Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To stop or check the flow of (blood or tears, for example).
  • transitive verb To stop the flow of blood from (a wound).
  • transitive verb To stop, check, or allay.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That which stanches; that which quenches or allays.
  • Dry; free from water; water-tight; sound: said of a vessel.
  • Strong; firm.
  • Sound and trustworthy; true: applied to hounds with reference to their keeping the scent.
  • Sound or firm in principle; loyal; hearty; trustworthy.
  • Synonyms Stout, steadfast, resolute, stable, unwavering.
  • noun A flood-gate in a river for accumulating a head of water to float boats over shallows; a weir. See stank.
  • To cause to cease flowing; check the flow of.
  • To stop a flow from; dry, as a wound, by the application of a styptic.
  • To quench; allay; assuage.
  • To free; relieve: with of.
  • To stop flowing; be stanched.
  • To stop; cease.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • intransitive verb To cease, as the flowing of blood.
  • adjective Strong and tight; sound; firm.
  • adjective Firm in principle; constant and zealous; loyal; hearty; steady; steadfast.
  • adjective obsolete Close; secret; private.
  • transitive verb To prop; to make stanch, or strong.
  • noun obsolete That which stanches or checks.
  • noun A flood gate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a shallow part of a stream by its release.
  • transitive verb To stop the flowing of, as blood; to check; also, to stop the flowing of blood from.
  • transitive verb obsolete To extinguish; to quench, as fire or thirst.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To stop the flow of.
  • verb transitive To prop; to make stanch, or strong.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb stop the flow of a liquid

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English stanchen, from Old French estanchier, from Vulgar Latin *stanticāre, to stop, probably from Latin stāns, stant-, present participle of stāre, to stand; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]

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