Definition

1. Noun:
   • A low stool: A small, low seat without a back or arms.
   • A seat of public penance: Historically in Scotland, a stool or seat in a church where a person who had committed a moral or religious offense was made to sit while being publicly rebuked by the congregation or clergy.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • The antique shop had a simple cutty stool made of oak. (Referring to the low stool.)
  • In the 17th century, those accused of fornication might be sentenced to sit on the cutty stool as a form of shaming. (Referring to the historical seat of penance.)

Advanced Usage

• Historical/Literary Context: The term is primarily used in historical descriptions of Scottish church discipline or in literature set in that period. It symbolizes public humiliation and ecclesiastical punishment.
  • The novel's depiction of the kirk session's justice included the dreaded cutty stool.

Variants and Related Words

• Stool of repentance: A synonymous phrase for the ecclesiastical .
• Cutty (adj., Scots): Short, diminutive, or curtailed. This is the root adjective describing the stool's small, low nature.

Synonyms

• Penance stool
• Stool (in the general sense of a low seat)

Related Idioms/Phrases

• (To be) brought to the cutty stool: To be subjected to public censure or humiliation.
  • The scandal meant he was metaphorically brought to the cutty stool by the press.

Noun

1. a low stool; formerly in Scotland, a seat in a church where an offender was publicly rebuked