different between snell vs stell

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /sn?l/
• Rhymes: -?l

Etymology 1

From Middle English snell (“quick, fast”) from Old English snel, snell (“lively, quick”) from Proto-Germanic *snellaz (“active, swift, brisk”). Akin to Old Saxon snel, snell (“active, strenuous”), Dutch snel, Old High German snel (whence German schnell (“quick, swift”), Yiddish ????? (shnel, “quick, swift”), Italian snello (“quick, nimble”), Old French esnel, isnel (“snell”), and Occitan isnel, irnel (“snell”)), Old Norse snjallr (“skilful, excellent”) (whence Danish snild (“clever”)).

Adjective

snell (comparative sneller, superlative snellest)

(now chiefly Scotland)

1. Quick, smart; sharp, active, brisk or nimble; lively.
   • 1720 - Allan Ramsay, Edinburgh's Salutation to Lord Carnarvon.

     That in ilk action, wise and snell / You may shaw Manly fire.

   • 1852 - John Brown, "Rab and his Friends".

     That horny-handed, snell, peremptory little man.

   • 1889 - James Robertson, The Early Religion of Israel.

     Amos is a lithe, keen, snell man.

2. Quick-witted; witty.
3. Harsh; severe.

Derived terms

• snelly

Translations

Etymology 2

Unknown

Noun

snell (plural snells)

1. A short line of horsehair, gut, monofilament, etc., by which a fishhook or lure is attached to a longer (and usually heavier) line.
   • 1979, Cormac McCarthy, Suttree, Random House, p.194:

     He tied on new baited snells and recovered the current with the oars.

Related terms

• snell knot

Translations

Verb

snell (third-person singular simple present snells, present participle snelling, simple past and past participle snelled)

1. To tie a hook to the end of a fishing line with a snell knot.

   Can you show me how to snell a hook?

Westrobothnian

Noun

snell

1. Spindle, where the spun thread collects.

Alternative forms

• snäll
• snåll

Derived terms

• snelldon

Noun

snell

1. Tadpole.

Alternative forms

• snäll

Derived terms

• airsnell
• pompsnäll
• storskalläsnell

English

Etymology 1

From Middle English stellen, from Old English stellan (“to give a place to, set, place”), from Proto-West Germanic *stalljan (“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.

Verb

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.(Can we add an example for this sense?)
2. (transitive, 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 ...

Etymology 2

Alteration of stall, after the verb to stell.

Noun

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!

Related terms

• stall

Anagrams

• Tells, tells

German

Verb

stell

1. singular imperative of stellen

Icelandic

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Danish stel.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?l?/
• Rhymes: -?l?

Noun

stell n (genitive singular stells, nominative plural stell)

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

Declension

Etymology 2

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

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /st?tl/
• Rhymes: -?tl

Noun

stell n (genitive singular stells, no plural)

1. pottering, tinkering, idle work

   Synonyms: föndur, bauk, dund, dútl

Declension

Plautdietsch

Adjective

stell

1. quiet, silent, still
2. calm, peaceful

Yola

Noun

stell

1. Alternative form of sthill