| 释义 |
verbstirred, stirring, stirs stəːstər 1with object Move a spoon or other implement round in (a liquid or other substance) in order to mix it thoroughly. Desmond stirred his tea and ate a biscuit no object pour in the cream and stir well Example sentencesExamples - His left hand was stirring his food with his spoon.
- The external water was thoroughly stirred with a pipette for 15 s and the additional fluorescent intensity was measured.
- Pour in the wine and stir the rice until the liquid bubbles away.
- Once added, stir the rice until it's coated with the liquid from the chicken mixture.
- During the ceremony sugar crystals and water are stirred in a steel bowl with a Kirpan before the initiate drinks the mixture.
- For the sauce, stir the remaining ingredients together and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- They took turns stirring the mixture until it seemed to be ready.
- ‘I was stirring my tea, and the spoon got hot in my hand,’ he says.
- Serena picked up a spoon and stirred the froth on her coffee.
- When you are ready to eat, stir the maple syrup sauce, and spoon some of it over the apple snow.
- All three are concentrating hard on stirring their biscuit mixture while their helper urges them on.
- I set down the wooden spoon I'd been stirring the hot chocolate with.
- He watched in silence as the aficionado sniffed the paprika bouquet and stirred the velvety stew with his spoon.
- As we ate, she'd occasionally return to stir the stuff until the smell overwhelmed us and we attacked.
- Stand the saucepan in a larger pan of hot water over a medium heat, stirring the mixture until it turns clear.
- The mixture was stirred until the solutions turned colorless.
- Then place the pan over a very low heat and stir the cheese until melted.
- Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the mixture until it resembles cake frosting.
- The drink was stirred with the spoon and then sipped and savored.
- I raised an eyebrow, grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the thickening tomato sauce.
Synonyms mix, blend, agitate beat, whip, whisk, fold in North American muddle - 1.1stir something in/into Mix an ingredient into (a liquid or other substance) by moving a spoon or other implement round and round.
stir in the flour and cook gently for two minutes Example sentencesExamples - Mix in the juniper and seasoning and stir the meat and liquid into the vegetables.
- Now add the fruit juice slowly, again stirring it in as you go.
- He took the dish off the plate and began pouring it generously into the dark liquid, stirring the spirals into the tea with a small silver spoon.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir the powdered sugar and vanilla extract into the Devonshire cream.
- Combine lightly with a fork, and then tip in the whole nuts and stir them in.
- Mix the extra ingredients together in a bowl, stir the sifted flour into the mixture then add cream and milk.
- So shelve that sugar and stir honey crystals into your brownie batter instead.
- Cut the mushrooms in quarters and stir them in with the onions, letting it all cook until it's silky soft, yet barely coloured.
- He took his spoon and stirred a sugar packet into his coffee.
- I nodded slightly and stirred some sugar into my iced tea with a straw.
2Move or cause to move slightly. no object nothing stirred except the wind with object a gentle breeze stirred the leaves cloudiness is caused by the fish stirring up mud Example sentencesExamples - The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
Synonyms move slightly, change one's position, twitch, quiver, tremble disturb, rustle, shake, move, flutter, agitate, swish - 2.1no object Rise or wake from sleep.
no one else had stirred yet Example sentencesExamples - Sharp, rocky, and bumpy, there is a cave that is always half-filled with water, more so during high tide, and the current is always right that we do not stir when we sleep.
- Yesterday, we stirred ourselves early in the day in order to go for a walk at Bedgebury Pinetum, followed by lunch at the Oak and Ivy.
- Just as her fingers brushed his cheek, he stirred and woke.
- I reached back and squeezed her shoulder, watching as she stirred and awoke, waking them in the process.
- Further down the dark little dorm other figures stir and rise, shadows from the grave.
- He stirred, and gently woke Raquel, who stretched luxuriously over him and smiled stupidly up at his face.
- James shook his head and stirred himself from his reverie, bringing himself back to the real world.
- The night's respite must have revitalized him, for he was stirring, even rising.
- Dara stirred in her sleep on the beaten and faded blue sofa in front of him before she finally opened her eyes.
- The woman stirred suddenly, waking from a restless sleep.
- Miguel stirred and roused from sleep as the sound of footsteps echoed in the room and the lights came on.
- Garrison looked around the room, noticing the early risers finally stirring from their beds.
- He fought it but soon he was stirring and rising from bed.
- Several of the sleeping men stirred in their sleep as the chill disturbed their slumber.
- Instinctively her hand squeezes back but she doesn't stir from her peaceful slumber.
- His train of thought was interrupted as she stirred and woke up.
- She didn't wake or stir when her parents entered the room.
- At a women's hostel on the outskirts of Bangkok, the next generation is stirring from a morning nap.
- As I did, Simon began to stir from his long sleep, bouncing back in time for us to launch into our next attempt to save his life.
- I stirred in my sleep when I felt someone nudging me.
Synonyms get up, get out of bed, rouse oneself, bestir oneself, rise, show signs of life, be up and about, be active wake up, awaken, waken informal be up and doing, rise and shine, surface literary arise - 2.2stir from/out of Leave or go out of (a place)
as he grew older, he seldom stirred from his club Example sentencesExamples - Of course, as any opera lover knows, Bizet never actually stirred himself to visit the country in which his most popular opera is set.
- You can be Indian living in America or American living in India; and sometimes, like the chatty souls at the call centers in India, you can be both and not even stir from your chair!
- I slept through Saturday though I intended to do a couple of things, and was stirred from my lair by Heather phoning about Tim's birthday drinks which I was intended to go along to.
- There is no need to stir from your sitting room, because the NHS is coming to you.
- Andy and I never stirred from our seats the entire while, and just found random topics, random items, and random inspirations for our shameless babble.
- ‘Fine’ he simply addressed with a cold tone, not stirring from his corner.
- Half an hour later, I finally stirred from the sofa and thought that I might as well go back to bed.
- Finally stirring from his chair, he stood to refold the quilt and drape it over the arm.
- But, although indolence is bliss on St Lucia, there are compelling reasons to stir from your compound.
Synonyms leave, depart from, go out of move from, budge from, make a move from, shift from - 2.3 Begin or cause to begin to be active or to develop.
no object the 1960s, when the civil rights movement stirred with object a voice stirred her from her reverie he even stirred himself to play an encore Example sentencesExamples - My navy took a firm control of the northern seas prior to an assault on Norway, whilst Austria stirred herself at last and lined her armies along the Austro / German border.
- Isn't that worth stirring from our complacency for?
- In the United States things have begun to stir, and various organizations are extremely active on campus.
- He stood on the balcony of the Palace overlooking the marketplace, now beginning to stir with life.
- He was silent for a few moments and then suddenly stirred as he began to make the first preparations.
- After the relentless ossification of the Post-Modern era, things are beginning to stir again.
- A troop of howler monkeys began to stir in the treetops just below us, letting loose a loud, primordial bellow.
- Guiseley stirred themselves to try and regain a bit of pride and he slipped a good ball to young striker whose effort was taken by him.
- Soon the Palace of Delair would begin to stir with the tasks of everyday life.
- Tully had arrived just as things were beginning to stir in the county.
- In fact, reformism of one sort or another is the natural first reaction of any exploited or oppressed group when it begins to stir into action against its suffering.
- Things are beginning to stir in Lancaster's Ryelands Park this spring and local people are needed to help turn the breeze into a whirlwind.
- Sligo stirred themselves and he took a point when a goal looked on.
- Inside, life began to stir as the troopers started to collect themselves.
- Which is why I can see both West Ham and Bolton winning and the Hammers going down, deserved punishment for a season in which they stirred themselves only when it was too late.
- Punch and Layerthorpe were on level terms as they started the pairs but Punch stirred themselves to close the match 6-3 in their favour.
- When a few new traditionalist architects began to stir in the 1970s, they reawakened with a strange amnesia.
- It seems that a group of well known citizens had begun to stir up the cause of independence from the empire.
- Speaker after speaker has stirred themselves to say ‘We are the party of decency, of honesty, of straight-speaking’.
- The moratorium has been there all that time, and they have not stirred themselves and put the necessary plans in place.
Synonyms spur, drive, rouse, prompt, propel, prod, move, motivate, encourage urge, impel, induce provoke, goad, prick, sting, incite, inflame North American light a fire under
3with object Arouse strong feeling in (someone); move or excite. they will be stirred to action by what is written he stirred up the sweating crowd Example sentencesExamples - Nothing ever stirred these people to the point when they rose from their chairs and clapped.
- The move is stirring up critics who say that the company is simply out to extend its patent life with such a targeted approval - a charge NitroMed denies.
- But he was not stirred to battle because the English had killed his father, as claimed in Braveheart.
- One reason people were so stirred by her passing was because she had experienced so many of the tumults of the twentieth century.
- Founders proudly propagated the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ slogan that stirred the people to move on strongly and united.
- All I know is that you should write the music that you love and that you believe in, that stirs you and excites you.
- He sifts through the topics that stirred readers and made headlines last year in our much-read letters columns…
- Of course I was incapable of understanding much of it at the age of seven, but I soon discovered that adults were stirred by the words.
- No objective has stirred explorers more than the search for the source of the Nile.
- He told it to me not because it was dazzling or fancy in any way, but because it was gnawing at him, stirring him, and it had to come out.
- He was stirred by Charles de Gaulle's broadcasts on behalf of the French resistance, which were reaching Martinique from neighbouring islands.
- In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
- The boy stirs her and her family, especially after she becomes convinced that the boy is really the reincarnation of her true love.
- If you are saying things that stir people, they will respond.
- I'm sure that he will also be stirring his players by reminding them that their supposed role in the last-day drama is to lie down and let the big boys run over them.
- ‘What attracts me to flamenco, is something to do with your soul, your makeup, what stirs you,’ she explains.
- With his courtly, old-fashioned manner, he may never have stirred Democratic crowds to a fever pitch.
- If you stir an audience, move them and inspire them, that shifts them to feel warm with each other and share a sense of community.
- Matthews says his college tour is meant to stir young people who may be apathetic toward politics.
- It was unbelievable the way his voice and carisma stirred the people.
Synonyms arouse, rouse, kindle, inspire, stimulate, excite, awaken, waken, quicken, animate, activate, galvanize, fire, electrify, whet literary enkindle - 3.1 Arouse or prompt (a feeling or memory) or inspire (the imagination)
the story stirred many memories of my childhood the rumours had stirred up his anger Example sentencesExamples - This unconscionable scandal must kindle the moral imagination and stir the conscience of the American public.
- It had been a long day, and the FBI meetings in Perryton had stirred up unwelcome memories.
- Today, if a story has potential to stir resentment among large numbers of people, it is seized like gold by the talk shows.
- Here in the wilds of Scotland, there were also incidents of note, though none would stir fond memories of Corinthian spirit.
- For those creating an enterprise storage solution, just the word stirs great emotion.
- He'll be at Casa del Popolo this Monday, Nov 4, stirring up more attention for the Michigan-based publication.
- To many people these days, photographs in black-and-white bring a sense of nostalgia, and stir memories of bygone times.
- The memories stirred up by these compositions are very purposeful, if only half-formed.
- The comment stirred up memories of Barb's sister who died of skin cancer two years ago.
- As it stirs our emotions with memories, it also makes possible the construction of a never-to-be forgotten narrative sequence.
- It comes most vividly to life when the chorus is aroused as, for example, when the ladies are stirred to anger by the antics of the strutting Lieutenant Zuniga.
- They hoped this act would stir a feeling, prompting the practitioners to serve in modesty to make up for the inadequate medical technology they had.
- I owe her, and her husband Paul, my entire subsequent career and memories of them stir great affection.
- WWII is recent enough in our national memory that interpretations still stir strong emotions.
- April is the cruellest month, stirring memory and desire.
- Two star-crossed medieval lovers, Abelard and Heloise, are again stirring passions in France as a literary controversy rages nearly 900 years after their affair.
- It is the artist who uses technique not as an end but as a means to the end of communicating an idea, challenging paradigms, stirring emotions or inspiring the spirit.
- Setting the heather on fire usually means stirring up a bit of excitement.
- But that very beauty, far from filling him with joy, stirred up memories of the Paradise he had lost.
- Stubborn, emotional and romantic, the old man stirs the feelings of the reader with his crazy love.
- 3.2British informal no object Deliberately cause trouble by spreading rumours or gossip.
Francis was always stirring, trying to score off people Example sentencesExamples - My ringworm worried her more than the swarms of rumors the local gossips were stirring.
- They all minded themselves helplessly as they stirred with talks of gossip, death, and pets.
nounPlural stirs stəːstər 1A slight physical movement. I stood, straining eyes and ears for the faintest stir Example sentencesExamples - My feet landed without the slightest stir of dust, or typical crunch of moving dirt and rocks.
- There was a stir of motion from the corner of her room.
- The ball passing became more fluent and aggressive and caused a stir in the Pioneers' defense area.
- It was then that Ardon felt an odd stir of movement beneath him.
- 1.1 An initial sign of a specified feeling.
Caroline felt a stir of anger deep within her breast Example sentencesExamples - For the first time since they'd arrived in Sanjia, she felt a stir of pity for this young woman who was only a few months older than herself.
- This time, however, his emotions created a stir in him.
- The finds created a stir of interest in the isolated fishing community.
- He also felt a stir of sympathy and stepped on it hard.
- As he expounded the philosophy of enterprise and free-market wealth creation, there was a stir of interest in the public gallery.
- She did not feel even the slightest stir of love for him.
- He had seen that stare directed at errant Constables and felt a stir of pity for her.
- Despite the stir of pro-Clippers feelings in Los Angeles, he is not very positive about his future with the team.
- The moment I felt a stir of excitement was when I saw the wires and beams of the bridge.
2A commotion. the event caused quite a stir Example sentencesExamples - You cannot abandon it or sign up to it without causing a stir.
- There was no hope of blending in; they caused a stir, especially among the teachers, when her father turned up occasionally for the school run.
- What happens in Congo does not cause the slightest stir in the boardrooms of London and New York.
- The write up on the state of the Barnhill Pitch & Putt Course last week has attracted a great stir in the community.
- Seven budding entrepreneurs from Swindon are creating a stir with their Young Enterprise business.
- It definitely served the purpose of creating awareness, but the whole exercise failed after the initial stir it created.
- Its passionate music and folk-based melodies caused a stir at the turn of the century.
- This story is causing a bit of a stir, but it shouldn't.
- A new political party in New Zealand is hoping to cause a big stir at next year's election.
- Stunning Bo caused a stir when she ran along the beach in slow motion wearing only a gold swimsuit and plaits in her hair.
- The Halifax created a stir last year when it started offering 4% interest on its current accounts.
- Under normal circumstances, such a meeting wouldn't create a stir.
- Quite why this should cause such a stir I don't know.
- Yet, it seems that it is popular enough to have created a stir in the physics department.
- A sign of undue coziness with power brokers in Washington, her comment should have caused a media stir, but no one noticed.
- Temptation Island caused a stir when Sky One first announced it had bought the rights, but although it has done well for the channel it has attracted very little tabloid attention since.
- Probably neither name caused much stir from the leather armchairs in the New Club, where the city's grandees would once have counted the man in charge at North Bridge as one of their own.
- He is currently preparing for the upcoming Community Games finals but has created a stir recently when he competed in a 400m event.
- The picture, submitted by a teacher of Japanese fencing and martial arts, has caused a stir.
- Understandably, his disappearing act created a stir and there you feared for the old man.
Synonyms commotion, disturbance, fuss, ado, excitement, flurry, uproar, ferment, brouhaha, furore, turmoil, sensation informal to-do, hoo-ha, hullabaloo, flap, song and dance, splash British informal kerfuffle 3An act of stirring food or drink. he gives his Ovaltine a stir Example sentencesExamples - Give it a quick stir, turn the heat down and leave to simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.
- This refers to the process of pouring the ingredients into the glass on top of each other and giving it a slight stir.
- He gave the pot one final stir before turning around so he could properly talk to her.
- After the butter had melted Aunty Jenni gave the mixture a really good stir and some strange dark brown shapes rose to the surface from the depths.
- Give the chocolate mixture a stir, then spoon into the moulds.
Phrases Make someone excited or enthusiastic. Example sentencesExamples - Before anyone got wet, there would be the ritual war cry, just to stir the blood and summon up the spirits of champions past.
- Granted this isn't one of those fixtures that stirs the blood and quickens the pulse.
- He is hardly the kind of leader that stirs the blood.
- There is so much in the next 11 months to stir the blood.
- There was little between two great teams, but Waterford were the sharper, the more determined and, in the end, sharpness and determination allied to a brand of hurling that still stirs the blood and excites the memory carried that day.
- Do we not deserve a flag that stirs the blood and sparks starry-eyed pride in the way that the Star-Spangled Banner does for Americans?
- The Olympics as a concept, as a package, doesn't stir my blood, and I don't greatly care as such whether Australians win things or not.
- If the capital wasn't exactly awash with tartan as it might have been in the days when international matches stirred the blood, there was about the place a degree of optimism, a sense that this at least amounted to the arrival of a new dawn.
- There cannot, however, be much in that to stir the blood or to satisfy the passion for the chase.
- Which is the shrewdest motivational trick of all for a national team manager to employ, because at the top level it is not money or patriotism which stirs the blood of footballers, but the prospect of self-improvement.
dated, informal often in imperative(of a person) begin to move or act. Example sentencesExamples - Sitting with a beer at the garden table has its merits but we will soon be cold and wet if we don't stir our stumps.
- Speaking as a Cornishman, I found it a little off-putting that when I decided to stir my stumps and ‘do’ the Cornwall Coastal Footpath that all the guidebooks were written backwards from my perspective.
- Here, you Matthews, look for sharp and stir your stumps a bit - one would think you were walking in your sleep.
- Unfortunately, this is one disadvantage to being published by a small press - you pretty much have to stir your stumps and do your own promotion.
- Do you think you could stop admiring your manicure, stir your stumps and do it before your mistress comes downstairs for breakfast?
- But if you can stir your stumps, avoid the trippery town of Paphos, except for the Roman Villa of the mosaics, and go up to the Vineyards of the Troodos.
- ‘Too few of us are willing to stir our stumps to be active citizens to work at least for a better society,’ he told the Sydney Ideas audience.
- Things are never dull when she stirs her stumps to create a mild uproar in that pompous little town.
- However, our duties calling us imperatively, we weren't able to stay another night, and because the gate at the entrance to the Sanctuary is closed from 6.30 pm till 6 o'clock in the morning, we had to stir our stumps pretty briskly.
- I really must stir my stumps and start advertising, there must be more people on the Peninsula who like to knit and natter.
Synonyms be quick, look smart, hurry up, speed up
Phrasal Verbs Cause or provoke trouble or bad feeling. he accused me of trying to stir up trouble Example sentencesExamples - When the film was screened at the Venice film festival, there were a few boos from the audience, but he is happy his work is stirring up a reaction.
- Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is stirring up opposition from teaching unions after putting a localised pay structure for teachers back on the agenda.
- A brewery is stirring up a touch of controversy in the Yorkshire Dales - with an advertising campaign declaring that ‘drinking is folly’.
- We both laughed nervously and he told me that he had heard that some Asian youths in Leeds had been stirring things up by deliberately leaving rucksacks on buses.
- As host of a daily phone-in show, he has extensive experience at stirring up arguments among the famously reserved and tolerant populace of Northern Ireland.
- He was released in 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement, only to be taken back to jail in August 2000 for allegedly stirring up rivalries among loyalists.
- But already it seems he is stirring up the kind of controversy which will be very familiar to those who have watched his career from Britain.
- "They have been stirring up chaos in Hong Kong and at the same time they want to change the mainland's political system.
- The far-right ideologue's appearance here is already stirring up a hornet's nest of opposition.
- On this occasion I am bound to suspect that his quoted views have been obtained by a reporter intent on stirring up controversy by approaching him for his views on a film which he has clearly not seen.
Synonyms whip up, work up, foment, fan the flames of, trigger, spark off, excite, provoke, instigate, incite
Origin Old English styrian, of Germanic origin; related to German stören 'disturb'. Rhymes à deux, agent provocateur, astir, auteur, aver, bestir, blur, bon viveur, burr, Chandigarh, coiffeur, concur, confer, connoisseur, cordon-bleu, cri de cœur, cur, danseur, Darfur, defer, demur, de rigueur, deter, entrepreneur, er, err, farceur, faute de mieux, fir, flâneur, Fleur, force majeure, fur, hauteur, her, infer, inter, jongleur, Kerr, littérateur, longueur, masseur, Monseigneur, monsieur, Montesquieu, Montreux, murre, myrrh, occur, pas de deux, Pasteur, per, pisteur, poseur, pot-au-feu, prefer, prie-dieu, pudeur, purr, raconteur, rapporteur, refer, répétiteur, restaurateur, saboteur, sabreur, seigneur, Sher, shirr, sir, skirr, slur, souteneur, spur, tant mieux, transfer, Ur, vieux jeu, voyageur, voyeur, were, whirr nounPlural stirs stəːstər informal Prison. I've spent twenty-eight years in stir Example sentencesExamples - He plays the most infamous hacker in the history of computer espionage, who has done time in stir and now wants to go straight.
- He later retained an attorney, and after seven months in stir was released on bail with his pre-trial release restrictions tightened further.
- He says that others involved with the site will continue to update it while he's in stir, where, he says, he plans to spend his time studying.
- Well, at least the person who did such a miserable job ended up in stir for defrauding another customer.
- People have done hard time in stir for a good deal less, but of course they didn't own e-tail outfits.
- That's right; something as innocent as playing computer chess on your laptop in a hotel lobby is now a crime with penalties of up to three months in stir and a fine of 10,000 euros.
- One way or another, he was going to get some payback for his time in stir.
- In stir, he dreamed about his boxing career, how he was going to train and go straight and turn his life around.
Origin Mid 19th century: perhaps from Romany sturbin 'jail'. verbstərstər 1with object Move a spoon or other implement around in (a liquid or other substance) in order to mix it thoroughly. stir the batter until it is just combined Example sentencesExamples - All three are concentrating hard on stirring their biscuit mixture while their helper urges them on.
- During the ceremony sugar crystals and water are stirred in a steel bowl with a Kirpan before the initiate drinks the mixture.
- Serena picked up a spoon and stirred the froth on her coffee.
- Remove the bowl from the microwave and stir the mixture until it resembles cake frosting.
- Stand the saucepan in a larger pan of hot water over a medium heat, stirring the mixture until it turns clear.
- He watched in silence as the aficionado sniffed the paprika bouquet and stirred the velvety stew with his spoon.
- Once added, stir the rice until it's coated with the liquid from the chicken mixture.
- When you are ready to eat, stir the maple syrup sauce, and spoon some of it over the apple snow.
- His left hand was stirring his food with his spoon.
- The drink was stirred with the spoon and then sipped and savored.
- ‘I was stirring my tea, and the spoon got hot in my hand,’ he says.
- I raised an eyebrow, grabbing a wooden spoon to stir the thickening tomato sauce.
- I set down the wooden spoon I'd been stirring the hot chocolate with.
- As we ate, she'd occasionally return to stir the stuff until the smell overwhelmed us and we attacked.
- They took turns stirring the mixture until it seemed to be ready.
- The mixture was stirred until the solutions turned colorless.
- Then place the pan over a very low heat and stir the cheese until melted.
- For the sauce, stir the remaining ingredients together and season to taste with salt and pepper.
- Pour in the wine and stir the rice until the liquid bubbles away.
- The external water was thoroughly stirred with a pipette for 15 s and the additional fluorescent intensity was measured.
- 1.1stir something in/into Add an ingredient to (a liquid or other substance) by mixing it in with a spoon or other implement.
stir in the flour and cook gently for two minutes Example sentencesExamples - Mix the extra ingredients together in a bowl, stir the sifted flour into the mixture then add cream and milk.
- So shelve that sugar and stir honey crystals into your brownie batter instead.
- He took the dish off the plate and began pouring it generously into the dark liquid, stirring the spirals into the tea with a small silver spoon.
- He took his spoon and stirred a sugar packet into his coffee.
- Cut the mushrooms in quarters and stir them in with the onions, letting it all cook until it's silky soft, yet barely coloured.
- In a large mixing bowl, stir the powdered sugar and vanilla extract into the Devonshire cream.
- I nodded slightly and stirred some sugar into my iced tea with a straw.
- Now add the fruit juice slowly, again stirring it in as you go.
- Combine lightly with a fork, and then tip in the whole nuts and stir them in.
- Mix in the juniper and seasoning and stir the meat and liquid into the vegetables.
2Move or cause to move slightly. no object nothing stirred except the wind with object a gentle breeze stirred the leaves cloudiness is caused by the fish stirring up mud Example sentencesExamples - The studio was filled with the rich odour of roses, and when the light summer wind stirred amidst the trees of the garden, there came through the open door the heavy scent of the lilac, or the more delicate perfume of the pink-flowering thorn.
Synonyms move slightly, change one's position, twitch, quiver, tremble disturb, rustle, shake, move, flutter, agitate, swish - 2.1 (of a person or animal) rise or wake from sleep.
no one else had stirred yet Example sentencesExamples - Dara stirred in her sleep on the beaten and faded blue sofa in front of him before she finally opened her eyes.
- Instinctively her hand squeezes back but she doesn't stir from her peaceful slumber.
- He fought it but soon he was stirring and rising from bed.
- Several of the sleeping men stirred in their sleep as the chill disturbed their slumber.
- As I did, Simon began to stir from his long sleep, bouncing back in time for us to launch into our next attempt to save his life.
- The night's respite must have revitalized him, for he was stirring, even rising.
- Just as her fingers brushed his cheek, he stirred and woke.
- His train of thought was interrupted as she stirred and woke up.
- Yesterday, we stirred ourselves early in the day in order to go for a walk at Bedgebury Pinetum, followed by lunch at the Oak and Ivy.
- Miguel stirred and roused from sleep as the sound of footsteps echoed in the room and the lights came on.
- The woman stirred suddenly, waking from a restless sleep.
- I reached back and squeezed her shoulder, watching as she stirred and awoke, waking them in the process.
- At a women's hostel on the outskirts of Bangkok, the next generation is stirring from a morning nap.
- She didn't wake or stir when her parents entered the room.
- Garrison looked around the room, noticing the early risers finally stirring from their beds.
- He stirred, and gently woke Raquel, who stretched luxuriously over him and smiled stupidly up at his face.
- I stirred in my sleep when I felt someone nudging me.
- James shook his head and stirred himself from his reverie, bringing himself back to the real world.
- Sharp, rocky, and bumpy, there is a cave that is always half-filled with water, more so during high tide, and the current is always right that we do not stir when we sleep.
- Further down the dark little dorm other figures stir and rise, shadows from the grave.
Synonyms get up, get out of bed, rouse oneself, bestir oneself, rise, show signs of life, be up and about, be active - 2.2stir from (of a person) leave or go out of (a place)
as he grew older, he seldom stirred from his apartment Example sentencesExamples - There is no need to stir from your sitting room, because the NHS is coming to you.
- But, although indolence is bliss on St Lucia, there are compelling reasons to stir from your compound.
- Andy and I never stirred from our seats the entire while, and just found random topics, random items, and random inspirations for our shameless babble.
- Of course, as any opera lover knows, Bizet never actually stirred himself to visit the country in which his most popular opera is set.
- ‘Fine’ he simply addressed with a cold tone, not stirring from his corner.
- I slept through Saturday though I intended to do a couple of things, and was stirred from my lair by Heather phoning about Tim's birthday drinks which I was intended to go along to.
- Finally stirring from his chair, he stood to refold the quilt and drape it over the arm.
- Half an hour later, I finally stirred from the sofa and thought that I might as well go back to bed.
- You can be Indian living in America or American living in India; and sometimes, like the chatty souls at the call centers in India, you can be both and not even stir from your chair!
Synonyms leave, depart from, go out of - 2.3 Begin or cause to begin to be active or to develop.
no object the 1960s, when the civil rights movement stirred with object a voice stirred her from her reverie he even stirred himself to play an encore Example sentencesExamples - He was silent for a few moments and then suddenly stirred as he began to make the first preparations.
- It seems that a group of well known citizens had begun to stir up the cause of independence from the empire.
- Speaker after speaker has stirred themselves to say ‘We are the party of decency, of honesty, of straight-speaking’.
- Things are beginning to stir in Lancaster's Ryelands Park this spring and local people are needed to help turn the breeze into a whirlwind.
- Guiseley stirred themselves to try and regain a bit of pride and he slipped a good ball to young striker whose effort was taken by him.
- Inside, life began to stir as the troopers started to collect themselves.
- Soon the Palace of Delair would begin to stir with the tasks of everyday life.
- In fact, reformism of one sort or another is the natural first reaction of any exploited or oppressed group when it begins to stir into action against its suffering.
- He stood on the balcony of the Palace overlooking the marketplace, now beginning to stir with life.
- Sligo stirred themselves and he took a point when a goal looked on.
- Which is why I can see both West Ham and Bolton winning and the Hammers going down, deserved punishment for a season in which they stirred themselves only when it was too late.
- Isn't that worth stirring from our complacency for?
- In the United States things have begun to stir, and various organizations are extremely active on campus.
- When a few new traditionalist architects began to stir in the 1970s, they reawakened with a strange amnesia.
- My navy took a firm control of the northern seas prior to an assault on Norway, whilst Austria stirred herself at last and lined her armies along the Austro / German border.
- A troop of howler monkeys began to stir in the treetops just below us, letting loose a loud, primordial bellow.
- The moratorium has been there all that time, and they have not stirred themselves and put the necessary plans in place.
- After the relentless ossification of the Post-Modern era, things are beginning to stir again.
- Punch and Layerthorpe were on level terms as they started the pairs but Punch stirred themselves to close the match 6-3 in their favour.
- Tully had arrived just as things were beginning to stir in the county.
Synonyms spur, drive, rouse, prompt, propel, prod, move, motivate, encourage
3with object Arouse strong feeling in (someone); move or excite. they will be stirred to action by what is written he stirred up the sweating crowd Example sentencesExamples - It was unbelievable the way his voice and carisma stirred the people.
- With his courtly, old-fashioned manner, he may never have stirred Democratic crowds to a fever pitch.
- He told it to me not because it was dazzling or fancy in any way, but because it was gnawing at him, stirring him, and it had to come out.
- He was stirred by Charles de Gaulle's broadcasts on behalf of the French resistance, which were reaching Martinique from neighbouring islands.
- No objective has stirred explorers more than the search for the source of the Nile.
- But he was not stirred to battle because the English had killed his father, as claimed in Braveheart.
- Matthews says his college tour is meant to stir young people who may be apathetic toward politics.
- The boy stirs her and her family, especially after she becomes convinced that the boy is really the reincarnation of her true love.
- One reason people were so stirred by her passing was because she had experienced so many of the tumults of the twentieth century.
- He sifts through the topics that stirred readers and made headlines last year in our much-read letters columns…
- Nothing ever stirred these people to the point when they rose from their chairs and clapped.
- Founders proudly propagated the ‘One Zambia One Nation’ slogan that stirred the people to move on strongly and united.
- In their exploration, they stirred the people of the world to feel as one; in their sacrifice, they bind more tightly the brotherhood of man.
- I'm sure that he will also be stirring his players by reminding them that their supposed role in the last-day drama is to lie down and let the big boys run over them.
- If you are saying things that stir people, they will respond.
- If you stir an audience, move them and inspire them, that shifts them to feel warm with each other and share a sense of community.
- The move is stirring up critics who say that the company is simply out to extend its patent life with such a targeted approval - a charge NitroMed denies.
- ‘What attracts me to flamenco, is something to do with your soul, your makeup, what stirs you,’ she explains.
- All I know is that you should write the music that you love and that you believe in, that stirs you and excites you.
- Of course I was incapable of understanding much of it at the age of seven, but I soon discovered that adults were stirred by the words.
Synonyms arouse, rouse, kindle, inspire, stimulate, excite, awaken, waken, quicken, animate, activate, galvanize, fire, electrify, whet - 3.1 Arouse or prompt (a feeling or memory) or inspire (the imagination)
the story stirred many memories of my childhood the rumors had stirred up his anger Example sentencesExamples - I owe her, and her husband Paul, my entire subsequent career and memories of them stir great affection.
- Setting the heather on fire usually means stirring up a bit of excitement.
- The memories stirred up by these compositions are very purposeful, if only half-formed.
- Today, if a story has potential to stir resentment among large numbers of people, it is seized like gold by the talk shows.
- WWII is recent enough in our national memory that interpretations still stir strong emotions.
- It had been a long day, and the FBI meetings in Perryton had stirred up unwelcome memories.
- Two star-crossed medieval lovers, Abelard and Heloise, are again stirring passions in France as a literary controversy rages nearly 900 years after their affair.
- This unconscionable scandal must kindle the moral imagination and stir the conscience of the American public.
- Here in the wilds of Scotland, there were also incidents of note, though none would stir fond memories of Corinthian spirit.
- They hoped this act would stir a feeling, prompting the practitioners to serve in modesty to make up for the inadequate medical technology they had.
- He'll be at Casa del Popolo this Monday, Nov 4, stirring up more attention for the Michigan-based publication.
- It is the artist who uses technique not as an end but as a means to the end of communicating an idea, challenging paradigms, stirring emotions or inspiring the spirit.
- For those creating an enterprise storage solution, just the word stirs great emotion.
- To many people these days, photographs in black-and-white bring a sense of nostalgia, and stir memories of bygone times.
- Stubborn, emotional and romantic, the old man stirs the feelings of the reader with his crazy love.
- The comment stirred up memories of Barb's sister who died of skin cancer two years ago.
- April is the cruellest month, stirring memory and desire.
- It comes most vividly to life when the chorus is aroused as, for example, when the ladies are stirred to anger by the antics of the strutting Lieutenant Zuniga.
- As it stirs our emotions with memories, it also makes possible the construction of a never-to-be forgotten narrative sequence.
- But that very beauty, far from filling him with joy, stirred up memories of the Paradise he had lost.
nounstərstər 1A slight physical movement. I stood, straining eyes and ears for the faintest stir Example sentencesExamples - My feet landed without the slightest stir of dust, or typical crunch of moving dirt and rocks.
- The ball passing became more fluent and aggressive and caused a stir in the Pioneers' defense area.
- It was then that Ardon felt an odd stir of movement beneath him.
- There was a stir of motion from the corner of her room.
- 1.1 An initial sign of a specified feeling.
Caroline felt a stir of anger deep within her breast Example sentencesExamples - He had seen that stare directed at errant Constables and felt a stir of pity for her.
- He also felt a stir of sympathy and stepped on it hard.
- She did not feel even the slightest stir of love for him.
- Despite the stir of pro-Clippers feelings in Los Angeles, he is not very positive about his future with the team.
- As he expounded the philosophy of enterprise and free-market wealth creation, there was a stir of interest in the public gallery.
- This time, however, his emotions created a stir in him.
- The finds created a stir of interest in the isolated fishing community.
- The moment I felt a stir of excitement was when I saw the wires and beams of the bridge.
- For the first time since they'd arrived in Sanjia, she felt a stir of pity for this young woman who was only a few months older than herself.
2A commotion. the event caused quite a stir Example sentencesExamples - There was no hope of blending in; they caused a stir, especially among the teachers, when her father turned up occasionally for the school run.
- The Halifax created a stir last year when it started offering 4% interest on its current accounts.
- The write up on the state of the Barnhill Pitch & Putt Course last week has attracted a great stir in the community.
- Quite why this should cause such a stir I don't know.
- He is currently preparing for the upcoming Community Games finals but has created a stir recently when he competed in a 400m event.
- You cannot abandon it or sign up to it without causing a stir.
- This story is causing a bit of a stir, but it shouldn't.
- Seven budding entrepreneurs from Swindon are creating a stir with their Young Enterprise business.
- Probably neither name caused much stir from the leather armchairs in the New Club, where the city's grandees would once have counted the man in charge at North Bridge as one of their own.
- Stunning Bo caused a stir when she ran along the beach in slow motion wearing only a gold swimsuit and plaits in her hair.
- A new political party in New Zealand is hoping to cause a big stir at next year's election.
- A sign of undue coziness with power brokers in Washington, her comment should have caused a media stir, but no one noticed.
- Yet, it seems that it is popular enough to have created a stir in the physics department.
- Temptation Island caused a stir when Sky One first announced it had bought the rights, but although it has done well for the channel it has attracted very little tabloid attention since.
- The picture, submitted by a teacher of Japanese fencing and martial arts, has caused a stir.
- Its passionate music and folk-based melodies caused a stir at the turn of the century.
- It definitely served the purpose of creating awareness, but the whole exercise failed after the initial stir it created.
- Understandably, his disappearing act created a stir and there you feared for the old man.
- What happens in Congo does not cause the slightest stir in the boardrooms of London and New York.
- Under normal circumstances, such a meeting wouldn't create a stir.
Synonyms commotion, disturbance, fuss, ado, excitement, flurry, uproar, ferment, brouhaha, furore, turmoil, sensation 3An act of stirring food or drink. he gives his chocolate milk a stir Example sentencesExamples - Give it a quick stir, turn the heat down and leave to simmer, uncovered for 10 minutes.
- Give the chocolate mixture a stir, then spoon into the moulds.
- After the butter had melted Aunty Jenni gave the mixture a really good stir and some strange dark brown shapes rose to the surface from the depths.
- This refers to the process of pouring the ingredients into the glass on top of each other and giving it a slight stir.
- He gave the pot one final stir before turning around so he could properly talk to her.
Phrases dated, informal often in imperative(of a person) begin to move or act. Example sentencesExamples - Speaking as a Cornishman, I found it a little off-putting that when I decided to stir my stumps and ‘do’ the Cornwall Coastal Footpath that all the guidebooks were written backwards from my perspective.
- But if you can stir your stumps, avoid the trippery town of Paphos, except for the Roman Villa of the mosaics, and go up to the Vineyards of the Troodos.
- However, our duties calling us imperatively, we weren't able to stay another night, and because the gate at the entrance to the Sanctuary is closed from 6.30 pm till 6 o'clock in the morning, we had to stir our stumps pretty briskly.
- Things are never dull when she stirs her stumps to create a mild uproar in that pompous little town.
- I really must stir my stumps and start advertising, there must be more people on the Peninsula who like to knit and natter.
- ‘Too few of us are willing to stir our stumps to be active citizens to work at least for a better society,’ he told the Sydney Ideas audience.
- Sitting with a beer at the garden table has its merits but we will soon be cold and wet if we don't stir our stumps.
- Unfortunately, this is one disadvantage to being published by a small press - you pretty much have to stir your stumps and do your own promotion.
- Do you think you could stop admiring your manicure, stir your stumps and do it before your mistress comes downstairs for breakfast?
- Here, you Matthews, look for sharp and stir your stumps a bit - one would think you were walking in your sleep.
Synonyms be quick, look smart, hurry up, speed up
Make someone excited or enthusiastic. Example sentencesExamples - There cannot, however, be much in that to stir the blood or to satisfy the passion for the chase.
- There was little between two great teams, but Waterford were the sharper, the more determined and, in the end, sharpness and determination allied to a brand of hurling that still stirs the blood and excites the memory carried that day.
- There is so much in the next 11 months to stir the blood.
- If the capital wasn't exactly awash with tartan as it might have been in the days when international matches stirred the blood, there was about the place a degree of optimism, a sense that this at least amounted to the arrival of a new dawn.
- The Olympics as a concept, as a package, doesn't stir my blood, and I don't greatly care as such whether Australians win things or not.
- He is hardly the kind of leader that stirs the blood.
- Before anyone got wet, there would be the ritual war cry, just to stir the blood and summon up the spirits of champions past.
- Which is the shrewdest motivational trick of all for a national team manager to employ, because at the top level it is not money or patriotism which stirs the blood of footballers, but the prospect of self-improvement.
- Do we not deserve a flag that stirs the blood and sparks starry-eyed pride in the way that the Star-Spangled Banner does for Americans?
- Granted this isn't one of those fixtures that stirs the blood and quickens the pulse.
Phrasal Verbs Cause or provoke trouble or bad feeling. he accused me of trying to stir up trouble Example sentencesExamples - On this occasion I am bound to suspect that his quoted views have been obtained by a reporter intent on stirring up controversy by approaching him for his views on a film which he has clearly not seen.
- "They have been stirring up chaos in Hong Kong and at the same time they want to change the mainland's political system.
- We both laughed nervously and he told me that he had heard that some Asian youths in Leeds had been stirring things up by deliberately leaving rucksacks on buses.
- A brewery is stirring up a touch of controversy in the Yorkshire Dales - with an advertising campaign declaring that ‘drinking is folly’.
- The far-right ideologue's appearance here is already stirring up a hornet's nest of opposition.
- When the film was screened at the Venice film festival, there were a few boos from the audience, but he is happy his work is stirring up a reaction.
- As host of a daily phone-in show, he has extensive experience at stirring up arguments among the famously reserved and tolerant populace of Northern Ireland.
- But already it seems he is stirring up the kind of controversy which will be very familiar to those who have watched his career from Britain.
- He was released in 1999 under the Good Friday Agreement, only to be taken back to jail in August 2000 for allegedly stirring up rivalries among loyalists.
- Education Secretary Ruth Kelly is stirring up opposition from teaching unions after putting a localised pay structure for teachers back on the agenda.
Synonyms whip up, work up, foment, fan the flames of, trigger, spark off, excite, provoke, instigate, incite
Origin Old English styrian, of Germanic origin; related to German stören ‘disturb’. nounstərstər informal Prison. I've spent twenty-eight years in stir Example sentencesExamples - He says that others involved with the site will continue to update it while he's in stir, where, he says, he plans to spend his time studying.
- That's right; something as innocent as playing computer chess on your laptop in a hotel lobby is now a crime with penalties of up to three months in stir and a fine of 10,000 euros.
- He later retained an attorney, and after seven months in stir was released on bail with his pre-trial release restrictions tightened further.
- One way or another, he was going to get some payback for his time in stir.
- He plays the most infamous hacker in the history of computer espionage, who has done time in stir and now wants to go straight.
- In stir, he dreamed about his boxing career, how he was going to train and go straight and turn his life around.
- Well, at least the person who did such a miserable job ended up in stir for defrauding another customer.
- People have done hard time in stir for a good deal less, but of course they didn't own e-tail outfits.
Origin Mid 19th century: perhaps from Romany sturbin ‘jail’. |