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stance

noun
/stæns/CA/stɛːns//stɑːns/UK/stɐːns/AU

Etymology

From Middle English staunce (“place to stand; battle station; position; standing in society; circumstance, situation; stanchion”), from Old French estance (“predicament; situation; sojourn, stay”) (compare modern French stance (“stanza; position one stands in when golfing”)), from Italian stanza (“room, standing place; stanza”), from Vulgar Latin *stantia, from Latin stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”). The word is cognate with Spanish estante (“shelf”) and a doublet of stanza. The verb is derived from the noun. Compare typologically Czech postoj (“stance (the way of holding a body); stance (point of view)”) (cognate via PIE). Also see position, posture.

  1. derived from *steh₂-✻
  2. derived from stō
  3. derived from *stantia✻
  4. derived from stanza
  5. derived from estance
  6. inherited from staunce

Definitions

  1. The manner, pose, or posture in which one stands.

    • The fencer’s stance showed he was ready to begin.

  2. One's opinion or point of view.

    • I don’t agree with your stance on gun control.

  3. A place to stand

    A place to stand; a position, a site, a station.

    • No! sooner may the Saxon lance / Unfix Benledi from his stance, / Than doubt or terror can pierce through / The unyielding heart of Robert Dhu; […]
    • The British host had stood / That morn 'gainst charge of sword and lance / As their own ocean-rocks hold stance, / But when thy voice had said, "Advance!" / They were their ocean's flood.— […]
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. A place for buses or taxis to await passengers

      A place for buses or taxis to await passengers; a bus stop, a taxi rank.

    2. A place where a fair or market is held

      A place where a fair or market is held; a location where a street trader can carry on business.

    3. A stanza.

      • Other Muſique, and voyces; and this ſecond Stance was ſung, directing their obſeruance to the King. […] This ended the Phœbades ſung the third Stance.

    4. To place, to position, to station

      To place, to position, to station; (specifically) to put (cattle) into an enclosure or pen in preparation for sale.

      • Rob Roy ſtood watch / On a hill for to catch / The booty for ought that I ſa', man, / For he ne'er advanced, / From the place he was ſtanc'd, / 'Till no more to do there at a' man, […]

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for stance. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA