Forms: 1 stiʓráp, stíráp, 2–7 stirop, 3–5 stirap, 3–6 stirope, 4 stirhap, stroupe, 4–6 sterap, styrop(pe, 5 sterep, -opp, stiroppe, stirrap, storrope, styrope, -up, 5–6 sterop(pe, sturope, styrope, 5–7 sterope, 6 sterrep, stirepp, -hop, -ip(p)e, stor(r)ap, -oppe, sturropp, styrrep(e, -op(p)e, -uppe, 6–7 styrrop, 6–8 stirrop, 7 sterrup, stiropp, stirropp(e, sturrop, styrrup, 7–8 stirup, 8 sterrop, 4– stirrup. [OE. stiʓráp, f. stiʓ-e climb (f. wk. grade of stíʓan to climb: see STY v.) + ráp ROPE sb. Cf. OS. stigerêp (MLG. stegerêp), MDu. stegereep (WFlem. steegreep stirrup-leather, stirrup), OHG. stegareif (MHG. stegereif, mod.G. stegreif), ON. stigreip.
As the etymology shows, the original ‘stirrup’ must have been a looped rope. In some of the continental Teut. langs. the word has been used for the stirrup-leather, the stirrup itself having a special name, MDu. böghel (Du. beugel, stijgbeugel), whence mod.G. bügel, steigbügel, Sw. stigbygel, Da. stigbøile.]
1. A contrivance suspended from the side of a saddle to serve as a support for the foot of the rider; in modern times, an arched piece of metal (rarely of wood, leather, etc.) closed by a flat plate to receive the sole of the boot.
To lose one’s stirrups [= F. perdre les étriers]: to let one’s feet accidentally slip out of the stirrups (for the figurative use see c).
c. 1000. Ælfric, Gloss., in Wr.-Wülcker, 120/2. Scansile, stirap.
a. 1100. Voc., ibid. 332/11. Scansile, stiʓrap.
c. 1175. Soul & Body, in Fragm. Ælfric’s Gloss., etc. (1838), 6. On stirope stonden mid fotan.
c. 1290. Beket, 248, in S. Eng. Leg., 113. His loreins weren al of seluer, stirapes and spores al-so.
a. 1320. Sir Tristr., 3261. His stirops he made him tine, To grounde he him wrong.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 190. He smote him in þe helm, bakward he bare his stroupe.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, III. 143. The King, in full gret hy, Strak at the tothir wigorusly, That he eftir his sterap drew.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Shipm. Prol., 1. Ovre Ost vppon his stiropes stood anoon And seide good men herkeneth euerychoon.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 3615. He standis vp in his stereps in starand maylis.
c. 1435. Torr. Portugal, 987. Torrent in the storrope stod And prayd to god, þat dyed on Rode.
c. 1450. Merlin, x. 164. Ban … ficched hym in the styropes so harde that the Iren bente.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, X. xlvi. 487. There with alle sire Palomydes lost his steroppes and lay vp ryght on his horsbak.
1549. in Archæologia, XXV. 555. Pd … for the vernyshyng of a styrepe iiijd.
1585. T. Washington, trans. Nicholay’s Voy., I. viii. 8. [I saw] Moores mounted on … horses without saddel, bridle, stirrops or spurres.
1686. Plot, Staffordsh., 377. Of Stirrups they also make these several sorts, the swivel, barr’d, Rippon, and plain stirrop.
a. 1700. Evelyn, Diary, April 1646. Instead of stirrups we had ropes tied with a loope to put our feete in.
1728. Chambers, Cycl., s.v., Stirrops are allowed a modern Invention: Menage observes, that St. Jerom is the first Author who mentions them.
1820. Scott, Monast., ix. I am a rude man, bred to lance and stirrup, and not used to deal with book-learned men and priests.
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., I. II. vi. Now no man on a level with his age but will trot à l’Anglaise, rising in the stirrups.
1845. Ford, Handbk. Spain, I. 57. The stirrups are the primitive Moorish, copper or iron boxes of a triangular shape, in which almost the whole foot rests.
1886. Hall Caine, Son of Hagar, I. i. So when I put my feet into the stirrups, there they stuck.
b. To hold the stirrup: lit. in helping a person to mount, esp. as a manifestation of homage or reverence; hence fig. to be subservient.
Sometimes with allusion to the rendering of this act of homage by certain emperors to the pope.
a. 1548. Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 52. When the kynge approched, the duke at his lightynge offred to holde his styrope.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 53. Hast thou not kist thy hand, and held my stirrop?
1601. Dent, Pathw. Heaven, 222. They doe but hold the stirrup to their owne destruction.
1636. Rutherford, Lett. (1862), I. 179. It becometh not Christ to hold any man’s stirrup.
1661. Glanvill, Van. Dogm., 228. Opinions hold the stirrup, while vice mounts into the saddle.
1675. E. W[ilson], Spadacrene Dunelm., 34. I hold the stirrop to Pyrotechnical Philosophy.
1763. Churchill, Duellist, III. 136. Who was so mean … That he would … hold a stirrup for the Devil.
1908. J. Gairdner, Lollardy, I. 9. The fiery Frederic Barbarossa held the stirrup of Pope Alexander III.
c. In various figurative expressions.
1601. Sir W. Cornwallis, Ess., II. xl. C c 3. By Marius and Sylla, the Romaines state lost her sturrops; by Cæsar, and Pompey was cast out of the Saddle.
1642. Bridge, Serm. Norf. Volunteers, 22. Make use of your experience as a stirrup to get up your spirits to the promise.
a. 1647. Boyle, Wks., 1772, I. Life, p. xiii. It could not be unwelcome to be of a quality, that was a handsome stirrup to preferment.
1647. Trapp, Comm. 2 Pet. ii. 12. Some men … fall beneath the stirrop of reason.
1657. in Burton’s Diary (1828), I. 412. The plaintiff will ride post with Festina, but Lentè, quoth the defendant, and puts the plaintiff’s foot many times besides the stirrup by Essoins, Imparlances,… or the like.
1690. C. Nesse, Hist. & Myst. O. & N. Test., I. 125. Rebels against God fall below the stirrup of sense.
1727. P. Walker, Life R. Cameron, in Biogr. Presbyt. (1827), I. 287. He got a Dispensation from the Pope to make a Stirrup of our Covenants to mount the Throne of Britain.
1866. Dickens, Boy at Mugby, Christm. Stor. (1874), 331. Excitement was up in the stirrups. Expectation stood a-tiptoe.
† d. Yeoman, Groom of the stirrup: former officers in the Royal Household (Master of Horse’s department). Obs.
1526. in Househ. Ordin. (1790), 203. The wages of the yeoman of the stirrop at 3d. per diem. Ibid., 204. Five Groomes of the Stirrop every of them at 2d. per day.
1538. Elyot, Dict., Strator, he that helpeth his mayster to horsebacke, yeman of the styrope.
1547. in Lett. & Papers Hen. VIII. (1910), XXI. II. 401. Belle, groom of the stirrup.
1647. Haward, Crown Revenue, 23. Yeoman of the Stirrup: Fee, per diem 9. d.
1692. Lond. Gaz., No. 2809/3. The Yeoman of the Stirrup.
2. Applied to various kinds of foot-rest analogous to the stirrup. a. Antiq. In a crossbow, a rest in which the foot is placed in order to steady the bow while it is being bent.
1371–3. MS. Acc. Exch. K. R., 397/10 m. 3. ij vicz ad tendendum balistas. xviij. stirops pro balistis.
b. Shoemaking. (See quot. 1886.)
With quot. c. 1820 cf. STIRRUP v. 3.
1597. Deloney, Gentle Craft, Wks. (1912), 89. The Stirrop holding fast while we sowe the Cow-hide.
1611. Cotgr., Tire-pied, a Shoomakers stirrup.
1735. Dyche & Pardon, Dict., Stirrup,… also an Instrument used by Shoemakers to put over their Knee and under their Foot to hold their Work tight upon their Knee.
c. 1820. J. Kitto, in Eadie, Life (1857), 32. S— … bids us, under pain of the stirrup, make a pair of shoes per diem.
1886. W. Somerset Word-bk., Stirrup, a shoemaker’s strap, with which he keeps the last firm upon his knee.
† c. [= F. étrier.] A kind of footless stocking having a strap that passes underneath the foot. Also, the strap itself. Obs.
An alleged example c. 1530 Hyckescorner, 799 is an error for stertups: see STARTUP, a kind of boot.
1659. Howell, Lex. Tetragl., II. xxxiii. The stirrop of the hose, l’estrier de la chaussette.
1685. Rec. Scott. Cloth Manuf. New Mills (S.H.S.), 87. Noe more silk or worset stockens be made with stirups.
1714. Fr. Bk. of Rates, 123. And to these Stockings or Stirrups of Silk, which shall be hereafter imported, his Majesty ordains, that [etc.].
1746. Gentl. Mag., XVI. 407. (Exmoor Vocab.) Stirrups, a kind of buskins.
d. Netting. A contrivance consisting of a foot-board suspended by ribbons, serving to keep the work in place.
1844. Mrs. H. Owen, Ladies’ Bk. Needlework (ed. 2), 2. A netting vice or stirrup.
1870. Mag. for Young, 6. Her foot in a netting stirrup.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 358/1. For ordinary Netting the plain Stirrup is the best, as the whole weight of the foot is upon it.
e. Surg. An appliance used in operations for extension.
1884. W. Pye, Surgical Handicraft, 187. The use of the stirrup and weight, introduced first for extension in hip disease, was soon applied to fractures.
1896. Allbutt’s Syst. Med., I. 426. If the nurse be desired to apply an extension in cases of hip-disease the ends of the stirrup must be well above the knee.
f. nonce-use. (See quot.)
1585. Higins, Junius’ Nomencl., 169/2. Encentris,… an iron stirrup, or a shooe driuen full of iron nayles poynted, which they vse that goe vpon ice: an icespur.
g. Mining. (Cornwall.) A foot-rest attached to the rope by which men were let down and drawn up the shaft.
1602. Carew, Cornwall, I. 11. The workmen are let down and taken vp in a Stirrup, by two men who wind the rope.
1778. Pryce, Min. Cornub., 158. From the axis hangs a sort of an iron stirrup … by its two hooks.
h. A stirrup-like foot-rest for working a bellows.
1843. Holtzapffel, Turning, I. 436. The bellows are … worked by the foot,… by a chain from the rocking-shaft terminating in a stirrup.
i. (See quot.)
1901. H. E. Bulwer, Gloss. Techn. Terms Ch. Bells, 5. Stirrup, a separate loop of rope, or leather, attachable to the end of a rope for chiming with the foot.
3. Anat. = STAPES.
1615. Crooke, Body of Man, 592. The first is called … Malleolus the Mallet or the Hammer. The second Incus the Anuill or the Stithy. The third Stapes the Stirrop.
1730. Chamberlayne, Relig. Philos., I. xiii. § 5. The Auditory Bones are four in Number, the Hammer, the Anvil, the Stirrup, and between the Anvil and Stirrup there lies a small Bone.
1879. G. Prescott, Sp. Telephone, 5. A mechanical apparatus of wonderful delicacy … consisting of a series of bones termed respectively the hammer, anvil and stirrup.
4. Something shaped like a stirrup. a. gen.
1684. R. Waller, Nat. Exper., 110. To observe by the Sound the like Dilatation in a Stirrup of Glass.
1874. Spons’ Dict. Engin., VIII. 2938. Any part of a machine resembling in shape or in functions the stirrup of a saddle, is called the stirrup.
b. A U-shaped clamp or support.
c. 1450. Reg. Vestments, etc. St. Andrews, in Maitl. Club Misc., III. 205. Item thre stirrapis for the lampys.
1496–7. Rec. St. Mary at Hill, 224. To the Smythe for iij Stays and a litill Sterope and a forth Riȝht dogge of Iryn for the Roodelofte.
1507. in Rokewode’s Suff., 150 (Promp. Parv. 202 note). For goions and colars, with ij stireppis for my bruge, weiyng 361/2 lb.
1531. Lett. & Pap. Hen. VIII., V. 185. For a sterop for the drawe-bryge.
1536–7. in W. H. St. John Hope, Windsor Castle (1913), I. 265. A great storrap for to bear the gutter of the leades over the steres.
1844. Civil Engin. & Arch. Jrnl., VII. 149/2. A stirrup … supporting the table.
1850. Denison, Clock & Watch-m., 86. The old form of mercurial pendulum was that of a glass cylinder standing on a stirrup at the bottom of a rod.
1869. Rankine, Machine & Hand-tools, Pl. P 11 The smaller end of the taper mandril is supported in a movable bearing in the balanced lever, the upper end of which is secured by the stirrup.
1866. R. M. Ferguson, Electr. (1870), 3. Let us suspend a magnet … by a stirrup of paper, hanging from a cocoon thread.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stirrup, a band or strap which is bent around one object and is secured to another by its tangs or branches. Ibid., Stirrup (Carpentry), a. a device for holding a rafter-post or strut to a tie…. b. an iron strap to support a beam.
1883. Gresley, Gloss. Coal-mining, 241. Stirrups, a screw joint suspended from the brake-staff or spring-pole, by which the boring rods are adjusted to the depth of the borehole.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 189. The parts of the stirrup may with advantage be annealed after they are finished.
1894. Bottone, Elect. Instr. Making, 22. The wire or fibre which supports the ‘stirrup’ in which is placed the magnetic needle or insulating rod.
† c. Some kind of appendage to a bell. Obs.
1341–2. Ely Sacr. Rolls, II. 118. In vj steropis et iiij bondes pro Baunse [sc. a bell so named] 10d.
1474. in T. North, Bells Northamptonsh. (1878), 371. For makyng of a storop to the sayd bell, iijd.
c. 1520. in C. Welch, Churchw. Acc. All-hallows, Lond. Wall (1912), 56. Item for a sterope for the gret bell, ijd ob.
1683. Churchw. Acc. Pittington, etc. (Surtees), 252. For one stirrup for the 2nd bell and altering another.
5. Naut. a. (See quot. 1867.)
1495. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 152. Boltes with rynges and Styroppes of dyuerse makynges.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 12. The boule spret, the pillow, the sturrop, the spret sayle.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1780), s.v. Horse, It [sc. the horse] is usually suspended thereto [i.e., to the yard] at proper distances, by certain ropes called stirrups, which hang about two feet under the yard, having an eye in their lower ends through which the horse passes.
1834. Marryat, P. Simple, vi. ‘Captain of the foretop,’ said he, ‘up on your horses, and take your stirrups up three inches.’—‘Ay, ay, sir.’ (I looked and looked, but I could see no horses.)
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Stirrups, ropes with eyes at their ends, through which the foot-ropes are rove, and by which they are supported.
b. (See quots.)
1627. Capt. Smith, Sea Gram., xi. 53. When a Ship hath lost a peece of her Keele,… you must patch a new peece vnto it, and bind it with a stirrop, which is an iron comes round about it and the Keele.
1691. T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 49. New Stirrups put on to secure the false Keel.
c. 1850. Rudim. Navig. (Weale), 153. Stirrup. An iron or copper plate that turns upwards on each side of a ship’s keel and dead-wood, at the fore-foot, or at her skeg, and bolts through all.
† 6. False stirrup: the mace carried by a knight.
It has been suggested that the mace was so called because it hung down from the side of the saddle.
14[?]. Sir G. Haye, Bk. Knychthede, vi. (S.T.S.), 47. Item, a masse is gevin him … the quhilk masse is lyknyt till a false sterap. Ibid. Quhen he has implyde his spere, his lang suerd, his polax, his false sterap.
7. In reinforced concrete construction, each of the vertical or diagonal members that bind together the upper and lower reinforcement of a beam, etc.
1909. Concrete & Constructional Engin., IV. 250. When vertical stirrups are used they take little stress until a diagonal crack has formed.
8. attrib. and Comb. as stirrup-buckle, -holder; stirrup-shaped adj.; stirrup † -fashion, -wise advs.; † stirrup-band = sense 5 b; stirrup-bar, (a) each of the bars on a saddle-tree to which a stirrup-strap is attached; (b) the bar of a stirrup on which the foot rests; stirrup-bone = sense 3; stirrup-dram = STIRRUP-CUP; stirrup-fast a. (nonce-wd.), having the feet secure in the stirrups; stirrup-foot, (a) the left forefoot of a horse; (b) the left foot, the foot used first in mounting a horse; stirrup-glass = STIRRUP-CUP; † stirrup-hose = sense 2 c; stirrup-ladder, a thatcher’s short ladder holding to the roof with spikes (Halliw.); stirrup lantern, (see quot.); † stirrupman, = yeoman of the stirrup (see 1 d); hence † stirrupmanship; † stirrup money, a fee or perquisite of a groom; stirrup-piece, (a) (see quot. 1850); (b) nonce-use, a poem relating to riding; stirrup side, ? the left side of a horse (cf. stirrup-foot); stirrup-stocking = sense 2 c; stirrup-stone, ? a stone used for mounting a horse; stirrup-strap, a leather strap by which a stirrup is suspended; stirrup-vase Archæol. [misrendering of G. bügelkanne, formed after bügeleisen flat-iron], a ‘pseudamphora’ with a square-cut handle on either side of the false spout; stirrup-verse, a verse at parting; † stirrup-way, a bridle-path.
1407. MS. Acc. Exch. K. R., 44/11 (1) m. 4. ij ligaturis ferri vocatis *steropebandes.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2012/2. (art. Saddle-tree) Two *stirrup-bars are added and iron staples for the valise.
1891. Kipling, Light that Failed, vi. 89. He has slipped his foot from the stirrup-bar.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., V. xiii. 253. Concerning the invention of the stapes or *stirrop bone.
1884. Coues, N. Amer. Birds, 185. The stapes, or ‘stirrup-bone.’
a. 1774. Goldsm., trans. Scarron’s Com. Romance (1775), I. 288. The tongue of the *stirrup-buckle had torn his stockings.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxii. Tib Mumps will be out wi’ the *stirrup-dram in a gliffing.
1612. Benvenuto’s Passenger, I. i. 15. Reache me my needleworke bootehose, or those of cloth made *stirrop fashion.
1827. Carlyle, Germ. Rom., I. 308. The latter … with difficulty kept his saddle, and scarcely continued *stirrup-fast.
1753. Chambers’ Cycl., Suppl., The *stirrup-foot is the near, or left foot before.
1823. Lockhart, Sp. Ball., Escape of Gayferos, vi. The stirrup-foot and the hilt-hand see that ye sunder both.
1775. Ash, *Stirrupglass, the glass drank on horseback at parting.
1818. Brathwait’s Barnabees Jrnl., Introd. 18. Taking leave of his host at the Inn door … by having a stirrup glass.
1552. Huloet, *Stirope holder, or yoman of the stirope, strator.
1626. T. H[awkins], trans. Caussin’s Holy Crt., 79. How many tymes he hath made himselfe a stirrop-holder, or foot boy.
1659. Howell, Lex. Tetragl., II. xxxiii. *Stirrop-hose, chaussettes à estrier.
1664. Tarif Fr. King & Council (1713), 12. Two pair of stirrup Hose to pay as one.
1824. Reg. Arts & Sci., I. 122. The *Stirrup Lantern is a small square lantern, fixed at the bottom of a stirrup by means of two screw rings on each side.
1524. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., I. 492. Ane Letter to Robert Gib, of the gift of the service of *steropmanschip to the king … siclik as ony uthir *steropman to the king had of before.
1756–7. trans. Keysler’s Trav. (1760), IV. 475. *Stirrup money for the grooms.
1850. Ogilvie, *Stirrup piece, a name given to a piece of wood or iron in framing, by which any part is suspended; a vertical or inclined tie.
1875. Stedman, Victor. Poets, ix. 302. That superb stirrup-piece … ‘How they brought the good news.’
1900. Engineering Mag., XIX. 755/1. Current is taken off the conductors by three *stirrup-shaped wires.
1663. Butler, Hud., I. ii. 96. Rais’d upon his desperate foot On *stirrup side he gaz’d about.
1611. Cotgr., Chaussettes à estrier, *stirrup stockings.
1662. in Verney Mem. (1894), III. 382. 6 Pair thread stirrup stockings.
1748. Richardson, Clarissa, V. 10. He could let me have a pair of coarse, but clean stirrup-stockens, if I pleased.
1838. Lytton, Alice, IV. iii. The peacock, who, perched on an old *stirrup-stone, was sunning his gay plumage.
1775. Ash, *Stirrup-strap … the strap of leather by which the stirrup is suspended.
1890. Conan Doyle, White Company, xxxvii. Stooping down he loosened the stirrup-straps.
1905. A. J. Evans, Prehist. Tombs Knossos, in Archæologia, LIX. 510. The *stirrup-vases or false-necked amphoras.
1680. [J. Speed], Batt upon Batt, 12. No *stirrup-Verse at Grave before she go?
1736. J. Lewis, I. of Tenet (ed. 2), 38. Shire-way, a Way or only Horse or Foot Passengers; a Bridle or *Stirrup-way.
1610. R. Vaughan, Water-workes, R 3 b. A Ring of ground … scituate *stirrope wise.
