Forms: 1 stille, stylle, 3–6 stille, stylle, 3–7 stil, 4 stell, style, 4–6 styl, 5–6 styll, 3– still. [Com. WGer.: OE. stille = OFris. stille, OS. stilli (MLG. stille, whence prob. Sw. stilla, still, Norw. still, Da. stille), MDu. stille (mod.Du. stil), OHG. stilli (MHG. stille, mod.G. still):—OTeut. type *stilljo-, *stelljo-, f. *stel- to be fixed, stand: see STEAL sb.2]
A. adj.
1. Motionless; not moving from one place, stationary; also, remaining in the same position or attitude, quiescent. a. as predicate or complement.
In stand, sit, lie still the word may be taken either as adj. or adv. In OE., however, there is evidence that in these collocations it was sometimes adv., and no evidence that it was ever adj., the constant form being stille (which always admits of being regarded as adv.), never stillu, which would be the proper form of the adj. when the subj. is fem. sing. or neut. pl. Further, in OS. and OHG. the adv. stillo, not the adj., is used with the verb ‘to stand.’ These phrases are therefore treated under STILL adv. 1.
Beowulf, 2830. Se widfloʓa wundum stille hreas on hrusan.
c. 888. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxix. viii. He astereð þone rodor & þa tunglu, & þa eorðan gedeð stille.
c. 1205. Lay., 4516. Stille he wes iswoȝen on his kine-stole.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Anel. & Arc., 54. Mars … ne rested neuer stille But throng now here now þere.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 263. Quen he þire sawis had sayd he in his sege lened, In stody still as a stane & starid in hire face.
1604. Shaks., Oth., V. ii. 94. Hah, no more moouing? Still as the Graue.
1732. in A. Clarke, Mem. Wesley Family (1823), 264. They were as soon taught to be still at family prayers.
1816. J. Wilson, City of Plague, I. i. 79. There it hangs Still as a rainbow in the pathless sky.
1859. Reeve, Brittany, 51. One or two women … remained still long enough to be more defined in outline.
1889. Baden-Powell, Pigsticking, 170. It is easy enough for a man to keep still, but the difficulty is to make the horse do so.
1897. Hall Caine, Christian, x. The dance is over, but she can’t keep her feet still.
† b. Abstaining from action. Const. of (in OE., genitive). Phrase, To hold oneself still. Obs.
c. 1000. Laws of Wihtræd, § 6. Sio he stille his þeʓnungæ oþ biscopes dom.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 408. Þe seuend o werk he hild him still. Ibid., 10323. Þof godd vmquil be funden still, Al mai he wirk þou quat he will.
c. 1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 47. Edmunde & the erle Uctred þat tyme held þam stille.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 3449. When þou … wille noght help bot haldes þe stylle.
138[?]. Wyclif, De Eccl., Sel. Wks. III. 346. A stiward … þat whanne many servauntis done amys, holdiþ stille, and bryngiþ in newe þat done werse.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 69. Hold you still: Ile fetch my sister to get her good will.
c. in attributive use. (In quot. a. 1586: † Averse from moving about, sedentary.) Somewhat rare.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, III. iv. (1912), 374. Therfore would he not employ the stil man to a shifting practise, nor the liberall man to be a dispenser of his victuals.
1798. Coleridge, Anc. Mar., IV. xi. The charmed water burnt alway A still and awful red.
1817. Shelley, Rev. Islam, II. xii. 8. Even as a storm let loose beneath the ray Of the still moon.
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, iii. In his absence she was a still personage, but with him the most officious, fidgetty little body possible.
1875. Huxley & Martin, Elem. Biol., 12. The still condition of Protococcus, just described, is not the only state in which it exists. Under certain circumstances, a Protococcus becomes actively locomotive.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 129/2. (Bowls), Still bowl, a bowl at rest.
d. Of wine: Not sparkling or effervescing.
Chiefly used to designate a variety of one of those wines which have also a ‘sparkling’ variety, as champagne, hock, moselle.
1833. Redding, Mod. Wines, v. 71. Champagne wines are divided into sparkling…, demi sparkling…, and still wines (non mousseux).
1858. Hawthorne, Fr. & It. Jrnls. (1871), II. 254. Wine … somewhat resembling still champagne, but finer.
1911. Encycl. Brit., XXVII. 724/1. The white growths of the Loire … up to 1834 were used only as still wines.
2. Silent.
† a. Predicatively of a person. To be (hold oneself) still: to hold one’s peace, refrain from speaking (of something). Also, † still of noise. Obs.
a. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Matt. xxii. 34. Þæt he het þa saduceiscan stylle beon [Vulg. quod silentium imposuisset Sadducæis].
a. 1200. Moral Ode, 112. Þe ðe lest wat biseið ofte mest; þe hit al wat is stille.
c. 1200. Vices & Virtues, 11. Ðus ðu dedest, and ic was stille.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 116. Ich am stille of þe more [i.e., I do not speak of the greater (offence)].
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 373. Stille beo þu þenne & stew swuche wordes.
c. 1275. Passion our Lord, 253, in O. E. Misc. Ihesuc hym wes stille, nolde heo nowyht speke.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 19994. Fra nu forward i will O þe apostels hald me still.
c. 1305. St. Christopher, 165, in E. E. P. (1862), 64. Þu miȝt, quaþ þis oþer: as wel beo stille.
a. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 1388. Ne sileas [etc.] … Þat es to say, be noght sua stille, Þat [etc.].
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xl. (Ninian), 665. Þai held þame stil, þo þai wa ware, nedly for þai mycht nomare.
1382. Wyclif, Matt. xx. 31. Forsothe the cumpanye blamyde hem, for to be stille [Vulg. ut tacerent].
c. 1386. Chaucer, Knt.’s T., 1677 (Hengwrt MS.). And whan he say the peple of noyse al stille Thus shewed he the myghty dukes wille.
1387–8. T. Usk, Test. Love, I. viii. (Skeat), l. 67. Lo eke an olde proverbe amonges many other: He that is stille semeth as he graunted.
c. 1400. Rule St. Benet, i. 4. Better es to be stille þan for to speke of þair lif.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc., 6. Ȝif þou had bene stille thou had bene holden a philosophre.
a. 1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xli. 15. Be nocht of langage quhair ȝe suld be still.
1518. H. Watson, Hist. Oliver of Castile (Roxb.), K 1 b. Wherfore she helde her styll and sayd nothynge.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, lxviii. 236. Better it is to shew the trouthe then to be styll.
1535. Coverdale, Zech. ii. 13. Let all flesh be still before the Lorde, for he is rysen out of his holy place.
1568. Grafton, Chron., II. 794. All were still and muete, and not one worde aunswered to.
1590. Shaks., Com. Err., III. ii. 69. Oh soft sir, hold you still. Ibid. (1604), Oth., V. ii. 46. Peace, and be still.
b. Habitually silent, taciturn. Phrase, to keep a still tongue in one’s head.
1729. G. Adams, trans. Sophocles, Antig., IV. i. II. 61. Lead me home, that he may … know how to keep a stiller Tongue, and ever be of a better Mind than now he is.
1855. Kingsley, Westw. Ho! xv. He was a very still man, much as a mass-priest might be.
1859. Geo. Eliot, Adam Bede, xxiii. ‘I’ll tell you what I know, because I believe you can keep a still tongue in your head if you like.
1859. Tennyson, Grandm., 13. Strong on his hands, and strong on his legs, but still of his tongue!
1869. Hazlitt, Eng. Prov., 35. A still tongue makes a wise head.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., I. 112. I’m a strange still chap mysen.
1890. W. A. Wallace, Only a Sister? 328. He was a rare man John, a rare still ’un.
† c. Prov. (Very common in 16–17th c.) Obs.
c. 1200. Prov., in MS. Rawlinson C. 641 lf. 13 b/1. Sistille suʓe fret þere grunninde mete.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov. (1867), 22. The still sowe eats vp, all the draffe Ales.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. ii. 109. Tis old, but true, Still Swine eats all the draugh.
1611. Florio, Acqua queta,… a close, slie, lurking knaue, a stil sow as we say.
3. Of a voice, sounds, utterances: Subdued, soft, not loud. Now arch. (Chiefly after 1 Kings xix. 12.)
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 410. Ðine æhta mid stylre stemne wyllað þe wreʓan to ðinum Drihtne.
a. 1225. Leg. Kath., 2005. Heo … cleopede toward heouene,… wið stille steuene [etc.].
a. 1300. Floriz & Bl. (Camb. MS.), 37. To hire louerd heo sede wiþ stille dreme, ‘Sire,’ [etc.].
13[?]. K. Alis., 7458 (Laud MS.). Alisaunder makeþ a stille cry.
13[?]. Cour de L., 177. She answeryd with wordys stylle, ‘Sere, I am at my faderys wylle.’
1502. Atkynson, trans. De Imitatione, III. i. 195. The eris that here the styll spekynge or rownynge of almyghty god.
a. 1500–20. Dunbar, Poems, xlii. 47. Sayand till hir with wirdis still [etc.].
1531. Tindale, Exp. 1 John (1537), 87. The preste prayeth in latyne and sayeth euermore a styll Masse, as we saye.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Kings xix. 12. After the fyre came there a styll softe hyssinge [1611 a still small voice].
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 358/1. Susurrus,… a soft or still noise, as of waters, falling with a gentle streame, or of leaues from trees.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 138. The louder and shriller voice of a Dogge, is called barking, the lower and stiller is called whining, or fawning.
1675. J. Smith, Chr. Relig. Appeal, 100. To tune the still voice of the Gospel to the shrill tones of the Law.
c. 1750. Gray, Elegy, Omitted Stanza (Mason MS.). In still small Accents whisp’ring from the Ground A grateful Earnest of eternal Peace.
a. 1777. Transl. & Paraphr., XXIII. iii. Gentle and still shall be his voice.
1788. Gibbon, Decl. & F., lxix. III. 524. The still voice of law and reason was seldom heard or obeyed.
1811. Shelley, St. Irvyne, III. ix. 5. And, from the black hill, Went a voice cold and still.
† b. esp. of music; hence of instruments, performers, etc. Obs.
1541. in Vicary’s Anat. (1888), App. XII. 242. To the stille minstrelles, in rewarde iiij li.
1575. Gascoigne, Jocasta, V. Order of last Dumb Shewe, First the Stillpipes sounded a very mournful melody.
1595. T. Edwards, Narcissus (Roxb.), 40. Some with Still musicke, some with pleasing songes Some with coye smiles, [etc.].
1600. Shaks., A. Y. L., V. iv. 113. stage-dir., Enter Hymen, Rosalind and Celia. Still Music.
1602. Marston, Antonio’s Rev., IV. iii. stage-dir., The still flutes sound softly.
a. 1639. T. Carew, A Rapture, Poems (1651), 66. The gentle blasts of Western winds shall … breath Still Musick.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., IV. xv. 318. Yet spake she very little to any, sighing out more then she said, and making still musick to God in her heart.
a. 1645. Milton, Passion, 28. Me softer airs befit, and softer strings Of Lute, or Viol still.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 931. As still musick is sweeter then the loud.
1738. Wesley, Hymns ‘Hark, dull Soul, how every Thing,’ iv. All the Flowers that paint the Spring Hither their still Musick bring.
1816. Shelley, Hymn Intell. Beauty, 34. Music by the night-wind sent Through strings of some still instrument.
† c. Secret. Obs.
c. 1205. Lay., 4496. Stille boc runen heo senden him to ræden.
1303. R. Brunne, Handl. Synne, 5958. Ȝyf þou boghtest of any seriaunt pryuyly, yn stylle cunnaunt, Þyng þat þou wystyst wel was stole.
c. 1450. Le Morte Arthur, 3860. The bysshope … shrove hym … Off All hys synnes loude and stylle.
1647. H. More, Song of Soul, Notes Psychozoia, 349. It is inconceivable that the least motions of the mind, or stillest thought should escape her.
4. Free from commotion.
a. Of water: Having an unruffled surface, without waves or violent current; motionless or flowing imperceptibly.
a. 1000. Riddles, iii. 14. Þonne streamas eft stille weorþað.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 102. A stille water for the nones Rennende upon the smale stones.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit. (1637), 699. Wherf … becometh more still, and so gently intermingleth his water with Ouse.
1735. Somerville, Chase, IV. 381. Where ancient Alders shade The deep still Pool.
1784. Cowper, Task, VI. 929. Stillest streams Oft water fairest meadows.
1803. Wordsw., Yarrow unvisited, 43. Let … The swan on still St. Mary’s Lake Float double, swan and shadow.
1834. Mrs. Somerville, Connex. Phys. Sci., xiii. (1849), 110. A stone plunged into a pool of still water.
1847. H. Miller, Test. Rocks, viii. (1857), 337. While other fresh water fishes, such as the tench and carp, are reared most successfully in still reedy ponds.
Prov. 1791. Scott, Lett., in Lockhart (1837), I. vi. 183. Though he makes no noise about feelings, yet still streams always run deepest.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., xxvii. ‘“Still waters run deepest,” they used to tell me,’ said Miss Ophelia oracularly.
1895. ‘G. Paston,’ Study in Prejudices, xiii. Hers was a case of ‘still waters run deep.’
b. Of the air, weather: Free from commotion, quiet. Of rain: Unattended by wind, gentle.
1390. Gower, Conf., I. 371. For the weder stille Men preise, and blame the tempestes.
c. 1500. Melusine, xx. 107. Wel fole is he that fighteth ayenst the wynd, wenyng to make hym be styll.
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 127. Or usher’d with a shower still, When the gust hath blown his fill.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., I. x. 24. But our widows sorrow is no storm but a still rain.
1795–6. Wordsw., Borderers, II. 25. The moon shone clear, the air was still, so still The trees were silent as the graves beneath them.
1797. Mrs. Radcliffe, Italian, xii. As it came upon the still air and descended towards the cloudless heavens.
1829. Chapters Phys. Sci., 296. When he has been walking in still weather on the brink of a lake.
1859. Tennyson, Merl. & Vivien, 1. A storm was coming, but the winds were still.
1908. [Miss E. Fowler], Betw. Trent & Ancholme, 313. The air is strangely still.
† c. Quiet, gentle in disposition; meek. Still and bold (absol.), men of whatever temper. Obs.
c. 825. Vesp. Psalter lxxv. 10. Alle stille eorðan [Vulg. omnes quietos terræ].
c. 1000. in Sax. Leechd., III. 430. Heo wæs … on eallum þingum eaðmod & stille.
c. 1200. Ormin, 1177. Forr shep iss all unnskaþefull & stille der & liþe.
c. 1300. Havelok, 955. Him loueden alle, stille and bolde.
c. 1300. Leg. Gregory (Schulz), 173. Þo sche held hir stille and milde, Hir sorwe was strong and sterne.
c. 1460. Sir R. Ros, La Belle Dame, 656. For þai be not rebell, bot still as stone.
d. Settled, unperturbed in mind. † Also, in mystical language, said of one that has attained to freedom from passion.
1340–70. Alex. & Dind., 940. Stoute is he, stedefast & stille of his herte.
a. 1400. Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., xxiii. 651. Heil, whos deore sone stod In þe Synagoge of goddes And iuged þer wiþ stille mood Princis.
1741. Wesley, Jrnl., 12 Feb. Others … who had constantly affirmed ‘That Mr. Charles Wesley was still already, and would come to London no more.’
1858. G. Macdonald, Phantastes, xv. 196. My soul was not still enough for songs.
5. In mixed sense of 2 and 4. Of places, times, conditions: Characterized by absence of noise and movement; silent, quiet, calm.
c. 1205. Lay., 25481. Ah al hit wes stille in hirede and in halle.
13[?]. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1203. Þay stel out on a stylle nyȝt er any steuen rysed.
1525. trans. Brunswyke’s Handywork Surg., lix. N iv. Then shall the pacyent be layde in a styl place where he may haue rest.
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 375/1. The dead or stil time of the night.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., IV. iv. 28. That Herne the Hunter … Doth … at still midnight Walke round about an Oake. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., V. iv. 69. For this, from stiller Seats we came.
1632. Milton, Penseroso, 78. Som still removed place will fit. Ibid. (1667), P. L., IV. 598. Now came still Eevning on.
a. 1722. Lisle, Husb. (1757), 29. It must be spread the first still day.
1770. G. White, Selborne, Let. to Barrington, 8 Oct. Swallows and house-martins abound yet, induced to prolong their stay by this soft, still, dry season.
1794. Mrs. Radcliffe, Myst. Udolpho, xv. And oft at midnight’s stillest hour, When summer seas the vessel lave.
1816. Shelley, Mont Blanc, 44. In the still cave of the witch Poesy.
1816. Byron, Ch. Har., III. lxxxix. All heaven and earth are still—though not in sleep.
1849. Froude, Nemesis of Faith, 194. The room was deathly still; no sound but the heavy breathing of the child, [etc.].
1855. Tennyson, Maud, II. v. 70. She comes from another stiller world of the dead.
1884. W. C. Smith, Kildrostan, 34. You’ve seen the Loch, on some still evening, Mirror each stone.
† b. Of a mode of life: Quiet, uneventful, dull.
1706. Addison, Epil. to Ld. Lansdowne’s Brit. Enchanters, 14. Scenes of still Life, and Points for ever fix’d, A tedious Pleasure to the Mind bestow.
1710. Felton, Diss. Classics (1718), 223. The stiller Scenes of Life.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, VII. 327. What a cursed still-life this!
1781. Cowper, Retirement, 746. Yet neither these delights, nor aught beside … Can save us always from a tedious day, Or shine the dulness of still life away.
c. contextually (poet.) = That has become still; no longer active or audible.
c. 1485. E. E. Misc. (Warton Club), 1. The byrd was go; my joy was stylle, For woo, alasse! myselffe I spylle.
1742. Gray, Spring, 21. Still is the toiling hand of Care.
1822. Shelley, trans. Calderon’s Mag. Prodig., II. 95. Since the fury Of this earthquaking hurricane is still.
1842. Tennyson, Break, Break, 12. O for the touch of a vanish’d hand, And the sound of a voice that is still!
† 6. Of a child: Dead before birth. Cf. STILL-BORN. Obs. rare–1.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts, 433. The milk of a Mare being drunk … doth cause a still childe to bee cast forth.
† 7. Constant, continual; continued until now.
1570. Levins, Manip., 124/4. Stil, iugis, continuus.
1588. Shaks., Titus A., III. ii. 45. But I (of these) will wrest an Alphabet, And by still practice, learne to know thy meaning. Ibid. (1594), Rich. III., IV. iv. 229. But that still vse of greefe makes wilde greefe tame.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., XVII. 711. Of Vlysses (where the Thesprots dwell,…) Fame, he sayes, did tell The still suruiuall.
8. Comb. still-bait U.S., bait for still-baiting; still-baiting U.S. (see quot. 1859); still-fishing = still-baiting; still-footed a., with silent tread; still-vaulting, vaulting without a run.
1888. Goode, Amer. Fishes, 58. The angler finds them at the proper seasons equally eager for fly-hook, trolling-spoon, or *still-bait.
1859. Bartlett, Dict. Amer. (ed. 2), 451. *Still-baiting, fishing with a deep line in one spot, as distinguished from trolling.
1897. Encycl. Sport, I. 82/2. (Bass) *Still-fishing.
1894. Outing, XXIII. 395/1. The fox comes trotting, *still-footed, along this avenue.
1854. G. Roland, Gymnastics, 28. Every young person who has seen what is called *‘still-vaulting’ at Ducrow’s.
B. sb.2
† 1. A calm, lit. and fig. Obs.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 376. Quia post tempestatem tranquillum facit … þat is, iblesced beo þu, Louerd, þet makest stille efter storme.
1615. Bacon, Charge agst. O. St. John, Wks. 1778, II. 588. There is no better sign of omnia bene, than when the court is in a still. Ibid. (a. 1626), Hen. VIII., in Consid. War Spain (1629), 164. He had neuer any the least … Difference … with the King his Father, which might giue any occasion of altering Court or Counsell vpon the change; but all things passed in a Still. Ibid. (1626), Sylva, § 193. The Vnequall Agitation of the Winds, and the like,… make them to be heard lesse Way, than in a Still.
2. Stillness, quiet. Now only poet. or rhetorical.
1608. Topsell, Serpents, 99. In the still of the night, when euery one besides were at rest.
1810. Scott, Lady of L., III. xxvi. No murmur waked the solemn still, Save tinkling of a fountain rill.
1830. W. Phillips, Mt. Sinai, I. 512. A still of limb and lip Hush’d all his brethren.
1900. N. Munro, in Blackw. Mag., Oct., 449/2. His ear had not grown accustomed to the still of the valleys.
† 3. A still pool. Obs.
1681. Chetham, Angler’s Vade-m., xxxiii. (1689), 179. You may Dib with the Green-drake both in Streams, and Stills.
4. Shetland. (See quot.) [Perh. f. STILL v.]
1844. W. H. Maxwell, Scotland, xiii. (1855), 118. A brief lull occurs at high water, and is termed by Shetlanders ‘the still.’
