stir

Formsstirs, stirring, stirred

Pluralstirs

1. 1
   verbtransitive

   To move the particles of a liquid around by passing an object such as a spoon through it.

   Stir the batter until no lumps remain.

   He stirred the paint thoroughly before applying the first coat.

   Similaragitate

   Note

   The kitchen sense sits closest to the word's roots. Old English styrian meant to be in motion, agitate, disturb, or trouble, and behind it lies a Germanic word for turmoil and noise. That troubled undertone never left. Shakespeare's Troilus and Cressida (1602) compares a confused mind to "a Fountaine stir'd" whose bottom cannot be seen. Agitate is the close synonym. The object is the liquid itself: you stir coffee, a pudding, a can of paint.

2. 2
   verbtransitive

   To move around the contents of a container by passing an object through it.

   Stir the jar of paint until the color is even.

   She stirred the cauldron of stew with a long wooden ladle.

   Similarmix, agitate, churn

   Note

   Here the grammatical object shifts from the liquid to the vessel that holds it: you stir the pot so the chocolate inside doesn't burn. The action is the same as in the liquid sense. Only the noun after the verb changes, so you can name either the container or what is in it.

3. 3
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The act or result of moving the particles of a liquid around, as with a spoon.

   A quick stir of the pot kept the rice from sticking.

   One firm stir of the mixture blended the powder into the water.

   Similarmix, swirl

   Note

   The noun usually appears in a fixed pattern: give something a stir, often with a small adjective such as a little stir or a quick stir. In that pattern it is countable, and one stir means one pass of the spoon. Used uncountably, it treats stirring as an ongoing process rather than a single motion.

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To affect someone emotionally; to touch or move them deeply.

   The film stirred audiences across the country.

   A powerful sermon can stir the heart of any listener.

   Similarmove, touch, affect, rouse, thrill

   Note

   In this emotional use, something outside a person does the moving: a film, a sermon, a line of verse. Tennyson's In Memoriam (1850) praises delights "that stir the spirit's inner deeps," with the spirit itself as the object. When the feeling is the subject and rises on its own, the verb has crossed over to the intransitive 'rising feeling' sense.

5. 5
   verbtransitive

   To rouse someone into action; to spur them to do something.

   Her call to arms stirred the villagers into open revolt.

   Stir the recruits to fight for the cause.

   Similarmotivate, prompt, drive, encourage, provoke

   Oppositediscourage, deter, pacify, calm

   Note

   Rousing someone to action usually names the goal with to. In Shakespeare's King John, an Ate is "stirring him to bloud and strife." Arouse, instigate, prompt and excite all share the push. Dryden's Tyrannick Love shows the outcome from the other side, warning that "some Mutiny will stir," so the uprising itself becomes the thing set going.

6. 6
   verbintransitive

   To begin moving gently after being still or at rest.

   Not a creature stirred in the silent house.

   The sleeping dog will stir at the slightest sound.

   Similarmove, budge, twitch, shift

   Note

   This is the intransitive partner of the transitive 'move it' use. It works well in negatives: Byron's speaker in The Prisoner of Chillon "had not strength to stir or strive." The movement is small, the first sign of life after stillness. Isaac Watts stretches it to mean anything that stirs at all, meaning whatever happens or turns up.

7. 7
   nounusually singular

   Bustling activity, noise, and movement; general commotion.

   A constant stir of footsteps and voices filled the great hall.

   By dawn the camp was alive with stir and movement.

   Similarbustle, commotion, activity, hubbub, flurry

   Oppositecalm, quiet, stillness, tranquility

   Note

   This kind of commotion often hints at more fuss than substance. John Locke complains of "so much stir about genus and species," and stir about is the pattern for naming what the fuss concerns. J. Pelham Maitland, writing in Railway Magazine (1951), records that "no small stir was caused." Barbara Sleigh's Jessamy simply notes that "there was a stir" as passengers got ready to leave the train.

8. 8
   verbintransitive

   To start to rise up inside someone, used of a feeling or emotion.

   Old resentments stirred as the brothers argued again.

   Excitement will stir among the fans before the match.

   Similararise, surface, rise, awaken, build

   Oppositesubside, fade, abate, wane

   Note

   Here the emotion is the subject and moves on its own, usually somewhere inside a person. In Margery Williams's The Velveteen Rabbit (1922), love "stirred in his little sawdust heart." Writers often give the feeling a living shape: Susan Hill's Mrs de Winter has "a little snake of guilt" that stirred and began to uncoil. The preposition in marks where the feeling wakes.

9. 9
   verbintransitive

   To be in motion; to be active and busy; to exert oneself.

   By six o'clock the household was already stirring.

   Merchants stir at dawn to set up their stalls.

   Similarbustle, move, rise

   Oppositerest, sleep, idle

   Note

   This sense is about ongoing busyness rather than a single movement. Byron pairs it with toil in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. It can also mean working on someone's behalf. Charles Merivale's A History of the Romans under the Empire (1850) has an exile's friends "stirring anxiously in his behalf," which is effort with a cause behind it.

10. 10
    verbintransitive

    To wake and begin to move after sleep or unconsciousness.

    The children stir early on Christmas morning.

    He stirred from a deep sleep, blinking at the light.

    Similarwake, waken, awake, awaken, rouse

    Oppositesleep, slumber

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