settle n Cp OED ~ sb1 3, EDD sb2 1; DAE. A long, home-made wooden bench with arms and high back; an unupholstered couch; STRETCHER.
1869 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 24 The main or living room was a space of some 10 or 12 feet square with an open fire-place at one end, on either side of which were rough benches or settles made of squatted sticks. [cl880] 1927 DOYLE (ed) 31 "The Ryans and the Pittmans": I'll get me a settle, a pot and a kettle. 1887 Colonist Christmas No 7 On a bench, or settle, by a fire, we observe a man in a half-sitting, half recumbent position. [1897] 1927 DOYLE led) [72] "The Landfall of Cabot": Sure I turned a coat for Cabot / Says a woman on the settle, / By the same he drank that evening / What cold tea was in the kettle. [1906] GRENFELL 154 The child was lying on a wooden settle when I entered. T 43/7-64 But the settle had two arms on it, was hand-made. but no cushions or anything like that. C 71-106 ~ a couch kept in the kitchen, also called a day-bed. Most settles were made of wood with a raised headboard. 1979 HORWOOD 94 [He] sprawled on the wooden settle, puffing quietly at his pipe, feet propped before the fire whose front drafters cast dancing red images across his face and chest.
