Dictionary

astir en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /əˈsteː/ Liverpool, fair–fur merger
• (Southern-England) audio
• /əˈstɝ/ (General-American)
• /əˈstɛː/ Humberside, Teesside, fair–fur merger
• /əˈstɪr/ (Scotland)
• /əˈstɜː/ (Australia, Received-Pronunciation)
• /əˈstɜː(ɹ)/ Lancashire, fair–fur merger
• /əˈstøː/ (New-Zealand)

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *né Proto-Indo-European *n̥- Proto-Hellenic *ə- Ancient Greek ἀ- (a-)der. English a- Proto-Indo-European *(s)twerH- Proto-Indo-European *(s)twr̥H-yé-ti? Proto-Germanic *sturjaną Proto-West Germanic *sturjan Old English styrian Middle English stiren English stir English astir From a- + stir.

Meanings

1. In motion; characterized by motion.
   • For in quick spring the sap is all astir. 1863, Christina Rossetti, “L. E. L.”, in Poems, Boston: Roberts Brothers, published 1866, page 205:
   • Wilson, who was acting as cook, was up and astir at his duties in the cook-house. 1918, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 7, in The Land That Time Forgot, New York: Del Rey, published 1992, page 103:
   • 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. 1979, William Styron, chapter 11, in Sophie’s Choice, New York: Random House, page 332:
   • Her book has perhaps been a good one; it has refreshed, refilled, rewarmed her heart; it has set her brain astir, furnished her mind with pictures. 1849, Currer Bell [pseudonym; Charlotte Brontë], “Two Lives”, in Shirley. A Tale. […], volume II, London: Smith, Elder and Co., […], →OCLC, page 265:
   • 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, 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:
2. Out of bed; up and about.
   • ‘It is early to be astir this Sabbath morn,’ he said cheerfully. 1891, Thomas Hardy, chapter XII, in Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volume I, London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC, phase the second (Maiden No More), page 154:
   • Ezinma was still sleeping when everyone else was astir, 1958 June 17, Chinua Achebe, chapter 12, in Things Fall Apart, New York, N.Y.: Astor-Honor, published 1959, →OCLC, part 1, page 115:
   • 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; 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, pages 104-105:

Forms

Synonyms

under sail · dynamic · cursory · moving · afoot · mobile · astir · in motion · unstill · on the move · mobile · animate · dynamic · on the wing