still

comparative stiller · comparative more still · superlative stillest · superlative most still · alternative stil · alternative obsolete stille · alternative obsolete styll · alternative obsolete stylle

1. Not moving; calm.

   Still waters run deep.

   1 more example

   Sit there and stay still!

   Synonyms: fixed, stationary, unmoving, at rest, dull, impassive, inanimate, lifeless

2. Not effervescing; not sparkling.

   still water; still wines

   Synonyms: flat, uneffervescent, ineffervescent, noneffervescent, nonsparkling, uneffervescent, ungassy, unfizzy

3. Uttering no sound; silent.

   The sea that roared at thy command, / At thy command was still.

   c. 1711, Joseph Addison, How are thy Servants blest, O Lord!

   Synonyms: noiseless, soundless, dumb, silent, silential, mute, noiseless, soundless

4. not comparableHaving the same stated quality continuously from a past time

   To follow the still President’s marching orders, all that Secretary Ronnie Puno has to do is to follow the road map laid out by Justice Azcuna in his “separate” opinion.

   2007 January 3, Gerry Geronimo, “Unwanted weed starts to sprout from a wayward ponencia”, in Manila Standard, archived from the original on 19 Jul 2011

5. Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low.

   […] a still small voice.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, 1 Kings 19:12

   Synonyms: hushed, tranquil, faint, hushed, low, thin, muffled, piano

6. obsoleteConstant; continual.

   By still practice learn to know thy meaning.

   c. 1588–1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Lamentable Tragedy of Titus Andronicus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]

   1 more example

   […] A lifelong tract of time reveal’d; ⁠The fruitful hours of still increase; ⁠Days order’d in a wealthy peace, And those five years its richest field.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLV”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 68

   Synonyms: incessant, ongoing, unremitting, amaranthine, solid, ceaseless, constant, continual

7. datedbiologyDormant.

   a still spore

alternative stil · alternative obsolete stille · alternative obsolete styll · alternative obsolete stylle

1. not comparableWithout motion.

   They stood still until the guard was out of sight.

   Synonyms: akinetically, motionlessly, stock still, stockishly

2. not comparableaspectUp to a time, as in the preceding time.

   I’m still not wise enough to answer that.

   5 more examples

   Is it still raining? It was still raining five minutes ago.

   We’ve seen most of the sights, but we are still visiting the museum.

   It hath been anciently reported, and is still received.

   1627 (indicated as 1626), Francis [Bacon], “(please specify the page, or |century=I to X)”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], London: […] William Rawley […]; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], →OCLC

   Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.

   1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XV, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii

   Synonyms: yet

3. not comparabledegreeTo an even greater degree. Used to modify comparative adjectives or adverbs.

   Tom is tall; Dick is taller; Harry is still taller / Harry is taller still.

   1 more example

   The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed.

   1594, William Shakespeare, Lucrece (First Quarto), London: […] Richard Field, for Iohn Harrison, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms: yet, even

4. conjunctivenot comparableNevertheless.

   Yeah, but still...

   4 more examples

   I’m not hungry, but I’ll still manage to find room for dessert.

   She'd been here many times before, it was true. Still, she held out some hope.

   As sunshine, broken in the rill, / Though turned astray, is sunshine still.

   1817, Thomas Moore, Lalla Rookh […] , London: Longman […]

   Given the thorny intelligence of [J. C.] Chandor’s previous films (which also include Margin Call and A Most Violent Year), it's hard to believe that he thought it was a good idea to play Fleetwood Mac's "The Chain" over a sequence of Pope telling the others that he can't do this job without them, or to accompany shots of the men running through the jungle with Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Run Through The Jungle." (Okay, they're stealthily walking. But still.)

   2019 July 3, Mike D’Angelo, “Oscar Isaac and Ben Affleck Blunder through a Heavy Heist in J. C. Chandor’s Triple Frontier”, in The A.V. Club, archived from the original on 21 Nov 2019

   Synonyms: nonetheless

5. archaicnot comparablepoeticAlways; invariably; constantly; continuously.

   Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery; nothing else holds fashion.

   c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii], lines 201–202

   3 more examples

   [W]hereas many Chymiſts vvould be vaſtly rich, if they could ſtill do in great Quantities vvhat they have ſometimes done in little ones, many have undone themſelves by obſtinately attempting to make even real Experiments more gainful.

   1661, Robert Boyle, “[Two Essays, Concerning the Unsuccessfulness of Experiments, Containing Divers Admonitions and Observations (Chiefly Chymical) Touching that Subject.] The Second Essay, of Un-succeeding Experiments.”, in Certain Physiological Essays and Other Tracts; […], 2nd edition, London: […] Henry Herringman […], published 1669, →OCLC, page 78

   The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private.

   1712 January 1 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “FRIDAY, December 22, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 255; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC

   I vex my heart with fancies dim: ⁠He still outstript me in the race; ⁠It was but unity of place That made me dream I rank’d with him.

   1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLI”, in In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, page 64

   Synonyms: consistently

6. not comparableextensiveEven, yet.

   Some dogs howl; more yelp; still more bark.

   1 more example

   Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.

   2013 July-August, Sarah Glaz, “Ode to Prime Numbers”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4

7. alternativenot comparableAlternative spelling of styll.

   'Yeah yeah, I'm good still, Stace,' I said.

   2022, Moses McKenzie, An Olive Grove in Ends

   1 more example

   HALIL: I can't lie, I didn't expect it from you, man, still!

   2022 June 2, Gabrielle Wood, 16:17 from the start, in Teddy Nygh, director, PRU (1), episode 2 (TV), spoken by Halil (Jay Ersavas)

plural stills · alternative stil · alternative obsolete stille · alternative obsolete styll · alternative obsolete stylle

1. A period of calm or silence.

   the still of the night

   2 more examples

   Between the roar of the thunder and the blatter of the rain there were intervals of an astounding still, of an ominous suspense […]

   1901, Good Words, volume 42, page 7

   As the ground warms, to the first rays of light, / A birdsong shatters the still.

   1983 May, Adrian Smith, Bruce Dickinson, “Flight of Icarus”, in Piece of Mind, performed by Iron Maiden

   Synonyms: lull, rest, respite, quiet, tranquility

2. artsA photograph, as opposed to movie footage.
   1. artsA single frame from a film.

      1 more example

      One of his best stories was "Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life" (1914), of which there survives only an amusing still, showing poor Mabel Normand chained to the rails by two toughs, the moustached villain threatening her with a sledge-hammer, and an awful sense of that inexorably approaching express!

      1958 February 28, David Gunston, “Railways on the Screen”, in Railway Magazine, page 87

3. slangA resident of the Falkland Islands.

   Synonyms: Benny, Falklander, Kelper

plural stills

1. A device for distilling liquids.
2. cateringA large water boiler used to make tea and coffee.
3. cateringThe area in a restaurant used to make tea and coffee, separate from the main kitchen.
4. A building where liquors are distilled; a distillery.

present singular third person stills · participle present stilling · participle past stilled · past stilled

1. To calm down, to quiet.

   to still the raging sea

   4 more examples

   They likewise believed that he, having a full Sway and Command over the Water, had Power to still and compose it, as well as to move and disturb it […]

   1695, John Woodward, An essay toward a natural history of the earth and terrestrial bodies, especially minerals, page 139

   Is this the scourge of France? / Is this the Talbot, so much fear'd abroad / That with his name the mothers still their babes?

   c. 1591, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, part 1, act 2, scene 3

   […] withholding myself from toil that would, at least, have stilled an unquiet impulse in me.

   1850, Nathaniel Hawthorne, The Scarlet Letter

   Near the pond was the ducking-stool where many a village scold had her tongue temporarily stilled.

   1980, Robert Dougall, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 379

   Synonyms: becalm, lull, quell

present singular third person stills · participle present stilling · participle past stilled · past stilled

1. obsoleteTo trickle, drip.

   And if that any drop of slombring rest / Did chaunce to still into her wearie spright,

   1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book III, canto ii, paragraph xxix

2. To cause to fall by drops.
3. To expel spirit from by heat, or to evaporate and condense in a refrigeratory; to distill.

   The knowledge of stilling is one pretty feat, The waters be wholesome, the charges not great

   1557 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), Thomas Tusser, A Hundreth Good Pointes of Husbandrie, London: […] Richard Tottel, →OCLC; republished London: […] Robert Triphook, […], and William Sancho, […], 1810, →OCLC

1. A surname.