stile
nounUS, UK /staɪl/
Etymology From Middle English stile, style, stiȝele, from Old English stiġel (“stile, set of steps for getting over a fence”), from Proto-West Germanic *stigilu, from Proto-Germanic *stigilō (“entry, entrance, overpass, device for climbing, stile”), equivalent to sty (“to ascend, climb”) + -le. Cognate with Dutch stegel (“stirrup”), Low German Stegel (“stile”), German Stiegel (“stile”).
1
A set of one or more steps surmounting a fence or wall, or a narrow gate or contrived passage through a fence or wall, which in either case allows people but not livestock to pass.
- 'Twas very true what Greening said; for of a summer evening I would take the path that led up Weatherbeech Hill, behind the Manor; both because 'twas a walk that had a good prospect in itself, and also a sweet charm for me, namely, the hope of seeing Grace Maskew. And there I often sat upon the stile that ends the path and opens on the down, and watched the old half-ruined house below; and sometimes saw white-frocked Gracie walking on the terrace in the evening sun, and sometimes in returning passed her window near enough to wave a greeting.[1898], J[ohn] Meade Falkner, Moonfleet, London; Toronto, Ont.: Jonathan Cape, published 1934, →OCLC:
2
A vertical component of a frame or panel, such as that of a door, window, or ladder.
- Derived terms
- help a lame dog over a stile, rail and stile
- Related terms
- stair, sty, kissing gate
- Hyponyms
- bridle stile, clapper stile, Cornish stile, Essex stile, falling stile, grid stile, hanging stile, ladder stile, pulpit stile, squeeze stile, step stile, tumbling stile, turnstile, vee stile, wedge stile
- Holonyms
- leaf