stool

[stool] /stul/
noun
1.
a single seat on legs or a pedestal and without arms or a back.
2.
a short, low support on which to stand, step, kneel, or rest the feet while sitting.
3.
Horticulture. the stump, base, or root of a plant from which propagative organs are produced, as shoots for layering.
4.
the base of a plant that annually produces new stems or shoots.
5.
a cluster of shoots or stems springing up from such a base or from any root, or a single shoot or layer.
6.
a bird fastened to a pole or perch and used as a decoy.
7.
an artificial duck or other bird, usually made from wood, used as a decoy by hunters.
8.
a privy.
9.
the fecal matter evacuated at each movement of the bowels.
10.
the sill of a window.
11.
a bishop's seat considered as symbolic of his authority; see.
12.
the sacred chair of certain African chiefs, symbolic of their kingship.
verb (used without object)
13.
to put forth shoots from the base or root, as a plant; form a stool.
14.
Slang. to turn informer; serve as a stool pigeon.
Idioms
15.
fall between two stools, to fail, through hesitation or indecision, to select either of two alternatives.
Origin
before 900; Middle English; Old English stōl; cognate with German Stuhl, Old Norse stōll, Gothic stols chair; all < Germanic *stō- (< Indo-European root of stand) + *-l- suffix; akin to OCS stolŭ throne
Related forms
stoollike, adjective
Examples from the web for stool
  • In fact, it is increased gas in the stool that make it less dense and allow it to float.
  • It's better than the guy on the next stool at the bar, but it's not as good as a true professional.
  • To move around, users sit on the device as though it's a stool and lean their weight in the direction they want to travel.
  • If your parents don't need a step stool to reach the top shelf, you're probably right up there, too.
  • Give shorter kids a stepladder or stool to stand on at the counter or stove.
  • There is more blood in his urine, and still more in his stool.
  • She'll blast off that stool and out of your life forever, warp factor nine.
  • Start by cutting the stool to fit between the window frame's sides, or jambs.
  • Please provide examples of budget reductions when the same party controlled all three legs of the stool.
  • But he'll go in his kennel whether his stool is loose or not.
British Dictionary definitions for stool

stool

/stuːl/
noun
1.
a backless seat or footrest consisting of a small flat piece of wood, etc, resting on three or four legs, a pedestal, etc
2.
a rootstock or base of a plant, usually a woody plant, from which shoots, etc, are produced
3.
a cluster of shoots growing from such a base
4.
(mainly US) a decoy used in hunting
5.
waste matter evacuated from the bowels
6.
a lavatory seat
7.
(in W Africa, esp Ghana) a chief's throne
8.
fall between two stools
  1. to fail through vacillation between two alternatives
  2. to be in an unsatisfactory situation through not belonging to either of two categories or groups
verb (intransitive)
9.
(of a plant) to send up shoots from the base of the stem, rootstock, etc
10.
to lure wildfowl with a decoy
Word Origin
Old English stōl; related to Old Norse stōll, Gothic stōls, Old High German stuol chair, Greek stulos pillar
Word Origin and History for stool
n.

Old English stol "seat for one person," from Proto-Germanic *stolaz (cf. Old Frisian stol, Old Norse stoll, Old High German stuol, German Stuhl "seat," Gothic stols "high seat, throne"), from PIE *sta-lo-, locative of root *sta- "to stand" (cf. Lithuanian pa-stolas "stand," Old Church Slavonic stolu "stool;" see stet).

Originally used of thrones (cf. cynestol "royal seat, throne"); change of meaning began with adoption of chair from French, which relegated stool to small seats without arms or backs, then "privy" (early 15c.) and thence to "bowel movement" (1530s).

stool in Medicine

stool (stōōl)
n.

  1. A discharging of the bowels.

  2. Evacuated fecal matter.

Slang definitions & phrases for stool

stool

noun

(also stoolie) A police informer; stool pigeon: He's nothing but a cop's stool (Underworld 1906+, variant 1924+)

verb

: to make me stool on a friend (1911+)

[back formation fr stool pigeon]


Idioms and Phrases with stool

stool

In addition to the idiom beginning with stool also see: fall between the cracks (two stools)