stew

Noun (1)

stew (usually uncountable, plural stews)

1. (obsolete, usually) A cooking-dish used for boiling; a cauldron.
2. (historical, usually) A heated bath-room or steam-room; also, a hot bath.
   • And when he came to the chamber there as this lady was the dores of yron vnlocked and vnbolted / And so syr launcelot wente in to the chambre that was as hote as ony stewe / And there syr launcelot toke the fayrest lady by the hand / that euer he sawe / and she was naked as a nedel
     And when he came...1485, Sir Thomas Malory, “primum”, in Le Morte Darthur, book XI
3. (archaic, usually) A brothel.
   • [...] and the agrieved person shall doe more manly, to be extraordinary and singular in claiming the due right whereof he is frustrated, then to piece up his lost contentment by visiting the Stews, or stepping to his neighbours bed, which is the common shift in this mis-fortune, or els by suffering...1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
   • And rak'd, for converts, even the court and stews.1681, John Dryden, Absalom and Achitophel
4. (obsolete, usually) A prostitute.
   • But it was so plotted betwixt the Lady, her Husband, and Bristol, that instead of that beauty, he had a notorious Stew sent him, and surely his carriage there was so lascivious...1650, Anthony Weldon, The Court and Character of King James I
5. (countable, uncountable, usually) A dish cooked by stewing.
   • I noticed then that there was nothing to drink on the table but brandy, and nothing to eat but salted herrings, and a hot, sickly, highly peppered stew.1870, Charles Dickens, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Wordsworth Classics, published 1998, page 367
6. (usually, Sussex) A pool in which fish are kept in preparation for eating.
   • It was used as a stew, so that the inhabitants of the castle could have fish on Fridays, and for this reason the architects had been careful not to let the drains and sewers run into it. It was stocked with fish every year.1958, T[erence] H[anbury] White, chapter V, in The Once and Future King, New York, N.Y.: G. P. Putnam's Sons, →ISBN, book I (The Sword in the Stone)

   Synonyms:

   stewpond

7. (US, regional, usually) An artificial bed of oysters.
8. (slang, usually) A state of agitated excitement, worry, or confusion.
   • to be in a stew
9. (slang, usually) Unwanted background noise recorded by the microphone.
   • mike stew

Verb

stew (third-person singular simple present stews, present participle stewing, simple past and past participle stewed)

1. (ergative, intransitive, transitive) To cook (food) by slowly boiling or simmering.
   • I'm going to stew some meat for the casserole.
   • The meat is stewing nicely.
2. (transitive) To brew (tea) for too long, so that the flavour becomes too strong.
3. (figuratively, intransitive) To suffer under uncomfortably hot conditions.
   • It was an honest letter, written by an honest man, then stewing in the Plains on two hundred rupees a month (for he allowed his wife eight hundred and fifty), and in a silk banian and cotton trousers.1889, Rudyard Kipling, “At the Pit's Mouth”, in Under the Deodars, Boston: The Greenock Press, published 1899, page 50

   Synonyms:

   bake, boil, sweat, swelter

4. (figuratively, intransitive) To be in a state of elevated anxiety or anger.

   Synonyms:

   brood, fret, sweat, worry

Noun (2)

stew

1. (England, Scotland) A cloud of fine particles or droplets; dust, smoke, vapor, mist, or sea-spray.
   • The Verna swerved close, her stern kicking up a stew as she started to back up.1994, Leftare P. Delis, The Inside Passage, page 166
   • 'Johnston,' Ron shouted, 'couldn't knock the stew off a bap.'2000, Alasdair K. D. Campbell, The Nessman, page 217

Noun (3)

stew (plural stews)

1. (informal) A steward or stewardess on an airplane or boat.
   • It is our considered and combined judgement that Germans and actors share honors for being the cheapest dates a stew can accept.1967, Trudy Baker, Rachel Jones, Donald Bain (uncredited), Coffee, Tea, or Me?: The Uninhibited Memoirs of Two Airline Stewardesses, New York: Bantam Books, page 243
   • And then, working as a stew for American Airlines, Mo met another older man[…].1975 November 3, Mordecai Richler, “The Perils of Maureen”, in New York, volume 8, number 44, page 8

Proper noun capitalized: Stew

US/stu/

Stew

1. A diminutive of the male given name Stewart.