Stokes

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. To add fuel to a fire or increase its intensity; to provoke or incite emotions or reactions; to encourage development or growth in a particular area or aspect
2. To feed or tend a fire by adding material, enhancing its warmth and strength; to stir up or inflame feelings or thoughts; to support or foster progress and improvement in something
3. To enhance the flames of a fire by introducing more fuel; to elicit strong emotional responses or reactions; to nurture and propel advancement in an endeavor or situation

Etymology: "Stokes" as a verb is simply the third-person singular form of "stoke," so its history is really the history of that base word. "Stoke" came into English in the 1500s, borrowed from the Dutch "stoken," meaning to poke or stir a fire, and the Dutch word is related to "stok," or stick. The original picture was physical: a person pushing a stick or poker into a fire to rouse it and feed it fuel. That literal sense of poking and prodding is still there in the modern figurative uses. To stoke a feeling or a debate is to stir it up and keep it burning, and to stoke an economy or a project is to add the fuel that keeps it moving. The same image of tending a flame carries across all three senses.

Synonyms: encourages, fuels, ignites

Antonyms: dampens, quells, extinguishes