Stand v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stood p. pr. & vb. n. Standing.]
1. To be at rest in an erect position; to be fixed in an upright or firm position; as: (a) To be supported on the feet, in an erect or nearly erect position; -- opposed to lie, sit, kneel, etc. “I pray you all, stand up!” --Shak. (b) To continue upright in a certain locality, as a tree fixed by the roots, or a building resting on its foundation.
It stands as it were to the ground yglued. --Chaucer.
The ruined wall
Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone. --Byron.
2. To occupy or hold a place; to have a situation; to be situated or located; as, Paris stands on the Seine.
Wite ye not where there stands a little town? --Chaucer.
3. To cease from progress; not to proceed; to stop; to pause; to halt; to remain stationary.
I charge thee, stand,
And tell thy name. --Dryden.
The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. --Matt. ii. 9.
4. To remain without ruin or injury; to hold good against tendencies to impair or injure; to be permanent; to endure; to last; hence, to find endurance, strength, or resources.
My mind on its own center stands unmoved. --Dryden.
5. 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. --Spectator.
6. To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition. “The standing pattern of their imitation.”
The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life. --Esther viii. 11.
7. To adhere to fixed principles; to maintain moral rectitude; to keep from falling into error or vice.
We must labor so as to stand with godliness, according to his appointment. --Latimer.
8. To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation; as, Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts.
9. To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist. “Sacrifices . . . which stood only in meats and drinks.”
Accomplish what your signs foreshow;
I stand resigned, and am prepared to go. --Dryden.
Thou seest how it stands with me, and that I may not tarry. --Sir W. Scott.
10. To be consistent; to agree; to accord.
Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing
But what may stand with honor. --Massinger.
11. Naut. To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the shore; to stand for the harbor.
From the same parts of heaven his navy stands. --Dryden.
12. To offer one's self, or to be offered, as a candidate.
He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university. --Walton.
13. To stagnate; not to flow; to be motionless.
Or the black water of Pomptina stands. --Dryden.
14. To measure when erect on the feet.
Six feet two, as I think, he stands. --Tennyson.
15. Law (a) To be or remain as it is; to continue in force; to have efficacy or validity; to abide. --Bouvier. (b) To appear in court. --Burrill.
16. Card Playing To be, or signify that one is, willing to play with one's hand as dealt.
Stand by Naut., a preparatory order, equivalent to Be ready.
To stand against, to oppose; to resist.
To stand by. (a) To be near; to be a spectator; to be present. (b) To be aside; to be set aside with disregard. “In the interim [we] let the commands stand by neglected.” --Dr. H. More. (c) To maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert; as, to stand by one's principles or party. (d) To rest on for support; to be supported by. --Whitgift. (e) To remain as a spectator, and take no part in an action; as, we can't just stand idly by while people are being killed.
To stand corrected, to be set right, as after an error in a statement of fact; to admit having been in error. --Wycherley.
To stand fast, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable.
To stand firmly on, to be satisfied or convinced of. “Though Page be a secure fool, and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty.” --Shak.
To stand for. (a) To side with; to espouse the cause of; to support; to maintain, or to profess or attempt to maintain; to defend. “I stand wholly for you.” --Shak. (b) To be in the place of; to be the substitute or representative of; to represent; as, 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.” --Locke. (c) To tolerate; as, I won't stand for any delay.
To stand in, to cost. “The same standeth them in much less cost.” --Robynson (More's Utopia).
The Punic wars could not have stood the human race in less than three millions of the species. --Burke.
To stand in hand, to conduce to one's interest; to be serviceable or advantageous.
To stand off. (a) To keep at a distance. (b) Not to comply. (c) To keep at a distance in friendship, social intercourse, or acquaintance. (d) To appear prominent; to have relief. “Picture is best when it standeth off, as if it were carved.” --Sir H. Wotton.
To stand off and on Naut., to remain near a coast by sailing toward land and then from it.
To stand on Naut., to continue on the same tack or course.
To stand out. (a) To project; to be prominent. “Their eyes stand out with fatness.” --Psalm lxxiii. 7. (b) 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. --Shak.
To stand to. (a) To ply; to urge; to persevere in using. “Stand to your tackles, mates, and stretch your oars.” --Dryden. (b) To remain fixed in a purpose or opinion. “I will stand to it, that this is his sense.” --Bp. Stillingfleet. (c) To abide by; to adhere to; as to a contract, assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award; to stand to one's word. (d) Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain, as one's ground. “Their lives and fortunes were put in safety, whether they stood to it or ran away.” --Bacon. (e) To be consistent with; to agree with; as, it stands to reason that he could not have done so; same as stand with, below . (f) To support; to uphold. “Stand to me in this cause.” --Shak.
To stand together, to be consistent; to agree.
To stand to reason to be reasonable; to be expected.
To stand to sea Naut., to direct the course from land.
To stand under, to undergo; to withstand. --Shak.
To stand up. (a) To rise from sitting; to be on the feet. (b) To arise in order to speak or act. “Against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed.” --Acts xxv. 18. (c) To rise and stand on end, as the hair. (d) To put one's self in opposition; to contend. “Once we stood up about the corn.” --Shak.
To stand up for, to defend; to justify; to support, or attempt to support; as, to stand up for the administration.
To stand upon. (a) To concern; to interest. (b) To value; to esteem. “We highly esteem and stand much upon our birth.” --Ray. (c) To insist on; to attach much importance to; as, to stand upon security; to stand upon ceremony. (d) To attack; to assault. [A Hebraism] “So I stood upon him, and slew him.” --2 Sam. i. 10.
To stand with, to be consistent with. “It stands with reason that they should be rewarded liberally.” --Sir J. Davies.