Meanings
plural stooks
- specificallyA group of six or eight sheaves of grain stacked to dry vertically in a rectangular arrangement at harvest time, largely obsolete since the advent of combine harvesters and powered grain driers (mid 20th century).
The wheat, tawny with ripeness, had been cut and stood in tented stooks about the fields, while a few ghostly poppies lingered at the edge of the path.
1958, Iris Murdoch, The Bell1 more example
And on the road home they lay among the stooks and maybe Ellison did this and that to make sure of getting her, he was fair desperate for any woman by then.
1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 16 - obsoleteslangA handkerchief.
Loud was the laughter at this and other remarks about nailing "stooks" (silk pocket handkerchiefs), "clouts" (cotton ditto), german sausages, &c.
1866, Temple Bar, volume 16, page 507
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
- Proto-Indo-European*(s)tewg-“to pound, push, beat”
- Proto-Germanic*stūkaną“to be stiff, push”
- Old Saxon*stūkan
- Middle Low Germanstûken“to push, bump, compress”
- Middle Low Germanstûke“bundle of grain”
- Middle Englishstowk
- Englishstook
From Middle English stowk, stouke, stouc, from or cognate with Middle Low German stûke (“bundle of grain”), from Middle Low German stûken (“to push, bump, compress”), from Old Saxon *stūkan, from Proto-Germanic *stūkaną (“to be stiff, push”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)tewg- (“to pound, push, beat”). The modern vocalism is of Northern dialectal origin (for expected stuck; compare duck, puck, and suck). Cognate with West Frisian stûkje (“to pile up, stop”), Dutch stuiken (“to bundle, stamp”), German stauchen (“to compress”), Swedish stuka (“to rick, wrench, upset”), Norwegian Nynorsk stauka (“to whack, chop”).
More words from Middle English, Middle Low German, Old Saxon
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Czech panák
- panákgroup of sheaves
Finnish auma, nippu
- aumapile or bundle
- nippupile or bundle
- kuhilaspile or bundle
- aumatato make stooks
French meule, moyette
- meulepile or bundle
- moyettepile or bundle
- moyetterto make stooks
- gerberto make stooks
German Docke, docken
- Dockepile or bundle
- dockento make stooks
Greek θημωνιά
- θημωνιά (thimoniá)pile or bundle
Irish stuc
- stucpile or bundle
Italian covone, bica
- covonepile or bundle
- bicapile or bundle
- accovonareto make stooks
- abbicareto make stooks
Lithuanian guba
- gubapile or bundle
Russian копна́, скирда́
- копна́ (kopná)pile or bundle
- скирда́ (skirdá)pile or bundle
Scottish Gaelic adag
- adagpile or bundle
Spanish garbera, garbar
- garberapile or bundle
- garbarto make stooks
Welsh cocyn, stwc
- cocynpile or bundle
- stwcpile or bundle
- cogwrnpile or bundle
Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with stook
Anagrams
Cite this entry
stook. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stook
“stook.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stook. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “stook,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/stook.
Source: stook on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.