[syn: stand by, stick by, stick, adhere]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Stand \Stand\ (st[a^]nd), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stood
(st[oo^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Standing.] [OE. standen; AS.
standan; akin to OFries. stonda, st[=a]n, D. staan, OS.
standan, st[=a]n, OHG. stantan, st[=a]n, G. stehen, Icel.
standa, Dan. staae, Sw. st[*a], Goth. standan, Russ. stoiate,
L. stare, Gr. 'ista`nai to cause to stand, sth^nai to stand,
Skr. sth[=a]. [root]163. Cf. Assist, Constant,
Contrast, Desist, Destine, Ecstasy, Exist,
Interstice, Obstacle, Obstinate, Prest, n., Rest
remainder, Solstice, Stable, a. & n., Staff, Stage,
Stall, n., Stamen, Stanchion, Stanza, State, n.,
Statute, Stead, Steed, Stool, Stud of horses,
Substance, System.]
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.
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It stands as it were to the ground yglued.
--Chaucer.
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The ruined wall
Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone.
--Byron.
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2. To occupy or hold a place; to have a situation; to be
situated or located; as, Paris stands on the Seine.
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Wite ye not where there stands a little town?
--Chaucer.
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3. To cease from progress; not to proceed; to stop; to pause;
to halt; to remain stationary.
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I charge thee, stand,
And tell thy name. --Dryden.
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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.
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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.
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My mind on its own center stands unmoved. --Dryden.
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5. To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or
yield; to be safe.
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Readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall.
--Spectator.
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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."
--South.
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The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves
together, and to stand for their life. --Esther
viii. 11.
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7. To adhere to fixed principles; to maintain moral
rectitude; to keep from falling into error or vice.
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We must labor so as to stand with godliness,
according to his appointment. --Latimer.
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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.
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9. To be in some particular state; to have essence or being;
to be; to consist. "Sacrifices . . . which stood only in
meats and drinks." --Heb. ix. 10.
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Accomplish what your signs foreshow;
I stand resigned, and am prepared to go. --Dryden.
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Thou seest how it stands with me, and that I may not
tarry. --Sir W.
Scott.
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10. To be consistent; to agree; to accord.
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Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing
But what may stand with honor. --Massinger.
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11. (Naut.) To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the
shore; to stand for the harbor.
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From the same parts of heaven his navy stands.
--Dryden.
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12. To offer one's self, or to be offered, as a candidate.
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He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the
university. --Walton.
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13. To stagnate; not to flow; to be motionless.
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Or the black water of Pomptina stands. --Dryden.
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14. To measure when erect on the feet.
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Six feet two, as I think, he stands. --Tennyson.
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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.
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16. (Card Playing) To be, or signify that one is, willing to
play with one's hand as dealt.
[Webster 1913 Suppl.]
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.
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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
stand by
v 1: not act or do anything; "He just stood by when the police
beat up the demonstrators"
2: be available or ready for a certain function or service [syn:
stand by, stick around, stick about]
3: be loyal to; "She stood by her husband in times of trouble";
"The friends stuck together through the war" [syn: stand
by, stick by, stick, adhere]
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
56 Moby Thesaurus words for "stand by":
abut, abut on, adjoin, advocate, around, aye, back, back up,
be contiguous, be in contact, be prepared, be ready, border,
border on, butt, champion, clasp, cling to, conjoin, connect,
defend, flank, follow close upon, get behind, get in behind,
go with, guard, guard against, hang about, hover over, huddle, hug,
hug the shore, join, keep close to, lie by, march with, neighbor,
protect, run interference for, safeguard, screen, second, secure,
shield, side with, stand back of, stand behind, stand ready,
stay inshore, stay near, stick by, stick up for, tailgate,
take sides with, verge upon