stew in one's juice


1 [stoo, styoo]
verb (used with object)
to cook (food) by simmering or slow boiling.
verb (used without object)
to undergo cooking by simmering or slow boiling.
Informal. to fret, worry, or fuss: He stewed about his chaotic state of affairs all day.
to feel uncomfortable due to a hot, humid, stuffy atmosphere, as in a closed room; swelter.
a preparation of meat, fish, or other food cooked by stewing, especially a mixture of meat and vegetables.
Informal. a state of agitation, uneasiness, or worry.
a brothel; whorehouse.
stews, a neighborhood occupied chiefly by brothels.
Obsolete. a vessel for boiling or stewing.
stew in one's own juice, to suffer the consequences of one's own actions.

1350–1400; Middle English stewen, stuwen to take a sweat bath < Middle French estuver, verbal derivative of estuve sweat room of a bath; see stove1

stewable, adjective

1. See boil1. 5. ragout. Unabridged
Cite This Source Link To stew in one's juice
World English Dictionary
stew1 (stjuː)
1.  a.  a dish of meat, fish, or other food, cooked by stewing
 b.  (as modifier): stew pot
2.  informal a difficult or worrying situation or a troubled state (esp in the phrase in a stew)
3.  a heterogeneous mixture: a stew of people of every race
4.  archaic (usually plural) a brothel
5.  obsolete a public room for hot steam baths
6.  to cook or cause to cook by long slow simmering
7.  informal (intr) to be troubled or agitated
8.  informal (intr) to be oppressed with heat or crowding
9.  to cause (tea) to become bitter or (of tea) to become bitter through infusing for too long
10.  stew in one's own juice to suffer unaided the consequences of one's actions
[C14 stuen to take a very hot bath, from Old French estuver, from Vulgar Latin extūfāre (unattested), from ex-1 + (unattested) tūfus vapour, from Greek tuphos]

stew2 (stjuː)
1.  a fishpond or fishtank
2.  an artificial oyster bed
[C14: from Old French estui, from estoier to shut up, confine, ultimately from Latin studiumstudy]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
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Word Origin & History

c.1400, "to bathe in a steam bath," from O.Fr. estuver (Fr. étuver) "bathe, stew," of uncertain origin. Common Romanic (cf. Sp. estufar, It. stufare), possibly from V.L. *extufare "evaporate," from ex- "out" + *tufus "vapor, steam," from Gk. typhos "smoke." Cf. O.E. stuf-bæþ "hot-air
bath;" see stove. Meaning "to boil slowly, to cook meat by simmering it in liquid" is attested from c.1420. The meaning "to be left to the consequences of one's actions" is from 1656, from fig. expression to stew in one's own juices. Slang stewed "drunk" first attested 1737.

c.1300, "vessel for cooking," from stew (v.). Later "heated room" (late 14c.). The noun meaning "stewed meat with vegetables" is first recorded 1756; Irish stew is attested from 1814. The obsolete slang meaning "brothel" (mid-14c., usually plural, stews) is from an earlier
sense of "public bath house," carried over from O.Fr. and reflecting the reputation of such houses.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Slang Dictionary

stew definition

  1. n.
    a drinking bout. : These frequent stews must stop. You will ruin your health.
  2. n.
    a drunkard. : There are three stews sleeping in the alley.

  3. Go to stewed (up). :
  4. n.
    a stewardess or steward on an airplane. (Although officially replaced by flight attendat, this term and steward(ess) are still in use.) : My sister is a stew for a major airline.
  5. in.
    to fret. : I spent most of last night stewing about my job.
  6. n.
    a fretful state. : Don't work yourself into a stew.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw-Hill Education.
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