Stile
Pronunciation
- IPA: /stɑɪl/, /stɑjl/
- Rhymes: -aɪl
- Homophones: style
Alternative forms
Origin
From Middle English stile, style, stiÈele, from Old English stiÄ¡el ("stile, set of steps for getting over a fence"), from Proto-Germanic *stigilÅ ("entry, entrance, overpass, device for climbing, stile"), equivalent to sty("to ascend, climb") + -le. Cognate with Dutch stijl ("stile"), Dutch stegel ("stirrup"), Low German Stegel ("stile"), German Stiegel ("stile").
Noun
stile
(plural stiles)- A set of 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.
- 1898, J. Meade Falkner, Moonfleet Chapter 4'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.
- A vertical component of a panel or frame, such as that of a door or window.
- A pin set on the face of a dial, to cast a shadow; a style.
- (obsolete) A mode of composition; a style.
- BunyanMay I not write in such a stile as this?