cutty stool
- noun
- Archaic
:
taburete de castigo
- The minister called the sinner to sit upon the cutty stool during the service.
Examples
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The parishioner was placed on the cutty stool for his misbehavior.
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She restored an antique cutty stool she found at a local market.
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In old Scottish churches, the cutty stool was a symbol of public shame.
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In the old church, the cutty stools were used for public penance.
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In old Scottish churches, the cutty stool was a symbol of public shame.
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The minister called the sinner to sit upon the cutty stool during the service.
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In the old church, the cutty stool was used for public penance.
Synonyms
A low round stool people use as a small seat or stand
How Low
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'cutty' (short) + 'stool' (a single-person seat) yields the straightforward meaning 'a low or short stool', so a B1 learner who knows both words would readily infer this sense. There is a more specific historical/Scottish usage (a church seat used for public rebuke) that is culturally specialized and not predictable from the parts, but the basic physical meaning is transparent.
Etymology
Cutty stool comes from old Scotland. Cutty meant 'short' and stool is a 'low seat', and the small stool was used in church for a person who had done wrong to sit in front of everyone, so the name became linked with 'public shame'.