stand
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /stænd/
ipa: [steənd]
rhymes: -ænd
Forms: form: stands
form: standing
form: stood
form: stood
form: standen
form: stand
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: stand
form: stand
form: stood
form: stand
form: standest
form: stood
form: stoodst
form: stoodest
form: stands
form: standeth
form: stood
form: stand
form: stood
form: stand
form: stood
form: stand
form: -
form: standing
form: stood
form: stand
form: stooden
form: standen
Etymology: From Middle English stonden, standen (verb) and stand, stond (noun, from the verb), from Old English standan (“to stand, occupy a place”), from Proto-West Germanic *standan, from Proto-Germanic *standaną (“to stand”), from Pre-Germanic *sth₂-n-t-´, an innovative extended n-infixed form of Proto-Indo-European *steh₂-.
Cognates
Cognate with Scots stand (“to stand”), Saterland Frisian stounde (“to stand”), West Frisian stean (“to stand”), dialectal German standen (“to stand”), Danish stande (“to stand”), Swedish stånda (“to stand”), Norwegian standa (“to stand”), Faroese standa (“to stand”), Icelandic standa (“to stand”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (standan), Russian стоя́ть (stojátʹ, “to stand”). Also from *steh₂-: Irish seas, Latin stare, Lithuanian stóti, Old Church Slavonic стояти (stojati), Albanian shtoj (“to increase”), Ancient Greek ἵστημι (hístēmi, “to put”), Avestan 𐬵𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 (hištaⁱti), Sanskrit तिष्ठति (tiṣṭhati). From the related Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): West Frisian stean, Dutch staan, German stehen, Danish stå.
Senses: examples: text: Here I stand, wondering what to do next.
text: I can't reach the celing. Get me a chair to stand on.
text: Then came a maid with hand-bag and shawls, and after her a tall young lady. She stood for a moment holding her skirt above the grimy steps,[…], and the light of the reflector fell full upon her.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter V, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: At one time a "standard test" for carriage riding was to stand a pencil on end on the compartment floor, or to measure how long it was possible to stand on one leg without touching the corridor walls; […]
ref: 1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The role of research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 93:
text: It’s recited in schools across the US every day by students standing stiffly with their hands over their hearts.
ref: 2019 February 19, Doug Criss, “Here’s why students don’t have to recite the Pledge of Allegiance”, in CNN:
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To support oneself on the feet in an erect position.
examples: text: Stand up, walk to the refrigerator, and get your own snack.
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To rise to one’s feet; to stand up.
examples: text: Do not leave your car standing in the road.
text: The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Matthew 2:9:
text: The slightest effort made the patient cough. He would stand leaning on a stick and holding a hand to his side, and when the paroxysm had passed it left him shaking.
ref: 1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XXIII, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
text: 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.
ref: 1914 November, Louis Joseph Vance, “An Outsider […]”, in Munsey’s Magazine, volume LIII, number II, New York, N.Y.: The Frank A[ndrew] Munsey Company, […], published 1915, →OCLC, chapter III (Accessory After the Fact), page 382, column 1:
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To remain motionless.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC:
text: He seized the gun which always stood in a corner of his bedroom […]
ref: 1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC:
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To be placed in an upright or vertical orientation.
examples: text: He stood the broom in a corner and took a break.
text: At one time a "standard test" for carriage riding was to stand a pencil on end on the compartment floor, or to measure how long it was possible to stand on one leg without touching the corridor walls; [...].
ref: 1961 February, R. K. Evans, “The role of research on British Railways”, in Trains Illustrated, page 93:
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To place in an upright or standing position.
examples: text: Paris stands on the Seine.
text: The chapel ſtands on the South ſide of the ſquare, near the governor’s houſe.
ref: 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, 6:
text: Las Vegas police say the number of people injured now stands at 515.
ref: 2017 October 2, "Las Vegas shooting: At least 58 dead at Mandalay Bay Hotel", in bbc.com, BBC
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To occupy or hold a place; to be set, placed, fixed, located, or situated.
examples: text: 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; […]
ref: 1855, Alfred Tennyson, “Maud”, in Maud, and Other Poems, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, part XIII, stanza 1, page 44:
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To measure when erect on the feet.
examples: text: many an orphan’s water-standing eye
ref: c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene vi]:
text: 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 […]
ref: 1651, Francis Bacon, “Sir Jervas his Confession”, in A True and Historical Relation of the Poysoning of Sir Thomas Overbury, London: John Benson & John Playford, page 71:
text: [He] pull’d me up again, and then giving me tvvo or three Kiſſes again, thank’d me for my kind yielding to him; and vvas ſo overcome with the Satisfaction and Joy of it, that I savv Tears ſtand in his Eyes.
ref: 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 222:
text: 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 […]
ref: 1842 December – 1844 July, Charles Dickens, chapter 32, in The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1844, →OCLC, page 380:
text: How he escaped a broken neck in that dreadful place no human being will ever ken. The sweat, he has told me, stood in cold drops upon his forehead […]
ref: 1902 January, John Buchan, “The Outgoing of the Tide”, in The Watcher by the Threshold, and Other Tales, Edinburgh; London: William Blackwood and Sons, published 1902, →OCLC, page 258:
glosses: To position or be positioned physically:
To be present, to have welled up.
qualifier: sweat
raw_tags: of tears
examples: text: He stands to get a good price for the house.
glosses: To position or be positioned mentally:
To be positioned to gain or lose.
examples: text: I can’t stand when people don’t read the instructions.
text: I can’t stand him.
text: [I]f you call my duds a ‘livery’ again there'll be trouble. It's bad enough to go around togged out like a life saver on a drill day, but I can stand that 'cause I'm paid for it. What I won't stand is to have them togs called a livery.
ref: 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter VII, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
glosses: To position or be positioned mentally:
To tolerate.
raw_tags: in the negative
examples: text: [R]eaders by whose judgment I would stand or fall […]
ref: 1712 February 13 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison], “SATURDAY, February 2, 1711–1712”, in The Spectator, number 291; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume III, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
glosses: To position or be positioned mentally:
To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or yield; to be safe.
examples: text: The king granted the Jews[…]to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Esther 8:11:
text: the standing pattern of their imitation
ref: 1660 August 8 (Gregorian calendar), Robert South, “(please specify the sermon number)[Sermon preached at St. Mary’s Church in Oxon]”, in Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions. […], new edition, volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), London: […] Thomas Tegg, […], published 1843, →OCLC:
glosses: To position or be positioned mentally:
To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition.
examples: text: sacrifices[…]which stood only in meats and drinks
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Hebrews 9:10:
text: Accomplish what your signs foreshow; / I stand resigned, and am prepared to go.
ref: 1697, Virgil, “(please specify the book number)”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: Thou seest how it stands with me[…], and that I may not tarry.
ref: 1826, [Walter Scott], Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown, and Green, →OCLC:
glosses: To position or be positioned mentally:
To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist.
topics: ball-games
cricket
games
hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To act as an umpire.
examples: text: The works of Shakespeare have stood the test of time.
text: Love stood the siege.
ref: 1700, [John] Dryden, “Theodore and Honoria, from Boccace”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
text: Bid him disband his legions,[…]/ And stand the judgment of a Roman senate.
ref: 1712 (date written), [Joseph] Addison, Cato, a Tragedy. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson, […], published 1713, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
text: That not for Fame, but Virtue's better end, / He ſtood the furious Foe, the timid Friend, […]
ref: 1735 January 13 (Gregorian calendar; indicated as 1734), [Alexander] Pope, An Epistle from Mr. Pope, to Dr. Arbuthnot, London: […] J[ohn] Wright for Lawton Gilliver […], →OCLC, page 16, lines 324–325:
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To undergo; withstand; hold up.
examples: text: He is standing for election to the local council.
text: He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university.
ref: 1678, Izaak Walton, The Life of Robert Sanderson:
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To be a candidate (in an election).
examples: text: What I said yesterday still stands.
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To remain valid.
examples: text: "Kim, Jack, and I will stand you guys," Jimmie Burdette said. / "We'll smear you!" laughed Ron.
ref: 1957, Matt Christopher, chapter 7, in Basketball Sparkplug:
text: 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."
ref: c. 1973, R. J. Childerhose, Hockey Fever in Goganne Falls, page 95:
text: "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.
ref: 1978, Louis Sachar, chapter 21, in Sideways Stories from Wayside School, page 86:
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To oppose, usually as a team, in competition.
examples: text: to stand a round of drinks
text: to stand a treat
text: to stand bail (security in respect of an arrested person)
text: I will either stand a glass of grog, or thou shalt pay the like for me, my lad
ref: 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To cover the expense of; to pay for.
examples: text: Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts.
text: President Obama gave his first extended television interview since the protests in Libya and Egypt to Telemundo on Wednesday night, and he took the opportunity to explain the U.S.'s role in the developing world while clarifying where the country stands with Egypt right now.
ref: 2022 September 13, Connor Simpson, “Obama is neutral on Egypt right now”, in Jeffrey Goldberg, editor, The Atlantic, Washington, D.C.: The Atlantic Monthly Group, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 04 Aug 2020:
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation.
examples: text: Doubt me not, by Heauen, I vvill doe nothing / But vvhat may ſtand vvith honour: […]
ref: c. 1619 (date written), P[hilip] M[assinger], N[athan] F[ield], The Fatall Dowry: A Tragedy. […], London: […] Iohn Norton, for Francis Constable, […], published 1632, →OCLC, Act IV, signature I2, verso:
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To be consistent; to agree; to accord.
glosses: To position or be positioned socially:
To appear in court.
examples: text: 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[…].
ref: 1630, John Smith, True Travels, Kupperman, published 1988, page 40:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: Of a ship or its captain, to steer, sail (in a specified direction, for a specified destination etc.).
examples: text: My mind on its own centre stands unmov'd.
ref: 1692, John Dryden, Cleomenes, the Spartan Hero, a Tragedy:
text: The ruin'd wall / Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone.
ref: 1816, Lord Byron, “Canto III”, in Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Canto the Third, London: […] [F]or John Murray, […], →OCLC, stanza XXXII:
glosses: To remain without ruin or injury.
topics: card-games
games
glosses: To stop asking for more cards; to keep one's hand as it has been dealt so far.
Derived terms: a house divided against itself cannot stand
a leg to stand on
all standing
astand
behind every successful man there stands a woman
bestand
can't stand
dwarf standing on the shoulders of giants
forstand
gainstand
I stand corrected
make someone's hair stand on end
not have a leg to stand on
offstand
outstand
overstand
stand a chance
stand alone
stand-alone
stand and be counted
stand and deliver
stand and stir
stand apart
stand around
stand aside
stand at attention
stand back
stand behind
stand between
stand by
stand-by-bed
stand confessed
stand corrected
stand-down
stand down
stand easy
standee
stand fast the Holy Ghost
stand fire
stand firm
stand for
stand from under
stand guard
stand-in
stand in
stand in for
standing on one's head
stand in good stead
stand in one's own light
stand in one's value
stand in someone's shoes
stand in the gap
stand in the gate
stand in the way
stand off
stand-off
stand on
stand on business
stand on ceremony
stand on end
stand one's ground
stand one's hand
stand on its own
stand on line
stand on one's dignity
stand on one's head
stand on one's own bottom
stand on one's own two feet
stand on someone's shoulders
stand on the shoulders of
stand on the shoulders of giants
stand on velvet
stand out
stand over
stand pad
stand pat
stand Sam
stand sentinel
stand sentry
stand shilly-shally
stand someone in hand
stand still
stand tall
stand there like a lemon
stand the test of time
stand to
stand together
stand to pee
stand to reason
stand treat
stand trial
stand under
stand up against
stand up and be counted
stand up for
stand upon one's dignity
stand up on one's hind legs
stand upon one's terms
stand upon points
stand up
stand-up
standup
stand up to
stand up with
stand watch
stand with
time stand still
true as I'm standing here
true as I stand here
understand
upstand
where you stand depends on where you sit
withstand