[f. STIR v. + -ING2.] That stirs, in various senses of the verb.
1. Moving; that is in motion, or capable of motion; moving about or along; moving lightly or tremulously.
In quot. c. 1440, loose, not fixed; in quot. 1597 transf. moving from one note to another.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. Introd. 6. Trewum styrendum vel cerrendum.
c. 1384. Chaucer, H. Fame, 478. Yf y kan See owghwhere any stiryng man.
c. 1400. Maundev. (1839), xv. 162. Thei be not sterynge ne mevable.
c. 1440. Pallad. on Husb., II. 141. Stiryng stonys [L. mobiles lapides] Commyxt with mold.
1597. Morley, Introd. Mus., 81. If your descant should be stirring in any place, it should bee in the note before the close.
1611. Cotgr., Grouillis, a stirring heape of wormes, or other vermine.
1819. Keats, Indolence, v. A lawn besprinkled o’er With flowers, and stirring shades.
b. fig. Changeful, unstable, inconstant. Obs. (Cf. the quot. from the same poem under sense 2.)
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 8057. Hit is a propertie … To all wemen … To be vnstable & not stidfast, styrond of wille.
2. Moving briskly, active, lively, agile; energetic in action; actively occupied, busy, bustling.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 104. Swyft and stirrand as goote.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 3833. A stythe man of his stature, stirond of wille, Menyt [? read Meuyt] hym to mony thinges, & of mynde gode.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 16. Such a merrie nimble stirring spirit.
1628. Feltham, Resolves, I. xxx. 96. Naturall heate does more actuate the stirring Genius of Man.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 263. Watch [was] set upon her, lest she being a stirring woman, should raise a tumult.
1709. Steele, Tatler, No. 180, ¶ 1. He … wanted a stirring Man to take upon him his Affairs.
1845. J. Coulter, Adv. in Pacific, xvii. 280. The missionaries, or stirring mercantile people, whose professions kept them moving quickly about.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ii. I. 182. No man could be a stirring and thriving politician who was not prepared to change with every change of fortune.
† b. Stirring horse: a courser. Cf. STIRRER 3 b, STIRRING vbl. sb. 3 b.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XI. 129. Mony ane sturdy sterand steid.
c. 1470. Golagros & Gaw., 588. On ane sterand steid, that sternly will stert.
1477. Paston Lett., III. 183. That he be well trottyng of his owne corage, with owte fors of sporis, and also a steryng hors.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Sternax, a steerynge or ploungynge horse.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 53. I omit farther the costly apparel … the massy cheynes, the stirrynge horses.
1551–2. Edw. VI., Jrnl. (Roxb.), 392. Tou genettes, a sturring horse, and tow litle moyles.
1598. Stow, Surv., 76. Hench men twaine, vpon great stirring horses following him.
1614. Rich, Honestie of Age (1615), 28. Fitter to ryde in a Curtizans Coach vp and downe the streets, then to bestride a stirring Horse in the field.
c. Characterized by or full of stir or activity.
1647. Boyle, in Birch, Life (1744), 76. Qualities, that in this stirring and necessitous age … make very unfrequent matches in the self-same person.
1800. Wordsw., Michael, 81. She was a woman of a stirring life, Whose heart was in her house.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., ix. II. 484. The stirring market town of Brixham.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, VIII. vii. You come from London? Stirring times for you English.
1873. Mrs. Brookfield, Not a Heroine, I. 32. I want a more stirring occupation.
3. That excites or incites. † a. Physically stimulating, stimulant. Obs. rare.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 106. Sele him oft styrʓendne drenc.
1609. Dekker, Gull’s Horn-bk., viii. 34. Capon is a stirring meate sometime.
b. Inciting to action, or inducing emotion; rousing, stimulating, animating, inspiriting; exciting, moving, thrilling.
1421. Hoccleve, Minor Poems, xxiii. 519. But thogh thy wordes sharpe & stirynge seeme, To many a man profyten they but lyte.
1530. Palsgr., 325/2. Steryng or provokyng to do a thyng, incitatif.
1645. Rutherford, Tryall & Tri. Faith, xxii. 255. If God should withdraw his stirring and prædeterminating influence.
1873. Black, Pr. Thule, xxvi. 446. Cheerful and stirring music.
1888. Burgon, Lives 12 Gd. Men, II. vi. 77. Lives … without stirring incidents.
