stoke
pronunciation
How to pronounce stoke in British English:
UK [stəʊk]
How to pronounce stoke in American English:
US [stoʊk]
-
- Verb:
- stir up or tend; of a fire
Word Origin
- stoke
- stoke: [17] Stoke is a back-formation from stoker [17], which was borrowed from Dutch stoker. This in turn was derived from the verb stoken ‘put fuel into a furnace’, a descendant of Middle Dutch stoken ‘push, poke’. And stoken came from a prehistoric Germanic base *stok-, a variant of *stik-, *stek- ‘pierce, prick’, from which English gets stick, stitch, etc. So the etymological meaning underlying stoke is of ‘thrusting’ fuel into a fire like a sharp instrument being pushed into something.=> stick, stitch
- stoke (v.)
- 1680s, "to feed and stir up a fire in a fireplace or furnace," back-formation from stoker (1650s); ultimately from Dutch stoken "to stoke," from Middle Dutch stoken "to poke, thrust," related to stoc "stick, stump," from Proto-Germanic *stok- "pierce, prick," from PIE *steug-, extended form of root *(s)teu- (1) "to push, stick, knock, beat" (see stick (v.)). Meaning "to stir up, rouse" (feelings, etc.) is from 1837. Stoked "enthusiastic" recorded in surfer slang by 1963, but the extension of the word to persons is older, originally "to eat, to feed oneself up" (1882). Having "stoked up," as the men called it, the brigades paraded at 10.30 a.m., ready for the next stage of the march. ["Cassell's History of the Boer War," 1901]
Example
- 1. They 've had draws with basel and stoke city .
- 2. A battling performance by the stoke captain .
- 3. Of course this does nothing but stoke a low-level sense of anxiety and frustration about ourselves and our circumstances .
- 4. Stoke and hull have declared their interest in owen but allardyce is not likely to be joining the queue .
- 5. And the arsenal manager may have just hit on one . What we must do is fast-track stoke city .