• (RP) IPA: /stɑːns/, /stæns/
• (GA) IPA: /stæns/

stance (plural stances)

1. The manner, pose#Noun|pose, or posture#Noun|posture in which one stand#Verb|stands.

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

2. One's opinion or point of view.

   Synonyms: position, posture, stand

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

3. A place#Noun|place to stand; a position#Noun|position, a site#Noun|site, a station#Noun|station.
   • 1810, Walter Scott, The Lady of the Lake; a Poem, Edinburgh: Printed [by James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, OCLC 6632529 ↗, canto IV (The Prophecy), stanza VIII, pages 152–153 ↗:

     No! sooner may the Saxon lance / Unfix Benledi from his stance, / Than doubt or terror can pierce through / The unyielding heart of Robert Dhu; {{...}

   • 1815, Walter Scott, The Field of Waterloo; a Poem, Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne & Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. […]; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and John Murray, OCLC 2786541 ↗, stanza XIII, page 25 ↗:

     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.— {{...}

   1. (specifically, climbing) A foothold or ledge on which to set up a belay#Noun|belay.
4. (Scotland) A place for bus#Noun|buses or taxi#Noun|taxis to await passengers; a bus stop, a taxi rank.

   Synonyms: stand

5. (Scotland) A place where a fair#Noun|fair or market#Noun|market is held; a location where a street trader can carry on business.

   Synonyms: stand

6. (obsolete, rare) A stanza.
   • [1613], Geo[rge] Chapman, The Memorable Maske of the Two Honorable Houses or Innes of Court; the Middle Temple, and Lyncolns Inne. […], London: Printed by G[eorge] Eld for George Norton […], OCLC 1002877766 ↗; republished in Richard Herne Shepherd, The Comedies and Tragedies of George Chapman […] in Three Volumes, volume III, London: John Pearson […], 1873, OCLC 1064225262 ↗, page 114 ↗:

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

• French: position, posture
• German: Einstellung, Positur
• Italian: postura
• Portuguese: postura, posição
• Russian: по́за
• Spanish: postura

• French: position, attitude
• German: Haltung, Einstellung, Verhältnis, Standpunkt, point de vue
• Italian: opinione, punto di vista, posizione, istanza
• Portuguese: postura, posição
• Russian: пози́ция
• Spanish: posición, postura

stance (stances, present participle stancing; past and past participle stanced)

1. (transitive, Scotland) To place#Verb|place, to position#Verb|position, to station#Verb|station; (specifically) to put (cattle) into an enclosure or pen#Noun|pen in preparation for sale.