Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary

514/624

STANCHION — STATIONAL

STANCHION, n. [See Stanch.] A prop or support; a piece of timber int he form of a stake or post, used for a support. In ship-building, stanchions of wood or iron are of different forms, and are used to support the deck, the quarter rails, the nettings, awnings and the like.

STANCHLESS, a. That cannot be stanched or stopped.

STANCHNESS, n. Soundness; firmness in principle; closeness of adherence.

STAND, v.i. pret. and pp. stood. [This verb, if from the root of G., is a derivative from the noun, which is formed from the participle of the original verb. In this case, the noun should properly precede the verb. It may be here remarked that if stan is the radical word, stand and L. Sto cannot be from the same stock. But stand in the pret. is stood, and sto forms steti. This induces a suspicion that stan is not the root of stand, but that n is casual. I am inclined however to believe these words to be from different roots. The Russ. Stoyu, to stand, is the L. sto, but it signifies also to be, to exist, being the substantive verb.]

1. To be upon the feet, as an animal; not to sit, kneel or lie.

The absolution to be pronounced by the priest alone, standing.

And the king turned his face about and blessed all the congregation of Israel, and all the congregation of Israel stood. 1 Kings 8:14.

2. To be erect, supported by the roots, as a tree or other plant. Notwithstanding the violence of the wind, the tree yet stands.

3. To be on its foundation; not to be overthrown or demolished; as, an old castle is yet standing.

4. To be placed or situated; to have a certain position or location. Paris stands on the Seine. London stands on the Thames.

5. To remain upright, in a moral sense; not to fall.

To stand or fall, free in thy own arbitrement it lies.

6. To become erect.

Mute and amazd, my hair with horror stood.

7. To stop; to halt; not to proceed.

I charge thee, stand, and tell thy name.

8. To stop; to be at a stationary point.

Say, at what part of nature will they stand?

9. To be in a state of fixedness; hence, to continue; to endure. Our constitution has stood nearly forty years. It is hoped it will stand for ages.

Commonwealth by virtue ever stood.

10. To be fixed or steady; not to vacillate. His mind stands unmoved.

11. To be in or to maintain a posture of resistance or defense. Approach with charged bayonets; the enemy will not stand.

The king granted the Jews to stand for their life. Esther 8:11.

12. To be placed with regard to order or rank. Note the letter that stands first in order. Gen. Washington stood highest in public estimation. Christian charity stands first in the rank of gracious affections.

13. To be in particular state; to be, emphatically expressed, that is, to be fixed or set; the primary sense of the substantive verb. How does the value of wheat stand? God stands in no need of our services, but we always stand in need of his aid and his mercy.

Accomplish what your signs foreshow; I stand resignd.

14. To continue unchanged or valid; not to fail or become void.

No condition of our peace can stand.

My mercy will I keep for him, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. Psalm 89:28.

15. To consist; to have its being and essence.

Sacrifices--which stood only in meats and drinks. Hebrews 9:10.

16. To have a place.

This excellent man, who stood not on the advantage-ground before, provoked men of all qualities.

17. To be in any state. Let us see how our matters stand.

As things now stand with us--

18. To be in particular respect or relation; as, to stand godfather to one. We ought to act according to the relation we stand in towards each other.

19. To be, with regard to state of mind.

Stand in awe, and sin not. Psalm 4:4.

20. To succeed; to maintain ones ground; not to fail; to be acquitted; to be safe.

Readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall--

21. To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the shore; to stand for the harbor.

From the same parts of heavn his navy stands.

22. To have a direction.

The wand did not really stand to the metal, when placed under it.

23. To offer ones self as a candidate.

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

24. To place ones self; to be placed.

I stood between the Lord and you at that time-- Deuteronomy 5:5.

25. To stagnate; not to flow.

--Or the black water of Pomptina stands.

26. To be satisfied or convinced.

Though Page be a secure fool, and stand so firmly on his wifes frailty--

27. To make delay. I cannot stand to examine every particular.

28. To persist; to persevere.

Never stand in a lie when thou art accused.

29. To adhere; to abide.

Despair would stand to the sword.

30. To be permanent; to endure; not to vanish or fade; as, the color will stand.

To stand by,

1. To be near; to be a spectator; to be present. I stood by when the operation was performed. This phrase generally implies that the person is inactive, or takes no part in what is done. In seamens language, to stand by is to attend and be ready. Stand by the haliards.

2. To be aside; to be placed aside with disregard.

In the mean time, we let the commands stand by neglected.

3. To maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert. I will stand by my friend to the last. Let us stand by our country. To stand by the Arundelian marbles, in Pope, is to defend or support their genuineness.

4. To rest on for support; to be supported.

This reply standeth by conjecture.

To stand for,

1. To offer ones self as a candidate.

How many stand for consulships?--Three.

2. To side with; to support; to maintain, or to profess or attempt to maintain. We all stand for freedom, for our rights or claims.

3. To be in the place of; to be the substitute or representative of. A cipher at the left hand of a figure stands for nothing.

I will not trouble myself, whether these names stand for the same thing, or really include one another.

4. In seamens language, to direct the course towards.

To stand from, to direct the course from.

To stand one in, to cost. The coat stands him in twenty dollars.

To stand in, or stand in for, in seamens language, is to direct a course towards land or a harbor.

To stand off,

1. To keep at a distance.

2. Not to comply.

3. To keep at a distance in friendship or social intercourse; to forbear intimacy.

We stand off from an acquaintance with God.

4. To appear prominent; to have relief.

Picture is best when it standeth off, as if it were carved.

To stand off, or off from, in seamens language, is to direct the course from land.

To stand off and on, is to sail towards land and then from it.

To stand out,

1. To project; to be prominent.

Their eyes stand out with fatness. Psalm 73:7.

2. To persist in opposition or resistance; not to yield or comply; not to give way or recede.

His spirit is come in, that so stood out against the holy church.

3. With seamen, to direct the course from land or a harbor.

To stand to,

1. To ply; to urge efforts; to persevere.

Stand to your tackles, mates, and stretch your oars.

2. To remain fixed in a purpose or opinion.

I still stand to it, that this is his sense.

3. To abide by; to adhere; as to a contract, assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award; to stand to ones word.

4. Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain the ground.

Their lives and fortunes were put in safety, whether they stood to it or ran away.

To stand to sea, to direct the course from land.

To stand under, to undergo; to sustain.

To stand up,

1. To rise from sitting; to be on the feet.

2. To arise in order to gain notice.

Against whom when the accusers stood up, they brought no accusation of such things as I supposed. Acts 25:18.

3. To make a party.

When we stood up about the corn--

To stand up for, to defend; to justify; to support, or attempt to support; as, to stand up for the administration.

To stand upon,

1. To concern; to interest. Does it not stand upon them to examine the grounds of their opinion? This phrase is, I believe, obsolete; but we say, it stands us in hand, that is, it is our concern, it is for our interest.

2. To value; to pride.

We highly esteem and stand much upon our birth.

3. To insist; as, to stand upon security.

To stand with, to be consistent. The faithful servants of God will receive what they pray for, so far as stands with his purposes and glory.

It stands with reason that they should be rewarded liberally.

To stand together, is used, but the last two phrases are not in very general use, and are perhaps growing obsolete.

To stand against, to oppose; to resist.

To stand fast, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable.

To stand in hand, to be important to ones interest; to be necessary or advantageous. It stands us in hand to be on good terms with our neighbors.

STAND, v.t.

1. To endure; to sustain; to bear. I cannot stand the cold or the heat.

2. To endure; to resist without yielding or receding.

So had I stood the shock of angry fat.

He stood the furious foe.

3. To await; to suffer; to abide by.

Bid him disband the legions--and stand the judgment of a Roman senate.

To stand ones ground, to deep the ground or station one has taken; to maintain ones position; in a literal or figurative sense; as, an army stands its ground, when it is not compelled to retreat. A man stands his ground in an argument, when he is able to maintain it, or is not refuted.

To stand it, to bear; to be able to endure; or to maintain ones ground or state; a popular phrase.

To stand trial, is to sustain the trial or examination of a cause; not to give up without trial.

STAND, n.

1. A stop; a halt; as, to make a stand; to come to a stand, either in walking or in any progressive business.

The horse made a stand, when he charged them and routed them.

2. A station; a place or post where one stands; or a place convenient for persons to remain for any purpose. The sellers of fruit have their several stands in the market.

I took my stand upon an eminence.

3. Rank; post; station.

Father, since your fortune did attain so high a stand, I mean not to descend.

[In lieu of this, standing is now used. He is a man of high standing in his own country.]

4. The act of opposing.

We have come off like Romans; neither foolish in our stands, nor cowardly in retire.

5. The highest point; or the ultimate point of progression, where a stop is made, and regressive motion commences. The population of the world will not come to a stand, while the means of subsistence can be obtained. The prosperity of the Roman empire came to a stand in the reign of Augustus; after which it declined.

Vice is at stand, and at the highest flow.

6. A young tree, usually reserved when the other trees are cut. [English.]

7. A small table; as a candle-stand; or any frame on which vessels and utensils may be laid.

8. In commerce, a weight of from two hundred and a half to three hundred of pitch.

9. Something on which a thing rests or is laid; as a hay-stand.

Stand of arms, in military affairs, a musket with its usual appendages, as a bayonet, cartridge box, etc.

To be at a stand, to stop on account of some doubt or difficulty; hence, to be perplexed; to be embarrassed; to hesitate what to determine, or what to do.

STANDARD, n. [G., sort, kind.]

1. An ensign of war; a staff with a flag or colors. The troops repair to their standard. The royal standard of Great Britain is a flag, in which the imperial ensigns of England, Scotland and Ireland are quartered with the armorial bearings of Hanover.

His armies, in the following day, on those fair plains their standards proud display.

2. That which is established by sovereign power as a rule or measure by which others are to be adjusted. Thus the Winchester bushel is the standard of measures in Great Britain, and is adopted in the United States as their standard. So of weights and of long measure.

3. That which is established as a rule or model, by the authority of public opinion, or by respectable opinions, or by custom or general consent; as writings which are admitted to be the standard of style and taste. Homers Iliad is the standard of heroic poetry. Demosthenes and Cicero are the standards of oratory. Of modern eloquence, we have an excellent standard in the speeches of lord Chatham. Addisons writings furnish a good standard of pure, chaste and elegant English stayle. It is not an easy thing to erect a standard of taste.

4. In coinage, the proportion of weight of fine metal and alloy established by authority. The coins of England and of the United States are of nearly the same standard.

By the present standard of the coinage, sixty two shillings is coined out of one pound weight of silver.

5. A standing tree or stem; a tree not supported or attached to a wall.

Plant fruit of all sorts and standard, mural, or shrubs which lose their leaf.

6. In ship-building, an inverted knee placed upon the deck instead of beneath it, with its vertical branch turned upward from that which lies horizontally.

7. In botany, the upper petal or banner of a papilionaceous corol.

STANDARD-BEARER, n. [standard and bear.] An officer of an army, company or troop, that bears a standard; an ensign of infantry or a cornet of horse.

STAND-CROP, n. A plant.

STANDEL, n. A tree of long standing. [Not used.]

STANDER, n.

1. One who stands.

2. A tree that has stood long. [Not used.]

STANDER-BY, n. One that stands near; one that is present; a mere spectator. [We now more generally use by-stander.]

STANDER-GRASS, n. A plant. [L.]

STANDING, ppr.

1. Being on the feet; being erect. [See Stand.]

2. Moving in a certain direction to or from an object.

3. a. Settled; established, either by law or by custom, etc.; continually existing; permanent; not temporary; as a standing army. Money is the standing measure of the value of all other commodities. Legislative bodies have certain standing rules of proceeding. Courts of law are or ought to be governed by standing rules. There are standing rules of pleading. The gospel furnishes us with standing rules of morality. The Jews by their dispersion and their present condition, are a standing evidence of the truth of revelation and of the prediction of Moses. Many fashionable vices and follies ought to be the standing objects of ridicule.

4. Lasting; not transitory; not liable to fade or vanish; as a standing color.

5. Stagnant; not flowing; as standing water.

6. Fixed; not movable; as a standing bed; distinguished from a truckle bed.

7. Remaining erect; not cut down; as standing corn.

Standing rigging, of a ship. This consists of the cordage or ropes which sustain the masts and remain fixed in their position. Such are the shrouds and stays.

STANDING, n.

1. Continuance; duration or existence; as a custom of long standing.

2. Possession of an office, character or place; as a patron or officer of long standing.

3. Station; place to stand in.

I will provide you with a good standing to see his entry.

4. Power to stand.

I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing. Psalm 69:2.

5. Rank; condition in society; as a man of good standing or of high standing among his friends.

STANDISH, n. [stand and dish.] A case for pen and ink.

I bequeath to Dean Swift my large silver standish.

STANE, n. A stone. [Local.] [See Stone.]

STANG, n. [G.]

1. A pole, rod or perch; a measure of land. [Not in use.]

2. A long bar; a pole; a shaft.

To ride the stang, is to be carried on a pole on mens shoulders, in derision. [Local.]

STANG, v.i. To shoot with pain. [Local.]

STANK, a. Weak; worn out. [Not in use.]

STANK, v.i. To sigh. [Not used.]
STANK, old pret. of stink. Stunk is now used.
STANK, n. [See Stanch.] A dam or mound to stop water. [Local.]

STANNARY, a. [L. See Tin.] Relating to the tin works; as stannary courts.

STANNARY, n. A tin mine.

STANNEL, STANYEL, n. The kestrel, a species of hawk; called also stone-gall and wind-hover.

STANNIC, a. Pertaining to tin; procured from tin; as the stannic acid.

STANZA, n. In poetry, a number of lines or verses connected with each other, and ending in a full point or pause; a part of a poem containing every variation of measure in that poem. A stanza may contain verses of a different length or number of syllables, and a different number of verses; or ti may consist of verses of equal length. Stanzas are said to have been first introduced from the Italian into French poetry about the year 1580, and thence they were introduced into England. The versions of the Psalms present examples of various kinds of stanzas.

Horace confines himself to one sort of verse or stanza in every ode.

STAPAZIN, n. A bird, a species of warbler.

STAPLE, n. [G., a stake, a pile or heap, a staple, stocks, a mart. The primary sense of the root is to set, to fix. Staple is that which is fixed, or a fixed place, or it is a pile or store.]

1. A settled mart or market; an emporium. In England, formerly, the kings staple was established in certain ports or towns, and certain goods could not be exported, without being first brought to these ports to be rated and charged with the duty payable to the king or public. The principal commodities on which customs were levied, were wool, skins and lether, and these were originally the staple commodities. Hence the words staple commodities, came in time to signify the principal commodities produced by a country for exportation or use. Thus cotton is the staple commodity of South Carolina, Georgia and other southern states of America. Wheat is the staple of Pennsylvania and New York.

2. A city or town where merchants agree to carry certain commodities.

3. The thread or pile of wool, cotton or flax. Thus we say, this is wool of a coarse staple, or fine staple. In America, cotton is of a short staple, long staple, fine staple, etc. The cotton of short staple is raised on the upland; the sea-island cotton is of a fine long staple.

4. A loop of iron, or a bar or wire bent and formed with two points to be driven into wood, to hold a hook, pin, etc.

Staple of land, the particular nature and quality of land.

STAPLE, a.

1. Settled; established in commerce; as a staple trade.

2. According to the laws of commerce; marketable; fit to be sold. [Not much used.]

3. Chief; principal; regularly produced or made for market; as staple commodities. [This is now the most general acceptation of the word.]

STAPLER, n. A dealer; as a wool stapler.

STAR, n.

1. An apparently small luminous body in the heavens, that appears in the night, or when its light is not obscured by clouds or lost in the brighter effulgence of the sun. Stars are fixed or planetary. The fixed stars are known by their perpetual twinkling, and by their being always in the same position in relation to each other. The planets do not twinkle, and they revolve about the sun. The stars are worlds, and their immense numbers exhibit the astonishing extent of creation and of divine power.

2. The pole-star. [A particular application, not in use.]

3. In astrology, a configuration of the planets, supposed to influence fortune. Hence the expression, You may thank your stars for such and such an event.

A pair of star-crossd lovers.

4. The figure of a star; a radiated mark in writing or printing; an asterisk; thus*; used as a reference to a note in the margin, or to fill a blank in writing or printing where letters are omitted.

5. In Scripture, Christ is called the bright and morning star, the star that ushers in the light of an eternal day to his people. Revelation 22:16. Ministers are also called stars in Christs right hand, as, being supported and directed by Christ, they convey light and knowledge to the followers of Christ. Revelation 1:20. The twelve stars which form the crown of the church, are the twelve apostles. Revelation 12:1.

6. The figure of a star; a badge of rank; as stars and garters.

The pole-star, a bright star in the tail of Ursa minor, so called from its being very near the north pole.

Star of Bethlehem, a flower and plant of the genus Ornithogalum. There is also the star of Alexandria, and of Naples, and of Constantinople, of the same genus.

STAR, v.t. To set or adorn with stars or bright radiating bodies; to bespangle; as a robe starred with gems.

STAR-APPLE, n. A globular or olive-shaped fleshy fruit, inclosing a stone of the same shape. It grows in the warm climates of America, and is eaten by way of dessert. It is of the genus Chrysophyllum.

STAR-FISH, n. [star and fish.] The sea star or asterias, a genus of marine animals or zoophytes, so named because their body is divided into rays, generally five in number, int he center of which and below is the mouth, which is the only orifice of the alimentary canal. They are covered with a coriaceous skin, armed with points or spines and pierced with numerous small holes, arranged in regular series, through which pass membranaceous tentacula or feelers, terminated each by a little disk or cup, by means of which they execute their progressive motions.

STAR-FLOWER, n. A plant, a species of Ornithogalum. A plant of the genus Stellaria.

STARGAZER, n. [star and gazer.] One who gazes at the stars; a term of contempt for an astrologer, sometimes used ludicrously for an astronomer.

STARGAZING, n. The act or practice of observing the stars with attention; astrology.

STAR-GRASS, n. [star and grass.] Starry duck meat, a plant of the genus Callitriche.

STAR-HAWK, n. A species of hawk so called.

STAR-HYACINTH, n. A plant of the genus Scilla.

STAR-JELLY, n. A plant, the Tremella, one of the Fungi; also, star-shoot, a gelatinous substance.

STARLESS, a. Having no stars visible or no starlight; as a starless night.

STARLIGHT, n. [star and light.] The light proceeding from the stars.

Nor walk by moon or glittering starlight, without thee is sweet.

STARLIGHT, a. Lighted by the stars, or by the stars only; as a starlight evening.

STARLIKE, a. [star and like.]

1. Resembling a star; stellated; radiated like a star; as starlike flowers.

2. Bright; illustrious.

The having turned many to righteousness shall confer a starlike and immortal brightness.

STARLING, n.

1. A bird, the stare, of the genus Sturnus.

2. A defense to the piers of bridges.

STAROST, n. In Poland, a feudatory; one who holds a fief.

STAROSTY, n. A fief; an estate held by feudal service.

STAR-PAVED, a. [star and paved.] Studed with stars.

The road of heaven star-paved.

STAR-PROOF, a. [star and proof.] Impervious to the light of the stars; as a star-proof elm.

STAR-READ, n. [star and read.] Doctrine of the stars; astronomy. [Not in use.]

STARRED, pp. or a. [from star.]

1. Adorned or studded with stars; as the starred queen of Ethiopia.

2. Influenced in fortune by the stars.

My third comfort, starrd most unluckily--

STARRING, ppr. or a.

1. Adorning with stars.

2. Shining; bright; sparkling; as starring comets. [Not in use.]

STARRY, a. [from star.]

1. Abounding with stars; adorned with stars.

Above the clouds, above the starry sky.

2. Consisting of stars; stellar; stellary; proceeding from the stars; as starry light; starry flame.

3. Shining like stars; resembling stars; as starry eyes.

STAR-SHOOT, n. [star and shoot.] That which is emitted from a star.

I have seen a good quantity of that jelly, by the vulgar called a star-shoot, as if it remained upon the extinction of a falling star.

[The writer once saw the same kind of substance from a brilliant meteor, at Amherst in Massachusetts. See Journ. Of Science for a description of it by Rufus Graves, Esq.]

STAR-STONE, n. Asteria, a kind of extraneous fossil, consisting of regular joints, each of which is of a radiated figure.

STAR-THISTLE, n. A plant of the genus Centaurea.

STAR-WORT, n. A plant of the genus Aster, and another of the genus Iridax. The yellow star-wort is of the genus Inula or elecampane.

STARBOARD, n. [G., the rudder or helm. I know not from what particular construction of a vessel the helm should give name to the right hand side, unless from the tillers being held by the right hand, or at the right side of the steersman.] The right hand side of a ship or boat, when a spectator stands with his face towards the head, stem or prow.

STARBOARD, a. Pertaining to the right hand side of a ship; being or lying on the right side; as the starboard shrouds; star-board quarter; starboard tack. In seamanship, starboard, uttered by the master of a ship, is an order to the helmsman to put the helm to the starboard side.

STARCH, n. [G., strength, starch; strong. See Stare and Steer.] A substance used to stiffen linen and other cloth. It is the fecula of flour, or a substance that subsides from water mixed with wheat flour. It is sometimes made from potatoes. Starch forms the greatest portion of farinaceous substances, particularly of wheat flour, and it si the chief aliment of bread.

STARCH, a. Stiff; precise; rigid.
STARCH, v.t. To stiffen with starch.

STAR-CHAMBER, n. Formerly, a court of criminal jurisdiction in England. This court was abolished by Stat. 16 Charles I. See Blackstone, B. 4 Chapter 19.

STARCHED, pp.

1. Stiffened with starch.

2. a. Stiff; precise; formal.

STARCHEDNESS, n. Stiffness in manners; formality.

STARCHER, n. One who starches, or whose occupation is to starch.

STARCHING, ppr. Stiffening with starch.

STARCHLY, adv. With stiffness of manner; preciseness.

STARCHNESS, n. Stiffness of manner; preciseness.

STARCHY, a. Stiff; precise.

STARE, n. A bird, the starling.

STARE, v.i. [The sense then is to open or extend, and it seems to be closely allied to G., stiff, and to starch, stern, which imply straining, tension.]

1. To gaze; to look with fixed eyes wide open; to fasten an earnest look on some object. Staring is produced by wonder, surprise, stupidity, horror, fright and sometimes by eagerness to hear or learn something, sometimes by impudence. We say, he stared with astonishment.

Look not big, nor stare, nor fret.

2. To stand out; to be prominent.

Take off all the staring straws and jaggs in the hive. [Not used.]

To stare in the face, to be before the eyes or undeniably evident.

The law stares them int he face, while they are breaking it.

STARE, n. A fixed look with eyes wide open.

STARER, n. One who stares or gazes.

STARING, ppr. Gazing; looking with fixed eyes.

STARK, a. [G., stark, stiff, strong; formed on the root of the G., stiff, rigid. See Starch and Steer.]

1. Stiff; strong; rugged.

Many a nobleman lies stark and stiff, under the hoofs of vaunting enemies.

The north is not so stark and cold.

2. Deep; full; profound; absolute.

He pronounces the citation stark nonsense.

STARK, adv. Wholly; entirely; absolutely; as stark mad; stark blind; stark naked. These are the principal applications of this word now in use. The word is in popular use, but not an elegant word in any of its applications.

STARKLY, adv. Stiffly; strongly.

START, v.t.

1. To move suddenly, as if by a twitch; as, to start in sleep or by a sudden spasm.

2. To move suddenly, as by an involuntary shrinking from sudden fear or alarm.

I start as from some dreadful dream.

3. To move with sudden quickness, as with a spring or leap.

A spirit fit to start into an empire, and look the world to law.

4. To shrink; to wince.

But if he start, it is the flesh of a corrupted heart.

5. To move suddenly aside; to deviate; generally with from, out of, or aside.

Th old drudging sun from his long beaten way shall at thy voice start and misguide the day.

Keep your soul to the work when ready to start aside.

6. To set out; to commence a race, as from a barrier or goal. The horses started at the word, go.

At once they start, advancing in a line.

7. To set out; to commence a journey or enterprise. The public coaches start at six o’clock.

When two start into the world together--

To start up, to rise suddenly, as from a seat or couch; or to come suddenly into notice or importance.

START, v.t.

1. To alarm; to disturb suddenly; to startle; to rouse.

Upon malicious bravery dost thou come, to start my quiet?

2. To rouse suddenly from concealment; to cause to flee or fly; as, to start a hare or a woodcock; to start game.

3. To bring into motion; to produce suddenly to view or notice.

Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cesar.

The present occasion has started the dispute among us.

So we say, to start a question, to start an objection; that is, to suggest or propose anew.

4. To invent or discover; to bring within pursuit.

Sensual men agree in the pursuit of every pleasure they can start.

5. To move suddenly from its place; to dislocate; as, to start a bone.

One started the end of the clavicle from the sternum.

6. To empty, as liquor from a cask; to pour out; as, to start wine into another cask.

START, n.

1. A sudden motion of the body, produced by spasm; a sudden twitch or spasmodic affection; as a start in sleep.

2. A sudden motion from alarm.

The fright awakend Arcite with a start.

3. A sudden rousing to action; a spring; excitement.

Now fear I this will give it start again.

4. Sally; sudden motion or effusion; a bursting forth; as starts of fancy.

To check the starts and sallies of the soul.

5. Sudden fit; sudden motion followed by intermission.

For she did speak in starts distractedly.

Nature does nothing by starts and leaps, or in a hurry.

6. A quick spring; a darting; a shoot; a push; as, to give a start.

Both cause the string to give a quicker start.

7. First in motion from a place; act of setting out.

The start of first performance is all.

You stand like grayhounds in the slips, straining upon the start.

To get the start, to begin before another; to gain the advantage in a similar undertaking.

Get the start of the majestic world.

She might have forsaken him, if he had not got the start of her.

START, n. A projection; a push; a horn; a tail. IN the latter sense it occurs int he name of the bird red-start. Hence the Start, in Devonshire.

STARTED, pp. Suddenly roused or alarmed; poured out, as a liquid; discovered; proposed; produced to view.

STARTER, n.

1. One that starts; one that shrinks from his purpose.

2. One that suddenly moves or suggests a question or an objection.

3. A dog that rouses game.

STARTFUL, a. Apt to start; skittish.

STARTFULNESS, n. Aptness to start.

STARTING, ppr. Moving suddenly; shrinking; rousing; commencing, as a journey, etc.

STARTING, n. The act of moving suddenly.

STARTING-HOLE, n. A loophole; evasion.

STARTINGLY, adv. By sudden fits or starts.

STARTING-POST, n. [start and post.] A post, stake, barrier or place from which competitors in a race start or begin the race.

STARTISH, a. Apt to start; skittish; shy.

STARTLE, v.i. [dim. of start.] To shrink; to move suddenly or be excited on feeling a sudden alarm.

Why shrinks the soul back on herself, and startles at destruction?

STARTLE, v.t.

1. To impress with fear; to excite by sudden alarm, surprise or apprehension; to shock; to alarm; to fright. We were startled at the cry of distress. Any great and unexpected event is apt to startle us.

The supposition that angles assume bodies, need not startle us.

2. To deter; to cause to deviate. [Little used.]

STARTLE, n. A sudden motion or shock occasioned by an unexpected alarm, surprise or apprehension of danger; sudden impression of terror.

After having recovered from my first startle, I was well pleased with the accident.

STARTLED, pp. Suddenly moved or shocked by an impression of fear or surprise.

STARTLING, ppr. Suddenly impressing with fear or surprise.

STARTUP, n. [start and up.]

1. One that comes suddenly into notice. [Not used. We use upstart.]

2. A kind of high shoe.

STARTUP, a. Suddenly coming into notice. [Not used.]

STARVE, v.i. [G., to die, either by disease or hunger, or by a wound.]

1. To perish; to be destroyed. [In this general sense, obsolete.]

2. To perish or die with cold; as, to starve with cold. [This sense is retained in England, but not in the United States.]

3. To perish with hunger. [This sense is retained in England and the United States.]

4. To suffer extreme hunger or want; to be very indigent.

Sometimes virtue starves, while vice is fed.

STARVE, v.t.

1. To kill with hunger. Maliciously to starve a man is, in law, murder.

2. To distress or subdue by famine; as, to starve a garrison into a surrender.

3. To destroy by want; as, to starve plants by the want of nutriment.

4. To kill with cold. [Not in use in the United States.]

From beds of raging fire to starve in ice their soft ethereal warmth--

5. To deprive of force or vigor.

The powers of their minds are starved by disuse. [Unusual.]

STARVED, pp.

1. Killed with hunger; subdued by hunger; rendered poor by want.

2. Killed by cold. [Not in use in the United States.]

STARVELING, a. starvling. Hungry; lean; pining with want.

STARVELING, n. starvling. An animal or plant that is made thin, lean and weak through want of nutriment.

And thy poor starveling bountifully fed.

STARVING, ppr.

1. Perishing with hunger; killing with hunger; rendering lean and poor by want of nourishment.

2. Perishing with cold; killing with cold. [English.]

STATARY, a. [from state.] Fixed; settled. [Not in use.]

STATE, n. [L., to stand, to be fixed.]

1. Condition; the circumstances of a being or thing at any given time. These circumstances may be internal, constitutional or peculiar to the being, or they may have relation to other beings. We say, the body is in a sound state, or it is in a weak state; or it has just recovered from a feeble state. The state of his health is good. The state of his mind is favorable for study. So we say, the state of public affairs calls for the exercise of talents and wisdom. In regard to foreign nations, our affairs are in a good state. So we say, single state, and married state.

Declare the past and present state of things.

2. Modification of any thing.

Keep the state of the question in your eye.

3. Crisis; stationary point; highth; point from which the next movement is regression.

Tumors have their several degrees and times, as beginning, augment, state and declination. [Not in use.]

4. Estate; possession. [See Estate.]

5. A political body, or body politic; the whole body of people united under one government, whatever may be the form of the government.

Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state.

More usually the word signifies a political body governed by representatives; a commonwealth; as the States of Greece; the States of America. In this sense, state has sometimes more immediate reference to the government, sometimes to the people or community. Thus when we say, the state has made provision for the paupers, the word has reference to the government or legislature; but when we say, the state is taxed to support paupers, the word refers to the whole people or community.

6. A body of men united by profession, or constituting a community of a particular character; as the civil and ecclesiastical states in Great Britain. But these are sometimes distinguished by the terms church and state. In this case, state signifies the civil community or government only.

7. Rank; condition; quality; as the state of honor.

8. Pomp; appearance of greatness.

In state the monarchs marchd.

Where least of state, there most of love is shown.

9. Dignity; grandeur.

She instructed him how he should keep state, yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes.

10. A seat of dignity.

This chair shall be my state.

11. A canopy; a covering of dignity.

His high throne, under state of richest texture spread-- [Unusual.]

12. A person of high rank. [Not in use.]

13. The principal persons in a government.

The bold design pleasd highly those infernal states.

14. The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country; as the states general.

15. Joined with another word, it denotes public, or what belongs to the community or body politic; as state affairs; state policy.

STATE, v.t.

1. To set; to settle. [See Stated.]

2. To express the particulars of any thing verbally; to represent fully in words; to narrate; to recite. The witnesses stated all the circumstances of the transaction. They are enjoined to state all the particulars. It is the business of the advocate to state the whole case. Let the question be fairly stated.

STATED, pp.

1. Expressed or represented; told; recited.

2. a. Settled; established; regular; occurring at regular times; not occasional; as stated hours of business.

3. Fixed; established; as a stated salary.

STATEDLY, adv. Regularly; at certain times; not occasionally. It is one of the distinguishing marks of a good man, that he statedly attends public worship.

STATELESS, a. Without pomp.

STATELINESS, n. [from stately.]

1. Grandeur; loftiness of mien or manner; majestic appearance; dignity.

For stateliness and majesty, what is comparable to a horse?

2. Appearance of pride; affected dignity.

STATELY, a.

1. Lofty; dignified; majestic; as stately manners; a stately gait.

2. Magnificent; grand; as a stately edifice; a stately dome; a stately pyramid.

3. Elevated in sentiment.

STATELY, adv. Majestically; loftily.

STATEMENT, n.

1. The act of stating, reciting or presenting verbally or on paper.

2. A series of facts or particulars expressed on paper; as a written statement.

3. A series of facts verbally recited; recital of the circumstances of a transaction; as a verbal statement.

STATE-MONGER, n. [state and monger.] One versed in politics, or one that dabbles in state affairs.

STATER, n. Another name of the daric, an ancient silver coin weighing about four Attic drachmas, about three shillings sterling, or 61 cents.

STATE-ROOM, n. [state and room.]

1. A magnificent room in a palace or great house.

2. An apartment for lodging in a ships cabin.

STATES, n. plu. Nobility.

STATESMAN, n. [state and man.]

1. A man versed in the arts of government; usually, one eminent for political abilities; a politician.

2. A small landholder.

3. One employed in public affairs.

STATESMANSHIP, n. The qualifications or employments of a statesman.

STATESWOMAN, n. A woman who meddles in public affairs; in contempt.

STATIC, STATICAL, a. [See Statics.] Relating to the science of weighing bodies; as a static balance or engine.

STATICS, n. [L., Gr.]

1. That branch of mechanics which treats of bodies at rest. Dynamics treats of bodies in motion.

2. In medicine, a kind of epileptics, or persons seized with epilepsies.

STATION, n. [L.]

1. The act of standing.

Their manner was to stand at prayer--on which their meetings for that purpose received the name of stations.

2. A state of rest.

All progression is preformed by drawing on or impelling forward what was before in station or at quiet. [Rare.]

3. The spot or place where one stands, particularly where a person habitually stands, or is appointed to remain for a time; as the station of a sentinel. Each detachment of troops had its station.

4. Post assigned; office; the part or department of public duty which a person is appointed to perform. The chief magistrate occupies the first political station in a nation. Other officers fill subordinate stations. The office of bishop is an ecclesiastical station of great importance. It is the duty of the executive to fill all civil and military stations with men of worth.

5. Situation; position.

The fig and date, why love they to remain in middle station?

6. Employment; occupation; business.

By sending the sabbath in retirement and religious exercises, we gain new strength and resolution to perform Gods will in our several stations the week following.

7. Character; state.

The greater part have kept their station.

8. Rank; condition of life. He can be contented with a humble station.

9. In church history, the fast of the fourth and sixth days of the week, Wednesday and Friday, in memory of the council which condemned Christ, and of his passion.

10. In the church of Rome, a church where indulgences are to be had on certain days.

STATION, v.t. To place; to set; or to appoint to the occupation of a post, place or office; as, to station troops on the right or left of an army; to station a sentinel on a rampart; to station ships on the coast of Africa or in the West Indies; to station a man at the head of the department of finance.

STATIONAL, a. Pertaining to a station.