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astir. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
astir, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
astir in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
a- + stir
Pronunciation
Adjective
astir (comparative more astir, superlative most astir)
- In motion; characterized by motion.
1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 11, in Shirley. A Tale. , volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., , →OCLC:Her book has perhaps been a good one; it has refreshed, refilled, rewarmed her heart; it has set her brain astir.
1863, Christina Rossetti, “L. E. L.”, in Poems, Boston: Roberts Brothers, published 1866, page 205:For in quick spring the sap is all astir.
1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, →OCLC; republished as Orlando: A Biography (eBook no. 0200331h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, July 2015:Soon, the whole town would be astir with the cracking of whips, the beating of gongs, cryings to prayer, lashing of mules, and rattle of brass-bound wheels,
1979, William Styron, chapter 11, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, page 332:Outside, the evening woods stood in quietude and the vast patches like maps of color were captured motionless, no leaf astir, in the light of the setting sun.
- Out of bed; up and about.
1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented , volume I, London: James R Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., , →OCLC, phase the second (Maiden No More), page 154:‘It is early to be astir this Sabbath morn,’ he said cheerfully.
Anagrams
- ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, Sitar, Stair, Trias, airts, arist, sitar, stair, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar