staunch
Plural: staunches
Verb
Verb Forms: staunched, staunching, staunches
- To stop the flow of a liquid, especially blood.
- stop the flow of a liquid
- "staunch the blood flow"
- Alternative spelling of stanch.
Adjective Satellite
- firm and dependable especially in loyalty
- "a staunch defender of free speech"
Adj
- Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
- Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
- Impermeable to air or other gases; airtight.
- Strongly built; also, in good or strong condition.
- Staying true to one's aims or principles; firm, resolute, unswerving.
- Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.
- Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.
- Of a hunting dog: that can be depended on to pick up the scent of, or to mark, game.
- Cautious, restrained.
- Stubborn, intransigent.
Noun
- That which stanches or checks a flow.
- That which stanches or checks a flow.
- A plant or substance which stops the flow of blood; a styptic.
- An act of stanching or stopping.
- Synonym of afterdamp (“suffocating gases present in a coal mine after an explosion caused by firedamp”).
- Alternative spelling of stanch (“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”).
Adjective
- Firm in loyalty and conviction; steadfast.
Examples
- A staunch Scrabble player never gives up, even with a terrible rack.
- He needed a high-scoring word to staunch the bleeding of points from his Words With Friends score.
- He’s been a staunch supporter of mine through every election.
- Without our staunch front line the enemy would have split the regiment.
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English 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], from Anglo-Norman estaunche, Old French estanche (“firm; watertight”) (modern French étanche (“airtight; watertight”)), a variant of estanc (“a pond”), from estanchier (“to stop the flow of a liquid (blood, water, etc.); to make (something) watertight; to quench (thirst)”) (modern French étancher), possibly from one of the following:
* From Vulgar Latin *stagnicāre, from Latin stāgnum (“piece of standing water, pond; fen, swamp”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂g- (“to drip; to seep”).
* From Vulgar Latin *stānticāre, from *stānticus (“tired”), from Latin stāns, stāntis (“standing; remaining, staying”). Stāns is the present active participle of stō (“to stand; to remain, stay”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand (up)”).
Cognates
* Italian stanco (“bored; tired”)
* Portuguese estanque (“watertight”)
* Romansch staunza (“a room”)
* Spanish estanco (“closed, sealed; airtight; watertight”)
Synonyms
halt, stanch, steadfast, stem, unswerving, adamant, afterdamp, ardent, bent on, bloody-minded, bullheaded, certain, chronic, confirmed, constant, determined, diehard, dogged, guarded, hard-hearted, hard-nosed, hardheaded, headstrong, hermetically sealed, immovable, incalcitrant, inflexible, insistent, intractable, intransigent, intrepid, inveterate, irrefragable, mulish, obdurate, obstinate, obstreperous, peevish, peremptory, persistent, pertinacious, pigheaded, recalcitrant, refractory, resolute, resolved, rigid, self-willed, stalwart, staunch, steady, stubborn, stubborn as a mule, sullen, tenacious, terminal, thran, thwart, tough, truculent, unbending, uncompromising, unwavering, unyielding, vehement, wilful, willful
Antonyms
Scrabble Score: 12
staunch: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordstaunch: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
staunch: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary