STUÐILL

(pl. stuðlar), m.

1) stud, prop, stay;

2) an upright on board ship;

3) either of the two alliterative letters in the odd lines of a verse.

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m. [styðja], anything that ‘steadies,’ a stud, prop, stay; styrkir stuðlar, Barl. 5; þá skulu styrkir stuðlar styðja þik alla vegu, 41; tjöld ok tveir stuðlar, Stj. 308 (= columna of the Vulgate); þeir settu þar í stuðla, ok festu þar við víggyrðlana, Fms. viii. 216; öruggir stuðlar bæði brjósti ok herðum, Anecd. 4.

2. spec. usages, an upright on board ship, Edda (Gl.): the four posts of a box are called stuðlar (meis-stuðull, opp. to rim, q. v.): pentagonal basalt columns are also called stuðlar, and stuðla-berg, n. is a basaltic dyke.

II. metaph. and as a metrical term, the supporter, second repeated letter in an alliterative verse; thus in ‘sól varp sunnan sinni mána,’ the s in ‘sunnan’ and ‘sinni’ is stuðill, supporting the head-stave in ‘sól’ (see höfuðstafr, p. 308, col. 2), Edda i. 596, 612, ii. 150.