stew 
(st, sty)
(st, sty)v. stewed, stew·ing, stews
v.tr.
To cook (food) by simmering or boiling slowly.
v.intr.
1. To undergo cooking by boiling slowly or simmering.
2. Informal To suffer with oppressive heat or stuffy confinement; swelter.
3. Informal To be in a state of anxiety or agitation. See Synonyms at boil1.
n.
1.
a. A dish cooked by stewing, especially a mixture of meat or fish and vegetables with stock.
b. A mixture likened to this dish.
2. Informal Mental agitation: in a stew over the lost keys.
3. often stews Archaic A brothel.
[Middle English stewen, to bathe in a steam bath, stew, from Old French estuver, possibly from Vulgar Latin *extūpāre, *extūfāre, to bathe, evaporate : Latin ex-, ex- + Vulgar Latin *tūfus, hot vapor (from Greek tūphos, fever; see TYPHUS).]
stewy adj.