English
stand
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /stænd/
  • (/æ/ tensing) IPA: [steənd]
Verb

stand (stands, present participle standing; past stood, past participle stood)

  1. (heading) To position#Verb|position or be positioned physically.
    1. (intransitive) To support oneself on the feet in an erect position.
      Here I stand, wondering what to do next.
    2. (intransitive) To rise to one’s feet; to stand up.
      Stand up, walk to the refrigerator, and get your own snack.
    3. (intransitive) To remain motionless.
      Do not leave your car standing in the road.
      • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Gospel of Matthew 2:9,
        The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
      • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, chapter III, in Nobody, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, published 1915, OCLC 40817384 ↗:
        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 be placed in an upright or vertical orientation.
      • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175 ↗:
        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.
      • 1945 August 17, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter 1, in Animal Farm: A Fairy Story, London: Secker & Warburg, OCLC 3655473 ↗:
        He seized the gun which always stood in a corner of his bedroom […].
    5. (transitive) To place in an upright or standing position.
      He stood the broom in a corner and took a break.
    6. (intransitive) To occupy or hold a place; to be set, placed, fixed, located, or situated.
      Paris stands on the Seine.
      • 1774, Edward Long, The History of Jamaica. Or, General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island, volume 2, book 2, chapter 7, gbooks xr0NAAAAQAAJ:
        The chapel ſtands on the South ſide of the ſquare, near the governor’s houſe.
      • 2017 October 2, "Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead at Mandalay Bay Hotel ↗", in bbc.com, BBC:
        Las Vegas police say the number of people injured now stands at 515.
    7. (intransitive) To measure when erect on the feet.
      • 1855, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Maud, XIII, 1. in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, p. 44,
        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;
    8. (intransitive) (of tears) To be present, to have welled up (in the eyes).
      • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 3, Act V, Scene 6,
        many an orphan’s water-standing eye
      • 1651, Francis Bacon, A True and Historical Relation of the Poysoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, London: John Benson & John Playford, “Sir Jervas his Confession,” p. 71,
        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 […]
      • 1722, Daniel Defoe, Moll Flanders, London: W. Chetwood & T. Edling, p. 222,
        [he] pull’d me up again, and then giving me two or three Kisses again, thank’d me for my kind yielding to him; and was so overcome with the Satisfaction and Joy of it, that I saw Tears stand in his Eyes.
      • 1844, Charles Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman & Hall, Chapter 32, p. 380,
        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 […]
  2. (heading) To position#Verb|position or be positioned mentally.
    1. (intransitive, followed by to + infinitive) To be positioned to gain or lose.
      He stands to get a good price for the house.
    2. (transitive, negative) To tolerate.
      I can’t stand when people don’t read the instructions.
      I can’t stand him.
    3. (intransitive) To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or yield; to be safe.
      • readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall
    4. (intransitive) To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition.
      • Bible, Book of Esther viii. 11
        The king granted the Jews […] to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.
      • the standing pattern of their imitation
    5. (intransitive, obsolete) To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist.
      • Bible, Epistle to the Hebrews ix. 10
        sacrifices […] which stood only in meats and drinks
      • Accomplish what your signs foreshow; / I stand resigned, and am prepared to go.
      • 1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. A Tale of the Year Sixteen Hundred and Fifty-one. [...] In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed [by James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, OCLC 991895633 ↗:
        {quote-meta/quote
  3. (heading) To position#Verb|position or be positioned socially.
    1. (intransitive, cricket) To act as an umpire.
    2. (transitive) To undergo; withstand; hold up.
      The works of Shakespeare have stood the test of time.
      • Love stood the siege.
      • 1713, Joseph Addison, Cato, published 1712, [Act 2, scene 1]:
        Bid him disband his legions, […] / And stand the judgment of a Roman senate.
      • 1735, [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London; Dublin: Re-printed by George Faulkner, bookseller, […], OCLC 6363280 ↗:
        He stood the furious foe.
    3. (intransitive, British) To seek election.
      He is standing for election to the local council.
      • He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university.
    4. (intransitive) To be valid.
      What I said yesterday still stands.
    5. (transitive) To oppose, usually as a team, in competition.
      • 1957, Matt Christopher, Basketball Sparkplug ↗, Ch.7:
        "Kim, Jack, and I will stand you guys," Jimmie Burdette said. ¶ "We'll smear you!" laughed Ron.
      • circa 1973 R. J. Childerhose, Hockey Fever in Goganne Falls ↗, p.95:
        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."
      • 1978, Louis Sachar, Sideways Stories from Wayside School ↗, Ch.21:
        "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.
    6. (transitive) To cover the expense of; to pay for.
      to stand a treat
    7. (intransitive) To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation.
      Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts.
    8. (intransitive) To be consistent; to agree; to accord.
      • Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing / But what may stand with honour.
    9. (intransitive) To appear in court.
  4. (intransitive, nautical) Of a ship or its captain, to steer, sail (in a specified direction, for a specified destination etc.).
    • 1630, John Smith, True Travels, in Kupperman 1988, p.40:
      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 […].
  5. (intransitive) To remain without ruin or injury.
    • My mind on its own centre stands unmoved.
    • The ruin'd wall / Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone.
  6. (card games) To stop asking for more cards; to keep one's hand as it has been dealt so far.
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • German: kandidieren
  • Italian: candidarsi, entrare in lizza, gareggiare
  • Portuguese: candidatar-se
  • Russian: баллоти́роваться
Noun

stand (plural stands)

  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.
  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
    • 1913, Mrs. [Marie] Belloc Lowndes, chapter II, in The Lodger, London: Methuen, OCLC 7780546 ↗; republished in Novels of Mystery: The Lodger; The Story of Ivy; What Really Happened, New York, N.Y.: Longmans, Green and Co., […], [1933], OCLC 2666860 ↗, page 0091 ↗:
      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.
  6. The platform on which a witness testifies in court; the witness stand or witness box.
    She took the stand and quietly answered questions.
  7. A particular grove or other group of trees or shrubs.
    This stand of pines is older than the one next to it.
  8. (forestry) 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.
  9. A standstill, a motionless state, as of someone confused, or a hunting dog who has found game.
    • 1625, Francis Bacon, “Of Truth”, Essays
      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.
    • 1819, Lord Byron, Don Juan (Byron), I.168:
      Antonia's patience now was at a stand— / "Come, come, 't is no time now for fooling there," / She whispered […]
  10. A small building, booth, or stage, as in a bandstand or hamburger stand.
  11. A designated spot where someone or something may stand or wait.
    a taxi stand
  12. (US, dated) The situation of a shop, store, hotel, etc.
    a good, bad, or convenient stand for business
  13. (sports) Grandstand. (often in the plural)
  14. (cricket) A partnership.
  15. (military, plural often stand) A single set, as of arms.
    • 1927, Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld, Paragon House (1990), ISBN 1-55778-348-9, p.170:
      The police and troops captured eleven thousand stand of arms, including muskets and pistols, together with several thousand bludgeons and other weapons.
  16. (obsolete) Rank; post; station; standing.
    • Father, since your fortune did attain / So high a stand, I mean not to descend.
  17. (dated) A state of perplexity or embarrassment.
    to be at a stand what to do
  18. 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.
  19. (obsolete) A weight of from two hundred and fifty to three hundred pounds, used in weighing pitch.
  20. A location or position where one may stand.
    • c. 1604 Measure for Measure by Wm Shakespeare
      Come, I have found you out a stand most fit, / Where you may have such vantage on the duke, / He shall not pass you.
Translations
  • Italian: in piedi
Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations Translations
  • Italian: sala d'aspetto
  • Russian: стоя́нка
Related terms

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