The manner a thing wears — how it appears without changing what it is. In the house's code, the dress layer; in its prose, the voice.
Latin stilus (a pointed instrument for writing, a stake), extended from the tool to the manner of writing it produced; the spelling later picked up a y under the mistaken influence of the unrelated Greek στῦλος (stylos, a pillar).
The manner a thing wears, showing how it appears without changing what it is. In code, the dress layer; in prose, the voice; both are the mark of the same instrument.