stand

Definition

To position or be positioned physically:

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 staund (“to stand”), Yola sthoan, sthoane, sthone, stoane (“to stand”), North Frisian staan, stoune, stuine, stun, stönje, stööne (“to stand”), Saterland Frisian stounde (“to stand”), Danish stande (“to stand”), Faroese and Icelandic standa (“to stand”), Norwegian Nynorsk standa, stå (“to stand”), Swedish stånda (“to stand”), Gothic 𐍃𐍄𐌰𐌽𐌳𐌰𐌽 (standan, “to stand”). From the related Proto-Germanic *stāną (“to stand”): West Frisian stean (“to stand”), Alemannic German staa (“to stand”), Central Franconian stiehn, stohn, stonn (“to stand”), Cimbrian stean (“to stand”), Dutch staan (“to stand”), German stehen, stehn (“to stand”), Low German stahn, staon (“to stand”), Luxembourgish stoen (“to stand”), Vilamovian śtejn (“to stand”), Yiddish שטיין (shteyn, “to stand”), Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Swedish stå (“to stand”), Faroese stá (“to stand”). Also from *steh₂-: Breton and Cornish sevel (“to stand”), Welsh sefyll (“to stand”), Latin stō (“to stand”), Greek σταυρός (stavrós, “cross”), Albanian shtyllë (“pillar; column”), Latvian stāvēt (“to stand”), Lithuanian stóti, stovėti (“to stand”), Belarusian стая́ць (stajácʹ, “to stand”), Bulgarian стоя́ (stojá, “to stand, stay”), Czech stát (“to stand”), Macedonian стои (stoi, “to stand”), Polish stać, stojeć (“to stand”), Russian стоя́ть (stojátʹ, “to stand”), Serbo-Croatian ста̏јати, stȁjati (“to stand”), Slovak stáť (“to stand”), Slovene státi (“to stand”), Ukrainian стоя́ти (stojáty, “to stand”), Armenian ստվար (stvar, “large, thick; dense”), Ossetian стын (styn, “to stand up”), Northern Kurdish rawestîn (“to stand”), Persian ایستادن (istâdan), وایسادن (vâysâdan), وایستادن (vâystâdan, “to stand up”), Tocharian A ṣtäm- (“to stand”), Tocharian B stäm- (“to stand”), Sanskrit स्था (sthā, “to stand”).

Example Sentences

• "Here I stand, wondering what to do next."
• "I can't reach the celing. Get me a chair to stand on."
• "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."