c. 1520. Mayd Emlyn [Hazlitt, Pop. Poet., iv. 96]. And bycause she loued rydynge, At the stewes was her abydynge.
d. 1529. Skelton, Bowge of Courte, 400. Now renne muste I to the stewys syde, To wete yf Malkyn, my lemman, haue gete oughte: I let her to hyre, that men may on her ryde.
1530. Palsgrave, Lang. Francoyse, s.v. Stewes, a place for commen women, bordeau.
1535. Bible [Coverdale], Ezek. xvi. 39. [They] shal breake downe thy stewes, and destroy thy brodel houses.
1546. Proclamation [MSS. note by R. Smith quoted by Hearne, Diary, Oct. 12, 1713]. These abhominable stew-*houses were kept in Southwark . . . being whited houses, painted with signes to know them. These bawdy houses were tollerated, and had lawes and orders made for the stew-holders to observe.
1550. Crowley, Epigrams. The bawds of the stews be turned al out; But some think they inhabit al England throughout.
1564. Udal, Apoph. Eras. O Aristippus thou art a greate medler with this woman, beyng a stewed strumpette.
1566. Still, Gammer Gurton's Needle [Dodsley, Old Plays (Hazlitt), iii. 217]. Where is the strong stewed whore?
1573. Baret, Alvearie. The stewes, or place without the wals of the citie where bawderie was kept.
1578. Whetstone, Promos and Cass, 1. iv. 3. And shall Cassandra now be termed, in common speeche, a stewes.
1596. Jonson, Every Man in Humour, ii. 1. And here, as in a tavern, or a stewes, He and his wild associates spend their hours.
1597. Shakspeare, Rich. II., v. 3, 16. He would unto the stews, And from the common'st creature pluck a glove and wear it as a favour. Ibid. (1598), 2 Hen. IV., i. 2. An I could get me but a wife in the stews.
1599. Hall, Satires, i. 9. Rhymed in rules of stewish ribaldry.
1621. Burton, Anat. Melan., I. 11. ii. 4. A . . . Priest that, because he would neither willingly marry, nor make use of the stews, fell into grievous melancholy. Ibid., III. 11. i. 2. In Italy and Spain they have their stews in every great city.
1633. Heywood, Eng. Trav. i. 2. His modest house Turn'd to a common stewes.
[?]. Bishop, Marrow of Astrology, 57. Venus denotes in houses, all places belonging to women, as garnished beds, stews.
1650. Sir A. Weldon, Court James I., 146. Instead of that beauty he had a notorious stew sent to him.
1683. England's Vanity, 55. You may find them, as Solomon sayes, not in the corner of the streets onely, but thick in the very midst of them, and turning the whole city into a stews.
d. 1704. Brown, Works, ii. 107. What Montaigne said formerly of the women, I now say of the priests . . . they send their conscience to the stews, and keep their countenance within rule.
1733. Pope, Imit. Horace, 1. vi. 130. And shall we every decency confound? Through taverns, stews, and bagnios take our round?
3. (colloquial).—Worry; fuss; mental disturbance.
1837. Barham, Ingolds. Leg., 'M. of Venice.' And Antonio grew, In a deuce of a stew For he could not cash up, spite of all he could do. Ibid., i. 104. And he, though naturally bold and stout, In short, was in a most tremendous stew.
1838. Beckett, Paradise Lost, 62. Now Adam, in a plaguey stew, Cried 'Zounds and blood, what must we do?'
Verb. (Stonyhurst College).—To study: hence stew-pot = a hard-working student.
To stew (fry or melt) in one's own (or another's) juice (grease, fat, or gravy), verb. phr. (common).—To be left vindictively or resentfully alone.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 'Wife of Bath's Prol.' But certainly I made folk such chere, That in his own grees I made him frie.
1596. Shakspeare, Merry Wives, iii. 5. I was more than half-stewed in grease.
1774. Bridges, Burlesque Homer, 8. By Sol's hob hot beams so sore were pelted, That in our grease we're almost melted.
