of Rogues in a Nation":
  The English stell we could disdain,
  
  Secure in valour's station;
  
  But English gold has been our bane-
  
  Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

Related terms

stall

Anagrams

Tells, tells

German

Verb

stell

Imperative singular of stellen.

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