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v. stewed, stew·ing, stews v.tr. To cook (food) by simmering or boiling slowly. v.intr. 1. To undergo cooking by boiling slowly or simmering. 2. Informal To suffer with oppressive heat or stuffy confinement; swelter. n. 1. a. A dish cooked by stewing, especially a mixture of meat or fish and vegetables with stock. b. A mixture likened to this dish. 2. Informal Mental agitation: in a stew over the lost keys. 3. often stews Archaic A brothel. [Middle English stewen, to bathe in a steam bath, stew, from Old French estuver, possibly from Vulgar Latin *extūpāre, *extūfāre, to bathe, evaporate : Latin ex-, ex- + Vulgar Latin *tūfus, hot vapor (from Greek tūphos, fever; see TYPHUS).] stewy adj. |
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