stanch

English

Pronunciation
  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /stɑːn(t)ʃ/, /stæn(t)ʃ/
  • Audio (RP)(file)
  • (General American) IPA(key): /stæn(t)ʃ/
  • Rhymes: -ɑːntʃ, -æntʃ

Etymology 1

From Middle English stanch, a variant of staunch, staunche (“(adjective) in good condition or repair; solidly made, firm; watertight; of a person or wound: not bleeding; certain; intact; (adverb) firmly, soundly”) [and other forms];[1] see further at staunch.[2]

Adjective

stanch (comparative stancher, superlative stanchest)

  1. Archaic spelling of staunch.
    a stanch ship    a stanch churchman
    • 1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Certaine Observations and Subtleties to be Used by Huntsmen in Hunting an Hart at Force”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, OCLC 948181259, page 112:
      [T]he horſemen & huntſmen ſhould blemiſh at ſuch places as they ſee the Hart enter into a thicket or couert to the end that if the hounds fall to change, they may return to thoſe blemiſhes, and put their hounds to the right ſlot and view, vntill they haue rowzed or found him againe with their bloudhound, or with ſome other ſtanch old hound of the kennell, in the which they may aſſie themſelues. For old ſtaunch houndes which will not hunt change, when they ſee an Hart rowzed & before them, they neuer call on, nor once open: but if they be young raſh houndes, they will runne with full cry & ſo take change.
    • 1624, Phillip [i.e., Philip] Massinger, The Bond-man: An Antient Storie. […], London: […] Edw[ard] Allde, for Iohn Harison and Edward Blackmore, […], OCLC 31115323, Act I, scene iii, signature [B4], recto:
      VVe may commend / A Gentlemans modeſty, manners, and fine language, / […] / Yet, though he obſerue, and vvaſte his ſtate vpon vs, / If he be ſtanch and bid not for the ſtocke / That vve vvere borne to traffick vvith; the truth is / VVe care not for his company.
    • 1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], OCLC 879551664, page 27:
      Hovv goodly, and hovv to be vviſht vvere ſuch an obedient unanimity as this, vvhat a fine conformity vvould it ſtarch us all into? doubtles a ſtanch and ſolid peece of frame-vvork, as any January could freeze together.
    • 1669, Robert Boyle, “Experiment XLVII. About an Attempt Made to Measure the Force of the Spring of Included Air, and Examine a Conjecture about the Difference of Its Strength in Unequally Broad Mouth’d Vessels.”, in A Continuation of New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air, and Their Effects. The I. Part. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Henry Hall, printer to the University, for Richard Davis, OCLC 493667962, page 160:
      [T]vvas very difficult to procure a Bladder ſmall and fine enough for that litle Cylinder; and that one, vvhich at length vve procured, vvould not continue ſtanch for many Tryals, but vvould after a vvhile part vvith a litle Air in the vvell exhauſted Receiver, vvhen tvvas clog'd vvith the utmoſt VVeight it could ſuſtain: but vvhilſt it continued ſtanch vve made one fair Tryal vvith it, […]
    • 1679 August 2 (Gregorian calendar)​, John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 23 July 1679]”, in William Bray, editor, Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], volume I, 2nd edition, London: Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published 1819, OCLC 976971842, page 511:
      [T]he house a stanch good old building, and what was singular, some of the roomes floor'd dove-tail-wise without a nail, exactly close. One of the closetts is parquetted with plaine deale, set in diamond, exceeding stanch and pretty.
    • 1689 May 24 (date written; Gregorian calendar)​, Mat[thew] Prior, “An Epistle to Fleetwood Shephard, Esq”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, OCLC 1103119849, page 20:
      In Politicks, I hear, you're ſtanch, / Directly bent againſt the French; / Deny to have your free-born Toe / Dragoon'd into a VVooden Shoe: […]
    • 1856 May 10 (date written)​, Nathaniel Hawthorne, “Scotland.—Glasgow. May 10th. [1856.]”, in Passages from the English Note-books of Nathaniel Hawthorne, volume II, Boston, Mass.: Fields, Osgood, & Co., published 1870, OCLC 3526454, page 34:
      This part of the castle was burned last autumn; but it is now under repair, and the wall of the tower is still stanch and strong.

Adverb

stanch (comparative more stanch, superlative most stanch)

  1. (obsolete) Possibly strictly.

Etymology 2

From Middle English stanch, stanche [and other forms], a variant of Middle English staunchen, staunche (“to stop the flow of blood, diarrhoea, or other bodily fluids; to alleviate, ease; to appease, assuage, satisfy; to cure; to overcome; to put an end to; to repress, suppress; of a river or stream: to stop flowing; of waters, wind, or weather: to become calm, subside; to extinguish or put out (a fire)”) [and other forms],[3] from Anglo-Norman estauncher, estaunchier, estanger, Old French estancher, estanchier (“to stop the flow of a liquid (blood, water, etc.); to make (something) watertight; to quench (thirst)”) (modern French étancher (“to stop the flow of a liquid; to make watertight; to quench (thirst); (figuratively) to assuage, quench, satiate”) [and other forms], possibly from one of the following:

Sense 1.2 (“to make (a building or other structure) watertight or weatherproof”) is derived from French étancher (“to stop water from flowing, make watertight”), from Old French estanchier (verb): see above.[4]

cognates
  • Catalan estancar (“to hold up, block, halt (something); to come to a standstill; to stagnate”)
  • Galician estancar (“to stop (the flow of blood, water, etc.)”)
  • Occitan estancar
  • Portuguese estancar (“to stop (the flow of blood); to stop (an action); to come to a standstill; to exhaust, weary”)
  • Spanish estancar (“to stop (the flow of water, etc.); to stop (an action); to stagnate”)

Verb

stanch (third-person singular simple present stanches, present participle stanching, simple past and past participle stanched) (especially American spelling)

  1. (transitive, archaic except poetic) To stop the flow of (water or some other liquid).
    1. To stop the flow of (blood); to stop (a wound) from bleeding.
      A small amount of cotton can be stuffed into the nose to stanch the flow of blood if necessary.
      • 1631, Francis [Bacon], “I. Century.”, in Sylua Syluarum: Or A Naturall Historie. In Ten Centuries. […], 3rd edition, London: […] William Rawley; [p]rinted by J[ohn] H[aviland] for William Lee […], page 22, OCLC 1044372886:
        Bloud is ſtanched diuers vvayes. […] As Iron, or a Stone laid to the necke doth ſtanch the Bleeding at the Noſe; Alſo it hath beene tried, that the Teſticles, being put into ſharpe Vinegar, hath made a ſudden Receſſe of the Spirits, and ſtanched Bloud.
      • 1709, Matthew Prior, “Henry and Emma. […]”, in The Poetical Works of Matthew Prior […], Edinburgh: James Nichol, […], published 1858, OCLC 1000393117, lines 358–361, page 153:
        Touched in the battle by the hostile reed, / Shouldst thou (but Heaven avert it!) shouldst thou bleed; / To stanch the wounds, my finest lawn I'd tear, / Wash them with tears, and wipe them with my hair; […]
      • 1715, Homer; [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book IV”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume I, London: […] W[illiam] Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott […], OCLC 670734254, lines 228–229, page 11:
        Novv ſeek ſome skilful Hand vvhoſe povv'rful Art / May ſtanch th' Effuſion and extract the Dart.
      • 1782, William Cowper, “Retirement”, in Poems, London: […] J[oseph] Johnson, […], OCLC 1029672464, page 274:
        He that has not uſurp'd the name of man, / Does all, and deems too little, all he can, / T' aſſuage the throbbings of the feſter'd part, / And ſtaunch the bleedings of a broken heart; […]
      • 1820, Walter Scott, chapter VII, in Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662, page 178:
        [T]he iron head of a square cross-bow bolt disengaged itself from the wound, the bleeding was staunched, the wound was closed, and the dying man was, within the quarter of an hour, walking upon the ramparts, […]
      • 1859, Alfred Tennyson, “Elaine”, in Idylls of the King, London: Edward Moxon & Co., […], OCLC 911789798, page 174:
        Then came the hermit out and bare him in, / There stanch'd his wound; […]
    2. To make (a building or other structure) watertight or weatherproof.
      • 1847, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, OCLC 625986, page 240:
        His gathered sticks to stanch the wall / Of the snow-tower, when snow should fall; […]
  2. (transitive) To check or stop, or deter, (an action).
    1. To stop the progression of (an illness); also, to alleviate (pain); often followed by of: to relieve (someone's) pain.
      • 1562, Wylliam Turner [i.e., William Turner], “Of the Sea Unyon Called Squilla”, in The Second Parte of Guilliam Turners Herball⸝ […], Cologne: […] Arnold Birckman, OCLC 1157385678, folio 131, recto:
        It [squill] ſtancheth the ache of the ſtomack⸝ it helpeth digeſtion⸝ and maketh a man well colored.
  3. (transitive, obsolete) To extinguish or put out (a fire, anger, etc.); also, to quench or satisfy (desire, hunger, thirst, etc.).
  4. (intransitive, also reflexive) Of bleeding: to stop.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], OCLC 964384981, Luke 8:43–44, column 1:
      And a woman hauing an iſſue of blood twelue yeres, which had ſpent all her liuing vpon Phiſitions, neither could be healed of any, / Came behinde him [Jesus], and touched the border of his garment: and immediatly her iſſue of blood ſtanched.
    • 1655, Lazarus Riverius [i.e., Lazare Rivière], “Of Bleeding at the Nose, Called Hæmorrhagia”, in Nicholas Culpeper, Abdiah Cole, and William Rowland, transl., The Practice of Physick, […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], OCLC 228726543, 4th book (Of the Diseases of the Nostrils), page 118:
      [G]iving a dram and a half of Lapis Prunellæ in cold VVater, preſently the blood ſtanched vvhen the ſame and other Medicines could not formerly do it.
  5. (intransitive, also reflexive, obsolete) Of an occurrence or other thing: to come to an end; to cease; also, of persons: to stop acting violently.
Usage notes

Stanch is more commonly used as the spelling of the verb compared to staunch, especially in the United States; while staunch is more common as the spelling of the adjective, with stanch now regarded as archaic. Prescriptively, some readers may assume that reversals of these preferences are incorrect.

Conjugation
Conjugation of stanch
infinitive (to) stanch
present tense past tense
1st-person singular stanch stanched
2nd-person singular stanch, stanchest† stanched, stanchedst†
3rd-person singular stanches, stancheth† stanched
plural stanch
subjunctive stanch stanched
imperative stanch —
participles stanching stanched

†Archaic or obsolete.

Alternative forms
Derived terms
Translations
to make (a building or other structure) watertight or weatherproof — See also translations at weatherproof
to check or stop, or deter, (an action) — See also translations at stop,‎ deter
to alleviate (pain); to relieve (someone’s) pain — see alleviate,‎ relieve

Etymology 3

See staunch (etymology 3).

Noun

stanch (plural stanches)

  1. Alternative spelling of staunch (“that which stanches; act of stanching”)

Etymology 4

From Old French estanche (“pond; tank”), from estanc (“pond”) (modern French étang (“pond; lagoon”)), from estanchier (verb): see further at etymology 2.[5]

Noun

stanch (plural stanches)

  1. A floodgate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a shallow part of a stream by its release; also, a dam or lock in a river.
Alternative forms
Translations
floodgate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a shallow part of a stream by its release — see floodgate
dam or lock — see dam,‎ lock

References
  1. “staunch(e, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  2. Compare “stanch2, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  3. “staunchen, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
  4. “stanch | staunch, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, December 2022; “stanch1, v.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  5. “stanch | staunch, n.2”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

Further reading

Anagrams
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