Stoke, verb. (common).—To eat: spec. (1) to eat without appetite; and (2) to wolf (q.v.).
1901. Troddles, 47. To my mind, Troddles stoked-up on bread-and-butter pudding to such an extent that I wondered how on earth he could . . . expect to . . . drag himself about . . . after it.
Stoll, verb. (North Country Cant).—1.
To understand (Hotten).
2. (common).—To tipple; to booze (q.v.). Stolled = drunk: see Screwed.
Stomach, subs. (old colloquial).—Generic
for disposition: e.g., (a)
spirit, compassion; (b) courage,
temper; and (c) pride. Hence a
proud stomach = a haughty
disposition; stomach-grief =
anger. As verb. = (1) to endure,
to encourage, (2) to resent, to disgust;
to stick in the stomach
= to remember with anger or
disgust; stomachful = (1) stubborn,
and (2) angry; stomachy
= proud, irritable.
1383. Chaucer, Cant. Tales, 'Friars Tale,' 143. Stomak ne conscience ne know I noon.
1553. Sir T. Wilson, Art of Rhetoric. Stomacke grief is when we wil take the matter as hot as a toste.
d. 1556. Udal [Ellis, Lit. Letters, 4]. Your excellente herte and noble stomake.
d. 1563. Bale, Select Works, 313 When he had stomached them by the Holy Ghost . . . He went forward with them . . . conquering in them the prince of this world.
1570. Ascham, Scholemaster, 123. Many learned men have written . . . with great contrarietie and some stomacke amongest them selues.
1582. Hakluyt, Voyages, ii. 23. King Richard, mooued in stomacke against King Philip, neuer shewed any gentle countenance of peace & amitie.
c. 1589. Greene, Alphonsus, iii. If that any stomach this my deed, Alphonsus can revenge my wrong with speed.
1596. Jonson, Every Man in Humour, iii. 2. O plague on them all for me!. . . O, I do stomach them hugely.
1601. Shakspeare, Hen. VIII., iv. 2, 34. He was a man of an unbounded stomach.
1608. Capt. John Smith, True Travels, I. 39. Swift, stomackfull . . . horse.
1641. Baker, Chronicles, 50. He was able to pull down the high Stomachs of the Prelates.
1677. Wycherley, Plain Dealer, iii. 1. If I had but any body to stand by me, I am as stomachfull as another.
d. 1704. Browne, Works, ii. 70. I have not had an opportunity till now, of telling you what sticks in my stomach.
1821. Scott, Pirate, xviii. Truths which are as unwelcome to a proud stomach as wet clover to a cow's.
1856. Motley, Dutch Repub., I. 76. The priests talk . . . of absolution in such terms that laymen can not stomach it.
1857. Dickens, Little Dorrit. He has a proud stomach, this chap.
1866. Howells, Venetian Life, vi. If you wipe your plate and glass carefully before using them, they need not stomach you.
Stomach-timber, subs. phr. (old).—Food:
cf. belly-timber.
1820. Coombe, Syntax, II. vii. As Prior tells, a clever poet. . . . The main strength of every member Depends upon the stomach timber.
Stomach-worm, subs. phr. (old).—Hunger:
'the stomach-worm
gnaws' = I am hungry (Grose)
Stone, subs. (vulgar).—In pl. = the
testes. Hence stone-horse =
a stallion (q.v.); stone-priest
= a lascivious cleric; stone
fruit = children. To take a
stone up in the ear (venery) =
to play the whore; two stone
under weight (or wanting) =
castrated.
1598. Florio, Worlde of Wordes, s.v. Coglioni, the stones or testicles of a man.
