stook

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   chiefly British: a group of sheaves of grain set upright together in a field to dry

   The cut barley stood in neat stooks across the field.

2. 2
   noun

   a compact pile, bundle, or cluster resembling stacked sheaves

   A stook of reeds leaned against the wall of the shed.

3. 3
   verb

   to arrange sheaves of grain in stooks

   The workers stooked the oats before the afternoon rain arrived.

From Middle English stowk and related northern forms, cognate with Middle Low German words for a bundle of grain and for pressing or compressing. The agricultural noun later supported a verb meaning 'to set sheaves upright in a drying stack.'

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