Definition

1. Noun:
   • A pen for swine: A small enclosure or building where pigs are kept.
   • An infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid: A small, painful, inflamed swelling on the edge of the eyelid, also called a stye.

Usage Examples

• Noun (Pig enclosure):
  • The farmer cleaned the sty before introducing the new piglets.
  • The old sty at the back of the property was falling apart.
• Noun (Eye infection):
  • She had a painful sty on her lower eyelid.
  • Applying a warm compress can help a sty heal faster.

Advanced Usage

• "To live in a sty": Used figuratively to describe living in a very dirty, messy, or untidy place.
  • After the party, the dorm room looked like a sty.
• "Sty of iniquity": An archaic or literary phrase for a place of extreme vice or moral corruption.
  • The novel described the city's slums as a sty of iniquity.

Variants and Related Words

• Stye: An alternative spelling for the eye infection.
  • The doctor diagnosed it as a stye.
• Pigsty: A more common term for a pig enclosure, often used interchangeably with .
  • The children were fascinated by the muddy pigsty.

Synonyms

• For pig enclosure: Pigpen, hog pen, piggery.
• For eye infection: Hordeolum (medical term).

Different Meanings

• The two primary meanings (animal enclosure and eye infection) are homographs (spelled the same) but are etymologically distinct words. Context is crucial for understanding.

Idioms and Phrases

• "Like a pig in a sty": Used to describe someone who is very content in a messy or dirty environment.
  • He's happy with all that clutter—like a pig in a sty.

Noun

1. a pen for swine
2. an infection of the sebaceous gland of the eyelid