<B>stony, </B>adjective, <B>stonier,</B> <B>stoniest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>having many stones or outcroppings of rock. <BR> <I>Ex. The beach is stony.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>hard like stone; very hard. <BR> <I>Ex. concrete hardened to a stony consistency.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) <DD><B> a. </B>cold and unfeeling. <BR> <I>Ex. The cruel man has a stony heart.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>without expression or feeling. <BR> <I>Ex. a stony stare.</I> <DD><B> c. </B>petrifying; stupefying. <BR> <I>Ex. stony fear, stony grief.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Slang.) stone-broke. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Obsolete.) made of stones or stone. <DD><B> 6. </B>(Obsolete.) (of a fruit) having a stone. </DL>
<B>stood, </B>verb.<DL COMPACT><DD> the past tense and past participle of <B>stand.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. He stood in the corner for five minutes. I had stood in line all morning to buy tickets to the game.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="stooge">
<B>stooge, </B>noun, verb, <B>stooged,</B> <B>stooging.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>a person on the stage who asks questions of a comedian and is the butt of the comedian's jokes. <DD><B> b. </B>(in vaudeville) an actor in the audience who heckles a comedian. <DD><B> 2. </B>a person who follows and flatters another; hanger-on. <DD><I>v.i. </I> to be or act as a stooge (for). <BR> <I>Ex. to stooge for a comedian.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="stook">
<B>stook, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> a shock (of grain). <DD><I>v.t. </I> to set up in shocks. <BR> <I>Ex. the grain was cut and stooked (Atlantic).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="stool">
<B>stool, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a seat for one person without arms and, usually, without a back. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar article used to rest the feet on, or to kneel on; footstool. <DD><B> 3. </B>a stump or root of a plant from which shoots grow: <DD><B> a. </B>the stump of a felled tree, or a group of stumps. <DD><B> b. </B>the stump or base of a tree felled or headed to produce saplings or young timber, or of a plant cut down to produce branches for layering. <DD><B> c. </B>the base of plants producing new stems or foliage annually. <DD><B> 4. </B>a cluster of shoots, or a shoot or layer from a plant. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Hunting.) <DD><B> a. </B>a decoy. <DD><B> b. </B>a movable pole to which a bird is fastened as a decoy. <DD><B> 6a. </B>a movement of the bowels; waste matter from the bowels. <DD><B> b. </B>an article or place to be used as a toilet. <DD><B> 7. </B><B>=window sill.</B> <DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to send out shoots or stems; form a stool. <DD><B> 2. </B>to evacuate the bowels. <BR><I>expr. <B>fall between two stools,</B> </I>to make a complete failure by hesitating between two opportunities or trying to use both. <BR> <I>Ex. Asked to develop two patterns of thought he may well fall between two stools and develop neither (Technology).</I> adj. <B>stoollike.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="stoolend">
<B>stool end,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a part of rock left unworked in a mine to support the rest. </DL>
<A NAME="stoolpigeon">
<B>stool pigeon,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Slang.) a spy for the police; informer. <BR> <I>Ex. Everybody in the plant was regarding everybody else as a possible stool pigeon (Maclean's).</I> <DD><B> 2a. </B>a pigeon fastened to a stool and used to lead other pigeons into a net or other trap. <DD><B> b. </B>(Slang.) a person employed as a decoy, as by gamblers. </DL>
<A NAME="stooly">
<B>stooly</B> or <B>stoolie, </B>noun, pl. <B>stoolies.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S. Slang.) a stool pigeon. </DL>
<A NAME="stoop">
<B>stoop</B> (1), verb, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> <B>1. </B>to bend forward. <BR> <I>Ex. He stooped to pick up the money. She stoops over her work.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to carry the head and shoulders bent forward. <BR> <I>Ex. The old man stoops.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(of trees, precipices, or other natural outgrowths) to bend forward and downward; slope. (SYN) incline. <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) to lower oneself; descend. <BR> <I>Ex. He stooped to cheating. When lovely woman stoops to folly (Oliver Goldsmith).</I> (SYN) condescend, deign. <DD><B> 5. </B>(Figurative.) to swoop like a hawk or other bird of prey. <BR> <I>Ex. the comic muse, who should be taught to stoop only at the ... blacker crimes of humanity (Richard Brinsley Sheridan).</I> <DD><B> 6. </B>(Archaic, Figurative.) to submit; yield. <DD><B> 7. </B>(Obsolete.) to descend from a height. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to lower by bending forward; bow. <BR> <I>Ex. A superb-looking warrior stooped the towering plumes of his head-dress ... and entered the house (Herman Melville).</I> (SYN) incline. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Archaic, Figurative.) to humble; subdue; subject. <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>an act of stooping; bending forward. <DD><B> 2. </B>a forward bend. <DD><B> 3. </B>a forward bend of the head and shoulders. <BR> <I>Ex. My uncle walks with a stoop.</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>(Figurative.) condescension. <DD><B> 5. </B>the swoop of a bird of prey on its quarry. <BR> <I>Ex. The peregrine in its "stoop" attains 175 an hour, the highest speed ever recorded for a bird (Scientific American).</I> noun <B>stooper.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="stoop">
<B>stoop</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a porch or platform at the entrance of a house. </DL>
<A NAME="stoop">
<B>stoop</B> (3), noun. <B>=stoup.</B></DL>
<A NAME="stoop">
<B>stoop</B> (4), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Dialect.) a post or pillar. </DL>
<A NAME="stoopball">
<B>stoopball, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a variation of baseball, usually played in city streets, in which a rubber ball is thrown against the stoop of a house or building and players on the opposing team try to catch the ball before it bounces. </DL>
<A NAME="stooplabor">
<B>stoop labor,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) labor requiring much stooping or bending over, as picking, weeding, or other such farm labor in the fields. </DL>
<A NAME="stoopshouldered">
<B>stoop-shouldered, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having a habitual stoop in the shoulders and back. </DL>
