different between pew vs stool

English

Pronunciation

• (US, UK) IPA^(key): /pju?/
• Rhymes: -u?
• Homophone: Pugh

Etymology 1

From Middle English pewe, borrowed from Middle French puie (“balustrade”), from Latin podia, plural of podium (“parapet, podium”), from Ancient Greek ?????? (pódion, “little foot”), from ???? (poús, “foot”). Doublet of podium.

Noun

pew (plural pews)

1. One of the long benches in a church, seating several persons, usually fixed to the floor and facing the chancel.

2. An enclosed compartment in a church which provides seating for a group of people, often a prominent family.
   • 2006 September 11, Sheryl Gay Stolberg, "Bush Mourns 9/11 at Ground Zero as N.Y. Remembers", The New York Times [1]

     At St. Patrick’s Cathedral, firefighters in dress blues and white gloves escorted families to the pews for a memorial service, led by Mr. Bloomberg, to honor the 343 Fire Department employees killed on 9/11.

3. Any structure shaped like a church pew, such as a stall, formerly used by money lenders, etc.; a box in a theatre; or a pen or sheepfold.
   • 1659, John Milton, Considerations Touching the Likeliest Means to Remove Hirelings Out of the Church, London: L. Chapman,^[2]

     the sheep in their pews

4. (colloquial, humorous) A chair; a seat.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

pew (third-person singular simple present pews, present participle pewing, simple past and past participle pewed)

1. To furnish with pews.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Ash to this entry?)

Etymology 2

Possibly from French putois (“skunk”) or puer (“to stink”) or a clipping of putrid.

Alternative forms

• P U, P.U., peeyoo, phew

Interjection

pew

1. An expression of disgust in response to an unpleasant odor.

Translations

Etymology 3

Onomatopoeic.

Interjection

pew

1. Representative of the sound made by the firing of a gun.

References

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967

Anagrams

• EWP, WEP, wep

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stu?l/
• Rhymes: -u?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English stool, stole, stol, from Old English st?l (“chair, seat, throne”), from Proto-Germanic *st?laz (“chair”) (compare West Frisian stoel, Dutch stoel, German Stuhl, Swedish/Norwegian/Danish stol, Finnish tuoli, Estonian tool), from Proto-Indo-European *stoh?los (compare Lithuanian stálas, Russian ???? (stol, “table”), Russian ???? (stul, “chair”), Serbo-Croatian stol (“table”), Slovene stol (“chair”), Albanian kështallë (“crutch”), Ancient Greek ????? (st?l?, “block of stone used as a prop or buttress to a wall”)), from *steh?- (“to stand”). More at stand.

The medical use derives from sense 2 (seat used for defecation).

Noun

stool (countable and uncountable, plural stools)

1. A seat, especially for one person and without armrests.
   1. A seat for one person without a back or armrests.
   2. A footstool.
   3. (now chiefly dialectal, Scotland) A seat with a back; a chair.
   4. (now chiefly dialectal, Scotland, literally and figuratively) A throne.
2. (obsolete) A close-stool; a seat used for urination and defecation: a chamber pot, commode, outhouse seat, or toilet.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:chamber pot, Thesaurus:toilet, Thesaurus:bathroom

3. (horticulture) A plant that has been cut down until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.
4. (chiefly medicine) Feces, excrement.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:feces
5. (chiefly medicine) A production of feces or excrement, an act of defecation, stooling.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:defecation
6. (archaic) A decoy; a portable piece of wood to which a pigeon is fastened to lure wild birds.
7. (nautical) A small channel on the side of a vessel, for the deadeyes of the backstays.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Totten to this entry?)

8. (US, dialect) Material, such as oyster shells, spread on the sea bottom for oyster spat to adhere to.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• chair
• seat

Verb

stool (third-person singular simple present stools, present participle stooling, simple past and past participle stooled)

1. (chiefly medicine) To produce stool: to defecate.
2. (horticulture) To cut down (a plant) until its main stem is close to the ground, resembling a stool, to promote new growth.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:defecate

Etymology 2

Latin stolo. See stolon.

Noun

stool (plural stools)

1. A plant from which layers are propagated by bending its branches into the soil.

Verb

stool (third-person singular simple present stools, present participle stooling, simple past and past participle stooled)

1. (agriculture) To ramify; to tiller, as grain; to shoot out suckers.
   • 1869, Richard D. Blackmore, Lorna Doone, chapter 38:

     I worked very hard in the copse of young ash, with my billhook and a shearing-knife; cutting out the saplings where they stooled too close together, making spars to keep for thatching, wall-crooks to drive into the cob, stiles for close sheep hurdles, and handles for rakes, and hoes, and two-bills, of the larger and straighter stuff.

References

Anagrams

• loots, lotos, sloot, sotol, tools, tosol

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /stul/

Noun

stool m or f (plural stools)

1. (Canada, slang, derogatory) A denouncer or whistleblower; a stoolie.

Derived terms

• stooleux