stir1
/stəː
/verb (stirs, stirring, stirred)
1 [with object] Move a spoon or other implement round and round in (a liquid or other substance) in order to mix it thoroughly: Desmond stirred his tea and ate a biscuit [no object]: pour in the cream and stir well...
- I raised an eyebrow, grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the thickening tomato sauce.
- Serena picked up a spoon and stirred the froth on her coffee.
- Pour in the wine and stir the rice until the liquid bubbles away.
Synonyms
mix, blend, agitate;
beat, whip, whisk, fold in;
North American muddle
1.1 (stir something in/into) Mix an ingredient into (a liquid or other substance) by moving a spoon or other implement round and round: stir in the flour and cook gently for two minutes...
- He took the dish off the plate and began pouring it generously into the dark liquid, stirring the spirals into the tea with a small silver spoon.
- Mix the extra ingredients together in a bowl, stir the sifted flour into the mixture then add cream and milk.
- He took his spoon and stirred a sugar packet into his coffee.
2Move or cause to move slightly: [no object]: nothing stirred except the wind [with object]: a gentle breeze stirred the leaves cloudiness is caused by the fish stirring up mud...
- The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
Synonyms
move slightly, change one's position, twitch, quiver, tremble
disturb, rustle, shake, move, flutter, agitate, swish
2.1 [no object] Rise or wake from sleep: no one else had stirred yet...
- The woman stirred suddenly, waking from a restless sleep.
- He fought it but soon he was stirring and rising from bed.
- The night's respite must have revitalized him, for he was stirring, even rising.
Synonyms
get up, get out of bed, rouse oneself, bestir oneself, rise, show signs of life, be up and about, be active;
wake up, awaken, waken
informal be up and doing, rise and shine, surface
literary arise
2.2 (stir from/out of) Leave or go out of (a place): as he grew older, he seldom stirred from his club...
- I slept through Saturday though I intended to do a couple of things, and was stirred from my lair by Heather phoning about Tim's birthday drinks which I was intended to go along to.
- Half an hour later, I finally stirred from the sofa and thought that I might as well go back to bed.
- You can be Indian living in America or American living in India; and sometimes, like the chatty souls at the call centers in India, you can be both and not even stir from your chair!
Synonyms
leave, depart from, go out of;
move from, budge from, make a move from, shift from
2.3Begin or cause to begin to be active or to develop: [no object]: the 1960s, when the civil rights movement stirred [with object]: a voice stirred her from her reverie he even stirred himself to play an encore...
- Which is why I can see both West Ham and Bolton winning and the Hammers going down, deserved punishment for a season in which they stirred themselves only when it was too late.
- Punch and Layerthorpe were on level terms as they started the pairs but Punch stirred themselves to close the match 6-3 in their favour.
- Speaker after speaker has stirred themselves to say ‘We are the party of decency, of honesty, of straight-speaking’.
Synonyms
spur, drive, rouse, prompt, propel, prod, move, motivate, encourage;
urge, impel, induce;
provoke, goad, prick, sting, incite, inflame;
North American light a fire under
3 [with object] Arouse strong feeling in (someone); move or excite: they will be stirred to action by what is written he stirred up the sweating crowd...
- But he was not stirred to battle because the English had killed his father, as claimed in Braveheart.
- All I know is that you should write the music that you love and that you believe in, that stirs you and excites you.
- Founders proudly propagated the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ slogan that stirred the people to move on strongly and united.
Synonyms
arouse, rouse, kindle, inspire, stimulate, excite, awaken, waken, quicken, animate, activate, galvanize, fire, electrify, whet
literary enkindle
3.1Arouse or prompt (a feeling or memory) or inspire (the imagination): the story stirred many memories of my childhood the rumours had stirred up his anger...
- As it stirs our emotions with memories, it also makes possible the construction of a never-to-be forgotten narrative sequence.
- I owe her, and her husband Paul, my entire subsequent career and memories of them stir great affection.
- They hoped this act would stir a feeling, prompting the practitioners to serve in modesty to make up for the inadequate medical technology they had.
3.2 [no object] British informal Deliberately cause trouble by spreading rumours or gossip: Francis was always stirring, trying to score off people...
- My ringworm worried her more than the swarms of rumors the local gossips were stirring.
- They all minded themselves helplessly as they stirred with talks of gossip, death, and pets.
noun [in singular]
1A slight physical movement: I stood, straining eyes and ears for the faintest stir...
- It was then that Ardon felt an odd stir of movement beneath him.
- My feet landed without the slightest stir of dust, or typical crunch of moving dirt and rocks.
- There was a stir of motion from the corner of her room.
1.1An initial sign of a specified feeling: Caroline felt a stir of anger deep within her breast...
- As he expounded the philosophy of enterprise and free-market wealth creation, there was a stir of interest in the public gallery.
- The finds created a stir of interest in the isolated fishing community.
- He had seen that stare directed at errant Constables and felt a stir of pity for her.
2A commotion: the event caused quite a stir...
- Probably neither name caused much stir from the leather armchairs in the New Club, where the city's grandees would once have counted the man in charge at North Bridge as one of their own.
- What happens in Congo does not cause the slightest stir in the boardrooms of London and New York.
- Yet, it seems that it is popular enough to have created a stir in the physics department.
Synonyms
commotion, disturbance, fuss, ado, excitement, flurry, uproar, ferment, brouhaha, furore, turmoil, sensation
informal to-do, hoo-ha, hullabaloo, flap, song and dance, splash
British informal kerfuffle
3An act of stirring food or drink: he gives his Ovaltine a stir...
- Give the chocolate mixture a stir, then spoon into the moulds.
- After the butter had melted Aunty Jenni gave the mixture a really good stir and some strange dark brown shapes rose to the surface from the depths.
- This refers to the process of pouring the ingredients into the glass on top of each other and giving it a slight stir.
Phrases
stir the blood
stir the possum
stir one's stumps
Phrasal verbs
stir something up
Origin
Old English styrian, of Germanic origin; related to German stören 'disturb'.
Rhymes
stir2
/stəː/noun informal
Prison: I’ve spent twenty-eight years in stir...
- In stir, he dreamed about his boxing career, how he was going to train and go straight and turn his life around.
- That's right; something as innocent as playing computer chess on your laptop in a hotel lobby is now a crime with penalties of up to three months in stir and a fine of 10,000 euros.
- He later retained an attorney, and after seven months in stir was released on bail with his pre-trial release restrictions tightened further.
Origin
Mid 19th century: perhaps from Romany sturbin 'jail'.