S T I 
S T I 
STILPO, a Grecian philosopher, who was a native of 
Megara, flourished in the third and fourth centuries, B. C., 
and is said to have died after the year 294 B. C. He is con¬ 
sidered as belonging to the Megaric sect, and to have been 
a disciple of one of the successors of Euclid of Megara. 
When Ptolemy Soter captured Megara, he presented Stilpo 
with a large sum of money, and invited him to his court; 
but the philosopher returned the greater part of the present, 
and chose to retire during Ptolemy’s stay at Megara to the 
island of Gsgina. When Demetrius, son of Antigonus, took 
Megara, the soldiers were ordered to spare the house of Stilpo, 
and to return any thing that might have been precipitately 
taken from him. The philosopher being required to give 
an account of those effects which he had lost, replied “ that 
he had lost nothing; for no one could take from him his 
learning and eloquence.” To the conqueror he recommended 
himself by the pathetic manner in which he inculcated upon 
him the exercise of humanity. So great indeed was his 
fame, that when he visited Athens, the people ran out of 
their shops to see him ; and even the most eminent philoso¬ 
phers of Athens took pleasure in attending upon his dis¬ 
courses. On moral topics, Stilpo is said to have taught, 
that the highest felicity consists in a mind free from the do¬ 
minion of passion, a doctrine similar to that of the Stoics. 
He lived to a great age, and is said to have hastened his 
final departure by a draught of wine. Diog. Laert. 
Bruclcer by Enfield, vol. i. 
To STILT, v. a. [ stylta , Su. Goth, to walk on stilts."] 
To raise on stilts; to make higher by stilts. 
This antic prelude of grotesque events. 
Where dwarfs are often stilted. Young. 
STILTON, a village and parish of England, in the 
county of Huntingdon, situated on the high north road, and 
chiefly noted for its excellent cheese, which received the 
name of Stilton from having been first sold here, though it is 
now mostly manufactured in certain districts in Leicestershire. 
About one mile north of Stilton is Norman Cross, where 
very extensive barracks and a prison were erected during 
the late wars, the latter of which was appropriated to pri¬ 
soners of war. The great Roman road to Ermine-street 
intersected this parish from north to south, between the two 
stations at Godmanchester called Durotrivce, and at Castor 
called Duro/iponte. In 1811, Stilton contained 107 houses 
and 663 inhabitants; 75 miles north of London. 
STILTS, s. [styltor , Swedish ; stelten, Dutch ; by some 
referred to the Sax. ftselcan, to stalk; but they belong more 
justly to the Icel. staula, Su. Goth, stylta, to take leisurely 
steps. It has been said, that stilts were anciently used for 
the scaling of castles, walls, &c.] Supports on which boys 
raise themselves when they walk.—Some could not be con¬ 
tent to walk upon the battlements, but they must put them¬ 
selves upon stilts. Howell. 
STI'MULANT, adj. [stimulans, Lat.] Stimulating.— 
The solution of copper in the nitrous acid is the most acrid 
and stimulant of any with which we are acquainted. Fal¬ 
coner. 
STI'MULANT, s. A stimulating medicine.— Stimu¬ 
lants produce pain, heat, redness. Chambers. 
To STIMULATE, v. a. [ stimulo, Lat.] To prick.—To 
prick forward; to excite by some pungent motive.—To ex¬ 
cite a quick sensation, with a derivation of blood towards 
the part.—Extreme cold stimulates, producing first a rigour, 
and then a glowing heat; those things which stimulate in 
the extreme degree excite pain. Arbuthnot, 
STIMULATION, s. [ stimulatio, Lat.] Excitement; 
pungency.—Some persons, from the secret stimulations of 
vanity or envy, despise a valuable book, and throw con¬ 
tempt upon it by wholesale. Watts. 
STI'MULATiVE, adj. Stimulating. Suppl. to Ash. 
STIMULATIVE, s. A provocative; excitement; that 
which stimulates. Malone. 
STI'MULATOR, s. One who stimulates. Scott. 
STINCHAR, a river of Scotland, in the county of Ayr, 
587 
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and district of Carrick, which, after flowing to the south¬ 
west 22 miles, falls into the sea at Balantrae. 
STINCHCOMBE, a parish of England, in Gloucester¬ 
shire; 2 miles west-by-north of Dursley. Population 371. 
To STING, ». a. pret stung, or stang; part. pass. 
stang, or stung, [j-fcinjan, Sax.; stungen, sore pricked, 
Icelandic.] To pierce or wound with a point darted out, 
as that of wasps. 
The snake, rolled in a flowery bank, 
With shining checker’d slough, doth sting a child 
That for the beauty thinks it excellent. Shakspeare. 
That snakes and vipers sting and transmit their mischief 
by the tail, is not easily to be justified, the poison lying 
about the teeth, and communicated by the bite. Brown. — 
To pain acutely. 
No more I wave 
To prove the hero.—Slander stings the brave. Pope. 
The stinging lash apply. Pope. 
STING, s. [jTinj, Sax.] A sharp point with which 
some insects are armed, and which is occasionally venom¬ 
ous. 
His rapier was a hornet’s sting. 
It was a very dangerous thing: 
For if he chanc’d to hurt the king. 
It would be long in healing. Drayton. 
Any thing that gives pain.—The Jews receiving this book 
originally with such sting in it, shews that the authority was 
high. Forbes. —The point in the last verse.—It is not the 
jerk or sting of an epigram, nor the seeming contradiction 
of a poor antithesis. Dry den. —Remorse of conscience.— 
The sting of conscience. Sherwood. 
STI'NGER, s. Whatever stings or vexes. Cotgrave, 
and Sherwood. Hence a sort of fly with a sting, vulgularly 
called a horse-sriw^er. 
STI'NGILY, a do. Covetously. 
STI'NGINESS, s. Avarice; covetousness; niggardli¬ 
ness.—Here our author, in pure good nature to make amends 
for his stinginess in the matter we last remarked, gives us 
three rules. Johnson. 
STI'NGLESS, adj. Having no sting. 
This merry jest you must excuse, 
You are but a stingless nettle. Old Ballad. 
STI'NGO, s. [from the sharpness of the taste.] Old 
beer. A cant word. It appears, however, to be old.— 
Returning with a large quart of mighty ale, that might com¬ 
pare with stingo, for it would cut a feather, they tossed the 
cannikin lovingly one to another. Comment, on Chaucer. 
•—Shall I set a cup of old stingo at your elbow ? Addison, 
STI'NGY, adj. [A corruption of the old word chi.nchy. 
“ The rich chinchy grede.” Chaucer, Rom. R. 6002. 
And so chinche: “ Chine he and feloun is richesse.” lb. 
5998. In both places meaning stingy, niggardly: so ehin¬ 
citer ic is used for covetousness, stinginess. See the Gloss, 
to Urry's Chaucer. The old Fr. chiche, miserable, nig¬ 
gardly, covetous, is considered as its origin; and Chaucer 
once uses chiche.] Covetous; niggardly; avaricious.—He 
relates it only by parcels, and wont give us the whole, 
which forces me to bespeak his friends to engage him to lay 
aside that stingy humour, and gratify the public at once. 
Arbuthnot. 
To STINK, v, n. pret. stunk or stank, [jrincan, Sax.; 
stincken, Dutch,] To emit an offensive smell, commonly 
a smell of putrefaction.—Most of smells want names; sweet 
and stinking serve our turn for these ideas, which is little 
more than to call them pleasing and displeasing. Locke. 
STINK, s. [j'tinc, Sax,] Offensive smell.—Those sti//ks 
which the nostrils straight abhor are not most pernicious, but 
such airs as have some similitude with man’s body, and so 
betray the spirits. Bacon. 
They share a sin ; and such proportions fall. 
That, like a stink, ’tis nothing to them all, 
Dryden, 
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