• (RP) IPA: /stɜː/
• (America) IPA: /stɝ/

From Middle English stiren, sturien, steren, from Old English styrian, from Proto-Germanic *sturiz, related to Proto-West Germanic *staurijan.

stir (stirs, present participle stirring; simple past and past participle stirred)

1. (transitive) To disturb the relative position of the particles of (a liquid or similar) by passing an object through it.

   Synonyms: agitate

   She stirred the pudding with a spoon.

   He stirred his coffee so the sugar wouldn't stay at the bottom.

2. (transitive) To disturb the content of (a container) by passing an object through it.

   Would you please stir this pot so that the chocolate doesn't burn?

3. (transitive) To emotionally affect; to touch, to move.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC ↗, Canto XLI, page 64 ↗:

     And what delights can equal those
     ⁠That stir the spirit’s inner deeps,
     ⁠When one that loves but knows not, reaps
     A truth from one that loves and knows?

4. (transitive) To incite to action.

   Synonyms: arouse, instigate, prompt, excite, Thesaurus:incite

5. (transitive) To bring into debate; to agitate.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To disturb, to disrupt.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC ↗; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene i ↗:

     They ſay he is the King of Perſea.
     But if he dare attempt to ſtir your ſiege,
     Twere requiſite he ſhould be ten times more,
     For all fleſh quakes at your magnificence.

7. (transitive, dated) To change the place of in any manner; to move.
8. (intransitive) To begin to move, especially gently, from a still or unmoving position.
9. (intransitive) Of a feeling or emotion: to rise, begin to be felt.
10. (intransitive) To be in motion; to be active or bustling; to exert or busy oneself.
11. (intransitive) To rise from sleep or unconsciousness.

    Synonyms: arise, get up, rouse, Thesaurus:wake

    • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter IV, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC ↗:

      “Mid-Lent, and the Enemy grins,” remarked Selwyn as he started for church with Nina and the children. Austin, knee-deep in a dozen Sunday supplements, refused to stir; poor little Eileen was now convalescent from grippe, but still unsteady on her legs; her maid had taken the grippe, and now moaned all day: “Mon dieu! Mon dieu! Che fais mourir!”

• French: remuer
• German: rühren
• Italian: mescolare
• Portuguese: mexer
• Russian: разме́шивать
• Spanish: revolver, bullir, mesclar

• French: remuer, touiller
• German: umrühren
• Italian: agitare
• Portuguese: mexer, agitar
• Spanish: remover, revolver, mezclar

• German: anstacheln
• Portuguese: mexer
• Russian: вызыва́ть
• Spanish: revolver, agitar, arrebatar

• German: hervorrufen
• Portuguese: agitar, incitar
• Russian: вызыва́ть

• French: bouger
• German: (sich) bewegen
• Italian: muovere
• Portuguese: mover, mexer
• Russian: дви́гать
• Russian: дви́гаться

• French: agiter
• German: (sich) regen
• Russian: дви́гаться

stir

1. The act or result of stirring (moving around the particles of a liquid etc.)

   Can you give the soup a little stir?

2. agitation; tumult; bustle; noise or various movements.
   • 1668, John Denham (poet), Of Prudence (poem).

     Why all these words, this clamour, and this stir?

   • 1693, [John Locke], “§107”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC ↗:

     Consider, after so much stir about genus and species, how few words we have yet settled definitions of.

3. Public disturbance or commotion; tumultuous disorder; seditious uproar.
   • 1612, Sir John Davies, Discoverie of the True Causes why Ireland was never entirely subdued:

     Being advertised of some stirs raised by his unnatural sons in England.

4. Agitation of thoughts; conflicting passions.

• German: Erregung
• Russian: неразбери́ха

• German: Aufruhr
• Russian: волнение

• French: tumulte
• German: Erregung
• Russian: смяте́ние

From Romany stariben, nominalisation of (a)star, causative of ast, probably from Sanskrit आतिष्ठति, from तिष्ठति.

stir

1. (slang) Jail; prison.

   He's going to be spending maybe ten years in stir.

   • 1920, Mary Roberts Rinehart, Avery Hopwood, chapter I, in The Bat: A Novel from the Play (Dell Book; 241), New York, N.Y.: Dell Publishing Company, →OCLC ↗, [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwptej;view=1up;seq=5 page 01]:

     The Bat—they called him the Bat. […]. He'd never been in stir, the bulls had never mugged him, he didn't run with a mob, he played a lone hand, and fenced his stuff so that even the fence couldn't swear he knew his face.

stir (plural stirs)

1. (finance) Acronym of short-term interest rate often referring to a short-term interest rate future or option.