throw an ant into a sty
To cause confusion.
sty
/staɪ/
noun 4verb 3
Collocations
4ADJ.
sensual
VERB + STY
like, seeled
STY + NOUN
stye
PREP.
in, in, up
Definitions
noun
1
A pen or enclosure for swine.
2
A messy, dirty or debauched place.
To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.
verb
1
To place in, or as if in, a sty.
and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o' the island
2
To live in a sty, or any messy or dirty place.
verb
1
To ascend, rise up, climb.
The beast impatient of his smarting wound, / And of so fierce and forcible despight, / Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground [...].
From this lower tract he dared to stie up to the clowdes.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
noun — a pen for swine
- pigsty
- pigpen
noun — an infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid
- stye
- hordeolum
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
601
To roll with pleasure in a sensual sty.
Wiktionary02
and here you sty me In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me The rest o' the island
Wiktionary03
The beast impatient of his smarting wound, / And of so fierce and forcible despight, / Thought with his wings to stye aboue the ground [...].
Wiktionary04
From this lower tract he dared to stie up to the clowdes.
Wiktionary05
Led along, as some Creatures are, by the Noses, and voluntarily hood-winked; or like seeled Doves, sty up, you know not whither, nor how far.
Wiktionary06
There's a pig in the sty.
Tatoeba · #1987232Usage Notes
i Register
In some senses, sty is marked as figuratively, obsolete, British. Watch for register when choosing this word.
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