Stewe

Part of speech: noun, verb

Definitions

1. A hearty dish of meat and vegetables gently simmered in liquid until tender ; to cook food slowly in a covered pot over low heat ; a state of anxious agitation or distress
2. A savoury mixture of ingredients slowly simmered together in broth ; to gently boil food for a long time until it softens ; an uneasy condition of worry or nervous fretting
3. Meat and vegetables cooked gradually in a rich liquid ; to let food bubble slowly until it becomes soft ; a flustered or troubled frame of mind

Etymology: Long before it named a pot of slow-cooked meat, this word meant a heated room. Old French "estuve" meant a steam room or bathhouse, and it likely came from a Germanic base related to modern German "Stube," a warm room. English borrowed it in the Middle Ages as "stewe," and the bathing sense lingered. The link to dinner is heat trapped in an enclosed space. Meat cooked slowly in a sealed pot, with little liquid and gentle warmth, is cooked much as a steam room cooks its occupants. The sense moved from the room to the process carried out inside it, and the cooking sense eventually won out. English "stews" for brothels likely grew out of bathhouses, which were often places of such trade. That sense is now obsolete.