[a. Du. † stuive (given by Kilian as obs.), related to stuiven to rise as dust. Cf. mod.Du. stuifmeel floating dust of flour.
The word seems to have belonged orig. to Pembrokeshire, where there was a Flemish colony, and to E. Anglia, where words from Du. are frequent.]
Dust; esp. the floating dust of flour during the operation of grinding.
1793. Gentl. Mag., Dec., 1084. Stive, dust. Pembrokeshire.—Dust is there only used to signify sawdust.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Stive, dust. We use the word in no other sense.
1853. J. Glynn, Power of Water, 138. Producing a slight draft of air sufficient to collect and deposit in a proper chamber, the dust, or ‘stive,’ as millers call it.
1907. Times, 15 Feb., 3/1. The filtering medium, whatever it was, speedily got choked by the stive or dust.
b. Comb.
1907. Times, 15 Feb., 3/1. The air passing out through the cone was by no means free from impurities, and a second apartment or stiveroom was required as a settling chamber.
