staddle

• stadle, stathel

From Middle English stathel, from Old English staþol (“foundation, base, support, position, site, estate”), from Proto-Germanic *staþulaz (“position, standing”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-, *sth₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with Middle Low German stadel (“barn”), German Stadel (“barn”), Old Danish stedel (“ground, croft”), Icelandic stöðull (“position”). More at stand.

• IPA^(key): /ˈstædəl/
• Rhymes: -ædəl

staddle (plural staddles)

1. (archaic) A prop or support; a staff, crutch.
2. The lower part or supporting frame of a stack, a stack-stand.
3. Any supporting framework or base.
4. A small tree; sapling.
5. (agriculture) One of the separate plots into which a cock of hay is shaken out for the purpose of drying.

staddle (third-person singular simple present staddles, present participle staddling, simple past and past participle staddled)

1. To form staddles of hay.
2. (forestry) To mark a sapling to be spared during a cut down of trees.

• staddle stone