Part 716

Stack (?), a. [Icel. stakkr; akin to Sw. stack, Dan. stak. Sf. Stake.] 1. A large pile of hay, grain, straw, or the like, usually of a nearly conical form, but sometimes rectangular or oblong, contracted at the top to a point or ridge, and sometimes covered with thatch.

But corn was housed, and beans were in the stack.

Cowper.

2. A pile of poles or wood, indefinite in quantity.

Against every pillar was a stack of billets above a man's height.

Bacon.

3. A pile of wood containing 108 cubic feet. [Eng.]

4. (Arch.) (a) A number of flues embodied in one structure, rising above the roof. Hence: (b) Any single insulated and prominent structure, or upright pipe, which affords a conduit for smoke; as, the brick smokestack of a factory; the smokestack of a steam vessel.

Stack of arms (Mil.), a number of muskets or rifles set up together, with the bayonets crossing one another, forming a sort of conical self-supporting pile.

Stack, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stacked (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Stacking.] [Cf. Sw. stacka, Dan. stakke. See Stack, n.] To lay in a conical or other pile; to make into a large pile; as, to stack hay, cornstalks, or grain; to stack or place wood.

To stack arms (Mil.), to set up a number of muskets or rifles together, with the bayonets crossing one another, and forming a sort of conical pile.

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Stack"age (?), n. 1. Hay, gray, or the like, in stacks; things stacked. [R.]

2. A tax on things stacked. [R.] Holinshed.

Stack"et (?), n. [Cf. F. estacade and E. stockade.] (Mil.) A stockade. [Scot.] Sir W. Scott.

Stack"-guard` (?), n. A covering or protection, as a canvas, for a stack.

Stack"ing, a. & n. from Stack.

Stacking band, Stacking belt, a band or rope used in binding thatch or straw upon a stack. -- Stacking stage, a stage used in building stacks.

Stack"stand` (?), n. A staging for supporting a stack of hay or grain; a rickstand.

Stack"yard` (?), n. A yard or inclosure for stacks of hay or grain. A. Smith.

Stac"te (?), n. [L., fr. Gr. &?;, strictly fem. of &?; cozing out in drops, fr. &?; to drop.] One of the sweet spices used by the ancient Jews in the preparation of incense. It was perhaps an oil or other form of myrrh or cinnamon, or a kind of storax. Ex. xxx. 34.

Stad"dle (?), n. [AS. staðol, sraðul, a foundation, firm seat; akin to E. stand. &radic;163. See Stand, v. i.] [Formerly written stadle.] 1. Anything which serves for support; a staff; a prop; a crutch; a cane.

His weak steps governing And aged limbs on cypress stadle stout.

Spenser.

2. The frame of a stack of hay or grain. [Eng.]

3. A row of dried or drying hay, etc. [Eng.]

4. A small tree of any kind, especially a forest tree.

In America, trees are called staddles from the time that they are three or four years old till they are six or eight inches in diameter, or more. This is also the sense in which the word is used by Bacon and Tusser.