staunch

adj

1. Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.

   “Yet if I knevv, / VVhat Hoope ſhould hold vs ſtaunch from edge to edge / Ath'vvorld [of the world]: I vvould perſue it.”

   “Our Proviſions held out vvell, our Ship vvas ſtaunch, and our Crevv all in good Health; but vve lay in the utmoſt diſtreſs for VVater.”

2. (broadly)Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.

   “[T]vvas very difficult to procure a Bladder ſmall and fine enough for that litle Cylinder; and that one, vvhich at length vve procured, vvould not continue ſtanch for many Tryals, but vvould after a vvhile part vvith a litle Air in the vvell exhauſted Receiver, vvhen tvvas clog'd vvith the utmoſt VVeight it could ſuſtain: but vvhilſt it continued ſtanch vve made one fair Tryal vvith it, […]”

3. Strongly built; also, in good or strong condition.

   “Hovv goodly, and hovv to be vviſht vvere ſuch an obedient unanimity as this, vvhat a fine conformity vvould it ſtarch us all into? doubtles a ſtanch and ſolid peece of frame-vvork, as any January could freeze together.”

   “[T]he house a stanch good old building, and what was singular, some of the roomes floor'd dove-tail-wise without a nail, exactly close. One of the closetts is parquetted with plaine deale, set in diamond, exceeding stanch and pretty.”

   “[T]he VVorld continues ſtill as firm and ſtaunch as it vvas three thouſand years ago; and vvhy hereafter it ſhould founder and decay more than it hath done for ſo many Ages heretofore, vvhat reaſon can be given?”

   “This part of the castle was burned last autumn; but it is now under repair, and the wall of the tower is still stanch and strong.”

4. (figuratively)Staying true to one's aims or principles; firm, resolute, unswerving.

   “Without our staunch front line the enemy would have split the regiment.”

   “VVe may commend / A Gentlemans modeſty, manners, and fine language, / […] / Yet, though he obſerue, and vvaſte his ſtate vpon vs, / If he be ſtanch and bid not for the ſtocke / That vve vvere borne to traffick vvith; the truth is / VVe care not for his company.”

   “In Politicks, I hear, you're ſtanch, / Directly bent againſt the French; / Deny to have your free-born Toe / Dragoon'd into a VVooden Shoe: […]”

   “And you are ſtaunch indeed in learning's cauſe, / If you can crovvn a diſcipline that dravvs / Such miſchiefs after it, vvith much applauſe.”

   “They seemed completely satiated with the vengeance they had prosecuted with such staunch and sagacious activity.”

5. (figuratively)Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.

   “He’s been a staunch supporter of mine through every election.”

   “[T]here ain't a stauncher-hearted gal going, or I'd have cut her throat three months ago.”

   “Never at any time in its history has there been so much universal anger at and criticism of the Southern. The railway's staunchest friends must concede that most of it is justified.”

   “China's real issue with Japan, disguised by historical complaints, lies in the fact that Japan under Koizumi has become a stauncher ally of the United States.”

6. (figuratively)Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.

   “For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch, / Vindictive toiled the blood-hounds staunch; […]”

   “Beatte especially, was as staunch as a veteran hound.”

7. (figuratively, obsolete)Cautious, restrained.

   “It is good to be very ſtaunch and cautious of talking about other Men and their Concernments, in vvay of paſſing Characters on them, or deſcanting upon their Proceedings for vvant of other Diſcourse: This is the common refuge of Idleneſs, and the practice of fidling Goſſips, vvho becauſe they vvill do nothing themſelves, muſt be reflecting upon the doings of others; […]”

8. (figuratively)Stubborn, intransigent.

verb

1. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of stanch.

   “I will couer the depe vpon him, I will ſtaunch his floudes, and the greate waters ſhalbe reſtrayned.”

   “He that has not uſurp'd the name of man, / Does all, and deems too little, all he can, / T' aſſuage the throbbings of the feſter'd part, / And ſtaunch the bleedings of a broken heart; […]”

   “[T]he iron head of a square cross-bow bolt disengaged itself from the wound, the bleeding was staunched, the wound was closed, and the dying man was, within the quarter of an hour, walking upon the ramparts, […]”

noun

1. (obsolete)That which stanches or checks a flow.
2. (archaic, obsolete, specifically)That which stanches or checks a flow.
3. (obsolete)An act of stanching or stopping.
4. Synonym of afterdamp (“suffocating gases present in a coal mine after an explosion caused by firedamp”).
5. (alt-of, alternative)Alternative spelling of stanch (“a floodgate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a shallow part of a stream by its release; also, a dam or lock in a river”).