stir

Etymology 1

From Middle English stiren, sturien, from Old English styrian (“to be in motion, move, agitate, stir, disturb, trouble”), from Proto-Germanic *sturiz (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), related to Proto-West Germanic *staurijan (“to destroy, disturb”). Cognate with Old Norse styrr (“turmoil, noise, confusion”), German stören (“to disturb”), Dutch storen (“to disturb”).

verb

1. (transitive) To disturb the relative position of the particles of (a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it.
   She stirred the pudding with a spoon.
   He stirred his coffee so the sugar wouldn't stay at the bottom.
   My minde is troubled, like a Fountaine stir'd, / And I my selfe see not the bottome of it. 1602, William Shakespeare, Troilus and Cressida, act III, scene 3
2. (transitive) To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it.
   Would you please stir this pot so that the chocolate doesn't burn?
3. (transitive) To incite to action.
   And in latin I speke wordes a fewe / To sauer with my predication / And for to stere men to devocion. late 14th century, Chaucer, “The Pardoner’s prologue”, in The Canterbury Tales, (1561 edition), published 1868, page 214
   An Ate, stirring him to bloud and strife […] c. 1595, William Shakespeare, The Life and Death of King John, act I, scene 2
   The Soldiers love her Brother’s Memory; / And for her sake some Mutiny will stir. c. 1670, John Dryden, Tyrannick Love, or the Royal Martyr, III.1
4. (transitive) To bring into debate; to agitate.
   Preserue the rights of thy place, but stirre not questions of Iurisdiction : and rather assume thy right in silence, and de facto, then voice it with claimes, and challenges. 1613, Francis Bacon, chapter 8, in The Essaies, London
5. (transitive, obsolete) To disturb, to disrupt.
6. (transitive, dated) To change the place of in any manner; to move.
   […] notwithstanding the swelling of my Foot, so that I had never yet in five days been able to stir it, but as it was lifted. 1677, Sir William Temple, “An Essay upon the Cure of Gout by Moxa”, in Miscellanea. The First Part, London, published 1705, page 209
7. (intransitive) To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position.
   And especially if they happen to have any superior character or possessions in this world, they fancy they have a right to talk freely upon everything that stirs or appears[…] 1741, Isaac Watts, The Improvement of the Mind
   I had not strength to stir or strive, / But felt that I was still alive— […] 1816, Byron, The Prisoner of Chillon
8. (intransitive) Of a feeling or emotion: to rise, begin to be felt.
   That night he was almost too happy to sleep, and so much love stirred in his little sawdust heart that it almost burst. 1922, Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit
   Though as I said it, glibly, reassuringly, I knew that I lied, and a little snake of guilt stirred and began to uncoil slightly, guilt and its constant companion deceit. 1993, Susan Hill, Mrs de Winter, published 1999, page 54
9. (intransitive) To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy oneself.
   All are not fit with them to stir and toil. 1818, Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, canto III, stanza LXIX
   Meanwhile, the friends of the unfortunate exile, far from resenting his unjust suspicions, were stirring anxiously in his behalf. 1850, Charles Merivale, A History of the Romans under the Empire, volume 1
10. (intransitive) To rise from sleep or unconsciousness.

noun

1. The act or result of stirring (moving around the particles of a liquid etc.)
   Can you give the soup a little stir?
2. agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements.
   1668, John Denham, Of Prudence (poem). Why all these words, this clamour, and this stir?
   . Consider, after so much stir about genus and species, how few words we have yet settled definitions of.
   When the long, hot journey drew to its end and the train slowed down for the last time, there was a stir in Jessamy’s carriage. People began to shake crumbs from their laps and tidy themselves up a little. 1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, page 7
3. Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar.
   Being advertised of some stirs raised by his unnatural sons in England. 1612, Sir John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued
4. Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.

Etymology 2

From Romani stariben (“prison”), nominalisation of (a)star (“seize”), causative of ast (“remain”), probably from Sanskrit आतिष्ठति (ātiṣṭhati, “stand or remain by”), from तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati, “stand”).

noun

1. (slang) Jail; prison.
   He's going to be spending maybe ten years in stir.
   Sing Sing was a tough joint in those days, one of the five worst stirs in the United States. 1928, Jack Callahan, Man's Grim Justice: My Life Outside the Law, page 42