style
/staɪl/ noun, verb, proper noun
Also a form of stile
Forms styles styling styled stile stylee
- noun (historical) A sharp stick used for writing on clay tablets or other surfaces; a stylus; (by extension, obsolete) an instrument used to write with ink; a pen.
- noun A tool with a sharp point used in engraving; a burin, a graver, a stylet, a stylus.
- noun The gnomon or pin of a sundial, the shadow of which indicates the hour.
- noun (botany) The stalk that connects the stigma(s) to the ovary in a pistil of a flower.
- noun (surgery) A kind of surgical instrument with a blunt point, used for exploration.
- noun (zoology) A small, thin, pointed body part.
- noun (entomology) A long, slender, bristle-like process near the anal region. “the anal styles of insects”
- noun (by extension from sense 1.1) A particular manner of expression in writing or speech, especially one regarded as good.
- verb (transitive) To design, fashion, make, or arrange in a certain way or form (style).
- verb (transitive, formal) To call or give a name or title to. “The pope is styled His or Your Holiness.”
- verb (transitive, informal) To create for, or give to, someone a style, fashion, or image, particularly one which is regarded as attractive, tasteful, or trendy.
- verb (intransitive, US, informal) To act in a way which seeks to show that one possesses style.
- proper noun (fandom slang) The ship of characters Stan Marsh and Kyle Broflovski from the South Park series.
Synonyms
stylet term of address form of address title designate dub name bename call clepe denominate entitle nominate term manner mode way fashion expressive style vogue trend dash elan flair panache stylus
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English stile (“writing tool; piece of written work; characteristic mode of expression; demeanour; person's designation or title; stem of a plant; period of time”) (compare semantic development to по́черк (póčerk, “handwriting, style”)), from Old French estile, or from Medieval Latin stylus, both from Latin stilus (“pointed instrument; writing tool; composition; characteristic mode of expression; stem of a plant”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to be sharp; to pierce, prick, puncture, stab; to goad”). Doublet of stylus.
The verb is derived from the noun.
*Catalan estil (“engraving tool, stylus; gnomon; manner of doing something, style; fashionable skill, grace”)
* German Stiel (“handle; stalk”)
* Italian stilo (“needle, stylus; fountain pen; beam; gnomon; part of pistil, style”)
* Portuguese estilo (“writing tool, stylus; manner of doing something, style”)
* Spanish estilo (“writing tool, stylus; manner of doing something, style; fashionable skill, grace; part of pistil, style”).
See etymology at stile.
Blend of Stan + Kyle.
Webster’s 1913
- noun An instrument used by the ancients in writing on tablets covered with wax, having one of its ends sharp, and the other blunt, and somewhat expanded, for the purpose of making erasures by smoothing the wax.
- noun Hence, anything resembling the ancient style in shape or use. Specifically: -- (a) A pen; an author's pen. Dryden.
- verb To entitle; to term, name, or call; to denominate. "Styled great conquerors." Milton.
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “style”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details