1
[ verb ] move an implement through with a circular motion

Examples

"stir the soup" "stir my drink"

Used in print

(Robert Penn Warren, Wilderness....)

`` Good_ole lob-scuse '' , he mumbled , and stirred the pot .

He stopped stirring and looked over his shoulder .

(Gerald Green, The Heartless Light....)

In the darkness , she saw him stirring .

(William Maxwell, The Chateau....)

Harold put a teaspoonful of powdered coffee in his cup and filled it with hot water , and then , stirring , he sat_back in his chair .

Related terms

move churn paddle stirrer

2
[ verb ] move very slightly

Synonyms

budge shift agitate

Examples

"He shifted in his seat"

Used in print

(Brett Halliday, The Careless Corpse....)

He did n't stir .

(Jim Harmon, "The Planet with No Nightmare," If,...)

Behind him , his mates stirred without waking .

(Cordwainer Smith, "A Planet Named Shayol,"...)

He spoke through the public address box built into the cabin , and his gigantic voice roared out over the empty plain , so_that the pink herd of talking people stirred gently in their happiness and wondered what their friend B ' dikkat might be wanting to tell them .

(B. J. Chute, The Moon and the Thorn....)

Outside , the garden , the tame wilderness , yielded a patchwork bouquet of daisies , sweet_william , scented stock and lady 's bedstraw , which she tied with long grasses and took back to show Rosa , who was now stirring about the kitchen and haranguing Folly .

For_the_first_time in thirty years , Henrietta walked down the narrow street with its shuttered shops just stirring and its inhabitants eying her with the frankest curiosity .

Related terms

move shift

3
[ verb ] stir the feelings, emotions, or peace of

Examples

"These stories shook the community" "the civil war shook the country"

Used in print

(Chicago Daily Tribune...)

Well , Jerebohm and his wife Pinkie have reached the stage of affluence that stirs a longing for the more atrociously expensive rustic simplicities .

(The Christian Science Monitor,...)

The Percussive Twenties ( SP 44006 ) stirs pleasant memories with well-known songs of that day , and Johnny_Keating 's Kombo gives_forth with tingling jazz in Percussive_Moods ( SP 44005 ) .

4
[ verb ] stir feelings in

Synonyms

stimulate excite

Examples

"stimulate my appetite" "excite the audience" "stir emotions"

Used in print

(Nathan Rapport, ""I've Been Here before!"...)

Hereby , the external object viewed by the eyes remains the thing that is seen , not the retinal image , the purpose of which would be to achieve perceptive cooperation by stirring sympathetic impulses in the other sensory centers , motor tensions , associated word symbols , and consciousness .

(W. H. Gass, "The Pedersen Kid," in The...)

I always felt the memory was present in both of them , stirring in their chests like a laugh or a growl , as eager as an animal to be out .

5
[ verb ] agitate

Synonyms

toss

Examples

"toss the salad" "stir nuts into the dough"

Used in print

(William Maxwell, The Chateau....)

Stirring , he said : `` I am sorry that my work prevents me from doing anything with you today '' .

6
[ verb ] evoke or call forth, with or as if by magic

Examples

: "raise the specter of unemployment" "he conjured wild birds in the air" "stir a disturbance" "call down the spirits from the mountain"

7
[ verb ] affect emotionally

Synonyms

touch

Examples

"A stirring movie" "I was touched by your kind letter of sympathy"

Used in print

(Bern Dibner, "Oerstad and the Discovery of Electro...)

He was stirred by the announcement of Volta 's discovery of chemical electricity and he immediately applied the voltaic_pile to experiments with acids and alkalis .

Related terms

affect get inflame

8
[ verb ] to begin moving, "As the thunder started the sleeping children began to stir"

Synonyms

arouse

Related terms

move

9
[ noun ] emotional agitation and excitement
10
[ verb ] mix or add by stirring

Examples

"Stir nuts into the dough"

Related terms

work

11
[ noun ] a disorderly outburst or tumult

Examples

"they were amazed by the furious disturbance they had caused"

12
[ noun ] a rapid bustling commotion

Related terms

commotion mother bustle

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