stool

[ stool ]

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)

1. to put forth shoots from the base or root, as a plant; form a stool.
2. Slang. to turn informer; serve as a stool pigeon.

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. 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

1. (of a plant) to send up shoots from the base of the stem, rootstock, etc
2. to lure wildfowl with a decoy

Other Words From

• stoollike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of stool¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English; Old English stōl; cognate with German Stuhl, Old Norse stōll, Gothic stols “chair”; all are from unattested Germanic stō- (from Indo-European root of stand ) + -l- suffix (unattested); akin to Old Church Slavonic stolŭ “throne”

Word History and Origins

Origin of stool¹

Old English stōl; related to Old Norse stōll, Gothic stōls, Old High German stuol chair, Greek stulos pillar

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. fall between two stools, to fail, through hesitation or indecision, to select either of two alternatives.

More idioms and phrases containing stool

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

Example Sentences

Between dead drops and TOR, this meant unlike traditional drug rings, no one actually has to meet face-to-face, shielding the operation from undercovers, turncoats and stool pigeons.

From Salon

Describing a typical day on 1 July 2022, he wrote: "At work, you sit for seven hours at the sewing machine on a stool below knee height."

From BBC

"He has to sit on a stool for eight hours in a cubicle," his mother told the Associated Press news agency last year.

From BBC

Near death No. 2: “I got chunks of guys like you in my stool.”

From Los Angeles Times

Mrs Barlow initially phoned her GP surgery after finding blood in her stool.

From BBC