stell

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.

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

1. (transitive, Britain dialectal, Scotland) To place in position; set up, fix, plant; prop, mount.
2. (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 ...

Alteration of stall, after the verb to stell.

stell (plural stells)

1. (archaic) A place; station.
2. A stall; a fold for cattle.
3. (Scotland) A prop; a support, as for the feet in standing or climbing.
4. (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!

• stall

• Tells, tells

stell

1. Imperative singular of stellen.

Borrowed from Danish stel.

• IPA^(key): /stɛlː/
• Rhymes: -ɛlː

stell n (genitive singular stells, nominative plural stell)

1. service (set of matching dishes or untensils)
2. set of false teeth

Back-formation from stella (“to potter about, to tinker”).

• IPA^(key): /stɛtl/
• Rhymes: -ɛtl

stell n (genitive singular stells, no plural)

1. pottering, tinkering, idle work

   Synonyms: föndur, bauk, dund, dútl