Forms: 1 stiʓel, stiʓol, stihl, stioʓol, 4 stighele, 5 steyl(e, style, 6 steelle, stele, styile, -ill, styll, 7 steele, steill, stiele, 9 dial. steel(e, stele, 4– stile. [OE. stiʓel str. fem., corresponding to OHG. stigilla wk. fem. (MHG. stiegele), f. Teut. root *stĭʓ- to climb: see STY v.]
1. An arrangement of steps, rungs, or the like, contrived to allow passage over or through a fence to one person at a time, while forming a barrier to the passage of sheep or cattle. Cf. TURNSTILE.
Church stile: the stile giving entrance to the churchyard. (Very frequently referred to in records, directions for funeral services, etc., from the 15th to the 17th c. See CHURCH sb. 16 c, KIRK sb. 4.)
c. 779. Grant by Offa, in Birch, Cartul. Sax., I. 326. Of þam seaðe in þa ealdan stihle.
c. 900. Wærferth, trans. Gregory’s Dial., 24. Hi þa becomon to þære stiʓole, þær se þeof oferstah in ðone wyrttun.
1304. in Catal. Anc. Deeds (1894), II. 390. [Land called] Stothamstighele.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Pard. T., 384. Right as they wolde han troden ouer a stile An oold man and a poure with hem mette.
1430–40. Lydg., Bochas, VIII. Prol. (1558), 1. Halfe within and half ouer the stile.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 116. Sauyng to þe same Roger and to his heyres A pathe þorowgh þe middull of þe same close fro þe stile of þe forsaide church.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, I. iii–v. 41. So whan he cam to the chircheyard sir Arthur aliȝt & tayed his hors to the style.
1536. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp., Canterb., Payd … for makyng off a stele & a gate.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 105. Saue step for a stile, of the crotch of the bough.
1601. Manch. Crt. Leet Rec. (1885), II. 168. Robert Langley shall … sett two steeles … in the syde of Asheley ffields.
1654. Lamont, Diary (Maitl. Club), 77. Money for the poore, that day, was gathered at the church steill and church doore.
1661. Reg. Gt. Seal Scot., 19/1. Going downe ane march balk betwixt Ernslaw and Swyntounmylne style till you come to the old trouch of Leit.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. i. There was a stile to pass from this field into the next.
1763. Bickerstaff, Love in Village, I. ix. Scene IX. A field with a stile.
1827. Hone’s Every-day Bk., II. 905. Stiles and fieldpaths are vanishing everywhere.
1847. G. P. R. James, Convict, iv. They soon reached the wall, over which they passed by a stone style.
1865. Trollope, Belton Est., iii. 37. Getting over stiles and through gates.
1898. J. Paton, Castlebraes, 28. I … set my foot upon a style to step over into the public roadway.
b. In figurative phrases.
a. 1352. Minot, Poems, i. 88. All þai stumbilde at þat stile.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi (1867), 32. To helpe a dogge ouer a style. Ibid., II. ix. 80. Ye would be ouer the style, er ye come at it.
1574–5. Abp. Parker, Lett., 18 Feb., in Strype, Life (1711), App. 181. What is ment, but to goo over the Style, where it is lowest?
1598. Florio, Ital. Dict., Ep. Ded. 4. The retainer doth some seruice, that now and then … lendes a hande ouer a stile.
1639. Du Verger, trans. Camus’ Admir. Events, 112. He resolved to leape that stile, and take her to his wife.
1659. in Burton’s Diary (1828), IV. 316. I would have it understood whether we confirm it as a law, or help a lame dog over a stile.
1675. Alsop, Anti-Sozzo, 302. He lifted him over the Style with this.
1692. Christ Exalted, 105. Now to help him over this stile, he troubles the Bishop.
1857. Kingsley, Two Y. Ago, xxv. ‘I can … help a lame dog over a stile’ (which was Mark’s phrase for doing a generous thing).
1884. Manch. Exam., 20 May, 5/1. It is a mere working arrangement; a lift over the stile at a crisis of some importance to the party.
2. attrib. and Comb., as stile-board, -post, -step, -way; stile-boot (see quot.).
1899. T. Hardy, Tess, xii. The lichened *stile-boards.
1828. Carr, Craven Gloss., *Steel-boot, wood claimed of the Lord, by an owner of lands, within certain manors, for making a stile.
1750. W. Ellis, Mod. Husb., VI. i. 126. By spurring up a gate or *stile-post before they are quite damaged, he may [etc.].
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 65. The stell is entered by *stile-steps over the wall.
1751. Paltock, Peter Wilkins, I. xii. 108. Leaving only a Door-way on one side, between two Stems of a Tree, which, dividing in the Trunk, at about two Feet from the Ground, grew from thence, for the rest of its Height, as if the Branches were a Couple of Trees a little distant from one another, which made a Sort of *Stile-way to my Room.
