astir

astir

English

Etymology

a- +‎ stir

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /əˈstɜː(ɹ)/

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• Rhymes: -ɜː(ɹ)

Adjective

astir (comparative more astir, superlative most astir)

1. In motion; characterized by motion.
   • 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], chapter 11, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], OCLC 84390265:

     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, 1866, p. 205,

     For in quick spring the sap is all astir.

   • 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Land That Time Forgot, New York: Del Rey, 1992, Chapter 7, p. 103,

     Wilson, who was acting as cook, was up and astir at his duties in the cook-house.

   • 1928, Virginia Woolf, chapter 2, in Orlando: A Biography, London: The Hogarth Press, OCLC 154641284; 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, Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, Chapter 11, p. 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.

2. Out of bed; up and about.
   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, OCLC 558196156, page 104-105:

     I had but a broken sleep the night before, in anticipation of the pleasure of a whole day with Em’ly. We were all astir betimes in the morning;

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter 12, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], OCLC 13623666, phase the, page 154:

     ‘It is early to be astir this Sabbath morn,’ he said cheerfully.

   • 1958, Chinua Achebe, Things Fall Apart, New York: Astor-Honor, Part 1, Chapter 12, p. 115,

     Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir,

Anagrams

• ISTAR, Ritsa, Sarti, Sitar, Stair, Trias, airts, arist, sitar, stair, stria, tarsi, tiars, tisar