stand

verb

1. (copulative, intransitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “Here I stand, wondering what to do next.”

   “I can't reach the celing. Get me a chair to stand on.”

   “Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.”

   “At one time a "standard test" for carriage riding was to stand a pencil on end on the compartment floor, or to measure how long it was possible to stand on one leg without touching the corridor walls; […]”

   “It’s recited in schools across the US every day by students standing stiffly with their hands over their hearts.”

2. (intransitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “Stand up, walk to the refrigerator, and get your own snack.”

3. (copulative, intransitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “Do not leave your car standing in the road.”

   “The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.”

   “The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.”

   “Turning back, then, toward the basement staircase, she began to grope her way through blinding darkness, but had taken only a few uncertain steps when, of a sudden, she stopped short and for a little stood like a stricken thing, quite motionless save that she quaked to her very marrow in the grasp of a great and enervating fear.”

4. (intransitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “They burned the old gun that used to stand in the dark corner up in the garret, close to the stuffed fox that always grinned so fiercely. Perhaps the reason why he seemed in such a ghastly rage was that he did not come by his death fairly. Otherwise his pelt would not have been so perfect.”

   “He seized the gun which always stood in a corner of his bedroom […]”

5. (transitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “He stood the broom in a corner and took a break.”

   “At one time a "standard test" for carriage riding was to stand a pencil on end on the compartment floor, or to measure how long it was possible to stand on one leg without touching the corridor walls; [...].”

6. (intransitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “Paris stands on the Seine.”

   “The chapel ſtands on the South ſide of the ſquare, near the governor’s houſe.”

   “Las Vegas police say the number of people injured now stands at 515.”

7. (intransitive)To position or be positioned physically:

   “His face, as I grant, in spite of spite / Has a broad-blown comeliness, red and white, / And six feet two, as I think, he stands; […]”

   “She must stand five feet five—possibly six. At that, with the tread she has, she will take a 4½ to 5.”

8. (intransitive, usually)To position or be positioned physically:

   “many an orphan’s water-standing eye”

   “now my heart beginneth to melt within me being wounded (with that the tears stood in his eyes) to see the faces of some here present, whom J most earnestly love, and now must depart from with shame […]”

   “[He] pull’d me up again, and then giving me tvvo or three Kiſſes again, thank’d me for my kind yielding to him; and vvas ſo overcome with the Satisfaction and Joy of it, that I savv Tears ſtand in his Eyes.”

   “He takes me half-price to the play, to an extent which I sometimes fear is beyond his means; and I see the tears a standing in his eyes during the whole performance […]”

   “How he escaped a broken neck in that dreadful place no human being will ever ken. The sweat, he has told me, stood in cold drops upon his forehead […]”

9. (intransitive, with-infinitive, with-to)To position or be positioned mentally:

   “He stands to get a good price for the house.”

10. (transitive)To position or be positioned mentally:

    “I can’t stand when people don’t read the instructions.”

    “I can’t stand him.”

    “[I]f you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery.”

11. (copulative, intransitive)To position or be positioned mentally:

    “[R]eaders by whose judgment I would stand or fall […]”

12. (copulative, intransitive)To position or be positioned mentally:

    “The king granted the Jews[…]to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.”

    “the standing pattern of their imitation”

13. (copulative, intransitive, obsolete)To position or be positioned mentally:

    “sacrifices[…]which stood only in meats and drinks”

    “Accomplish what your signs foreshow; / I stand resigned, and am prepared to go.”

    “Thou seest how it stands with me[…], and that I may not tarry.”

14. (intransitive)To position or be positioned socially:
15. (transitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “The works of Shakespeare have stood the test of time.”

    “Love stood the siege.”

    “Bid him disband his legions,[…]/ And stand the judgment of a Roman senate.”

    “That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end, / He ſtood the furious Foe, the timid Friend, […]”

16. (British, intransitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “He is standing for election to the local council.”

    “He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university.”

17. (intransitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “What I said yesterday still stands.”

18. (transitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “"Kim, Jack, and I will stand you guys," Jimmie Burdette said. / "We'll smear you!" laughed Ron.”

    “The game stopped while sides were sorted out. Andy did the sorting. "Okay," he said. "Jimmy is coming out. He and Gaston and Ike and me will stand you guys."”

    “"Hey, Louis," Dameon shouted. "Do you want to play kickball?" ¶ ""All right," said Louis. "Ron and I will both play." […] "Ron and I will stand everybody!" Louis announced.”

19. (transitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “to stand a round of drinks”

    “to stand a treat”

    “to stand bail (security in respect of an arrested person)”

    “I will either stand a glass of grog, or thou shalt pay the like for me, my lad”

20. (intransitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts.”

    “President Obama gave his first extended television interview since the protests in Libya and Egypt to Telemundo on Wednesday night, and he took the opportunity to explain the U.S.'s role in the developing world while clarifying where the country stands with Egypt right now.”

21. (intransitive)To position or be positioned socially:

    “Doubt me not, by Heauen, I vvill doe nothing / But vvhat may ſtand vvith honour: […]”

22. (intransitive)To position or be positioned socially:
23. (intransitive)Of a ship or its captain, to steer, sail (in a specified direction, for a specified destination etc.).

    “To repaire his defects, hee stood for the coast of Calabria, but hearing there was six or seven Galleyes at Mesina hee departed thence for Malta[…].”

24. (copulative, intransitive)To remain without ruin or injury.

    “My mind on its own centre stands unmov'd.”

    “The ruin'd wall / Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone.”

25. To stop asking for more cards; to keep one's hand as it has been dealt so far.

noun

1. The act of standing.

   “I took my stand upon an eminence […] to look into their several ladings.”

2. A defensive position or effort.

   “The Commander says we will make our stand here.”

3. A resolute, unwavering position; firm opinion; action for a purpose in the face of opposition.

   “They took a firm stand against copyright infringement.”

   “There are also a growing number of lesbians in prison who are out about being lesbian and that stand in and of itself is much stronger than being out on the outside. These women are in much greater danger.”

4. A period of performance in a given location or venue.

   “They have a four-game stand at home against the Yankees.”

   “They spent the summer touring giving 4 one-night stands a week.”

5. A device to hold something upright or aloft.

   “He set the music upon the stand and began to play.  an umbrella stand;  a hat-stand”

   “There was a neat hat-and-umbrella stand, and the stranger's weary feet fell soft on a good, serviceable dark-red drugget, which matched in colour the flock-paper on the walls.”

   “Whilst I nipped out to get the booze Eddie would ease the large bread stand at the far end of the shop out from the counter so as to leave a gap behind, big enouh to take the basket. I would streak into the shop like a whippet and be behind the bread stand before you could blink.”

6. The platform on which a witness testifies in court; the witness stand or witness box.

   “She took the stand and quietly answered questions.”

   “Shortly after Ellison started at Alameda around fall 2018 as a trader, she learned that the company was financially far sicker than she had known, she said on the stand.”

7. (historical)An area of raised seating for waiters at the stock exchange.

   “When a member has failed to comply with his bargains the fact is announced from one of the stands, […]”

   “Just as that clock is striking now, the two waiters appear on the stands and take off their hats, as if to a corpse.”

8. A particular grove or other group of trees or shrubs.

   “This stand of pines is older than the one next to it.”

   “Pernambuco is a coastal wood which grows in maintained stands in Brazil.”

9. A contiguous group of trees sufficiently uniform in age-class distribution, composition, and structure, and growing on a site of sufficiently uniform quality, to be a distinguishable unit.
10. A standstill, a motionless state, as of someone confused, or a hunting dog who has found game.

    “One of the later school of the Grecians, examineth the matter, and is at a stand, to think what should be in it, that men should love lies; where neither they make for pleasure, as with poets, nor for advantage, as with the merchant; but for the lie’s sake.”

    “Antonia's patience now was at a stand— "Come, come, 't is no time now for fooling there," She whispered[…]”

11. A small building, booth, or stage, as in a bandstand or hamburger stand.
12. A designated spot where someone or something may stand or wait.

    “a taxi stand”

13. (US, dated)The situation of a shop, store, hotel, etc.

    “a good, bad, or convenient stand for business”

14. (US, abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, historical)Ellipsis of tavern stand (“a roadside inn”).
15. Grandstand. (often in the plural)

    “The end of the opening period was relatively quite [sic] as Vassiljev's desperate shot from well outside the penalty area flew into the stand housing the Irish supporters and then Ward's ctoss [sic] was gathered by goalkeeper Pareiko.”

16. A partnership.

    “England wrapped up a five-wicket victory in the first Test as a stand of 132 between Alastair Cook and Ian Bell saw off an early West Indies charge.”

17. A single set, as of arms.

    “The police and troops captured eleven thousand stand of arms, including muskets and pistols, together with several thousand bludgeons and other weapons.”

18. (obsolete)Rank; post; station; standing.

    “Father, since your fortune did attain / So high a stand, I mean not to descend.”

19. (dated)A state of perplexity or embarrassment.

    “to be at a stand what to do”

20. A young tree, usually reserved when other trees are cut; also, a tree growing or standing upon its own root, in distinction from one produced from a scion set in a stock, either of the same or another kind of tree.
21. A location or position where one may stand.

    “Come, I have found you out a stand most fit, / Where you may have such vantage on the duke, / He shall not pass you.”

22. An advertisement filling an entire billboard, comprising many sheets of paper.

    “The cost of the printing alone will average $2 a 'stand.' The sheets are about 28x42 inches and are in four colors, which means they must go through the process four times.”

23. (Scotland, US, dated)A container which stands upright, such as a barrel or cask.

    “Item, for a ſtande of small ale - ii s.”

    “[…]one gialfatte, 3 stannes 3s.,[…]”

    “Therefore at length sir Iefferie bethought him of a feat whereby he might both visit the alestond, and also keepe his othe.”

    “Memp. Ile teach my wag-halter to know grapes from barley. Pris. And I mine to discerne a spigot from a faucet. Spe. And I mine, to iudge the difference between a blacke boule and a siluer goblet. Stel. And mine shall learne the oddes betweene a stand and a hogs-head; yet I cannot choose but laugh to see how my wag aunswered mee, when I stroke him for drinking sacke.”

    “As for the Tapſter, he fled into the Cellar, rapping out fiue or ſixe plaine Country oathes, that hée would drowne himſelfe in a moſt villanous Stand of Ale, if the ſicke Londoner ſtoode at the doore any longer.”

24. (obsolete)A weight of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds, used in weighing pitch.