I. ˈstāj noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English, from Old French estage (also, position, place, stay, habitation), from (assumed) Vulgar Latin staticum, from Latin stare to stand + -aticum -age — more at stand
1.
a. : a story of a building : a horizontal division of a structure
a low square tower in four stages — American Guide Series: Maryland
b. : one of a series of positions or stations one above the other : grade , step
the garden that sloped, stage by stage precipitously down to the water — F.M.Ford
c. : a set of shelves : shelf ; specifically : a tier of shelves (as in a greenhouse) on which potted plants are placed
the height of the glass above the greenhouse stages — South African Garden Manual
d. : the height of the surface of a river above an arbitrary zero point — see flood stage
e. : the distance between two levels (as in hoisting)
2.
a. : a raised platform for the better viewing of something by an audience
spoke from a small stage erected at the edge of the airport
give order that these bodies high on a stage be placed to the view — Shakespeare
b.
(1) : the raised flooring in a theater or auditorium on which plays or other spectacles (as operas or ballets) are enacted
(2) : the part of a theater between the proscenium and the rear wall including the acting area, wings, and storage space — called also stagehouse
(3) : the dramatic art or profession : theater — usually used with the
attracted by the stage ever since she was a child
c. : a place where something is exhibited or done : a center of attention or a scene of action
all the world's a stage — Shakespeare
those diseases … now occupy the center of the medical stage — R.J.Thomas
the end of the eighteenth century set the stage for a new middle-class struggle — Roy Lewis & Angus Maude
3.
a. : a scaffold used to support workmen and their materials
stages rigged overside swarmed with … shipfitters, busy removing crumpled shell plating — K.M.Dodson
b. : an elevated structure used for drying fish
c. : landing stage
d. : a platform used as a base or support ; specifically : the small platform of the stand of a microscope or polariscope on which an object is placed for examination
4.
a. : a place of rest formerly provided for those traveling by stagecoach : station
b. : the distance between two stopping places on a road : a degree of advance in a journey
proceeded by easy stages, some of them spending the night near my camp — Douglas Carruthers
c.
(1) : stagecoach
sat on the slippery leather seat of the old stage — Margaret Deland
(2) : a motor vehicle that carries mail or passengers
(3) : air stage
5.
a. : a period or step in a process, activity, or development
there were three stages in the cutting process — G.S. & Helen McKearin
came to bat with a teammate on base in the late stages of a close ball game — W.B.Furlong
aware of the stages in child growth and development — Current Biography
b.
(1) : a period or phase in the course of a disease
the preeruptive stage of an eruptive fever
sweating stage of malaria
(2) : one of two or more operations performed at different times but constituting a single procedure
2- stage thoracoplasty
the operation should be done in two or three stages
(3) : one of the four degrees indicating depth of general anesthesia
stage of excitement
stage of surgical anesthesia
c. : one of the steps into which the material development of man or a people is divided : a particular economy
pastoral stage
hunting stage
nomadic stage
d. : a division of a culture or culture period with respect to time, content, or development
e.
(1) : a minor subdivision of a stratigraphic series
(2) : a part of a cycle of erosion in which the features of the landscape have characteristics that distinguish them from similar features in other parts of the cycle
(3) : a subdivision of the Pleistocene epoch
the Illinoian glacial stage
also : stadial
(4) : a particular phase in the historical development of a geologic feature
the Calumet stage of Lake Chicago
f.
(1) : one of several periods whose beginning and end are usually marked by some important change of structure in the development and growth of many animals and plants
the larval stage
— see instar
(2) : an organism in a specified stage
the tadpole is the larval stage of a frog
g. : one complete process or step (as of a fluid passing through one impeller of a multiple-impeller pump) — see pressure stage , velocity stage
h. : an element or part in a complex electronic contrivance ; specifically : a single tube with its associated components in an amplifier
i. : a propulsion unit of a rocket with its own fuel and container
the first stage raises all the stages until its fuel is gone
•
- on the stage
II. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
transitive verb
1. archaic : to furnish with a scaffold
2. : to put into a play or public show
the quick comedians extemporally will stage us — Shakespeare
his play … staged only one woman character among airmen — Edmund Fuller
3.
a. : to produce on the stage : put on
staged the play in a spectacular fashion
staged a number of new ballets this season
staged the opera with new scenery
b. : to produce for public view
stage a track meet
stage a special art exhibition
stage an elaborate parade
c. : to bring about or cause to take place especially in a dramatic or spectacular manner
staged a brief hunger strike yesterday — New York Times
staged huge protest demonstrations — Anne Bauer
led his followers to stage an attempt to release him from custody — L.S.B.Leakey
the entirely unpredictable … weather had decided to stage a clear sunny day in the middle of December — C.S.Forester
d. : to arrange or present for public effect : contrive
staged a fake accident
4. : to place (potted plants) on a layer of sand, gravel, or other medium in a greenhouse
5. : to move (as military personnel, supplies, or equipment) to or establish in a new base in preparation for a further movement or a planned operation
seize bases that would permit staging our aircraft forward — F.J.Sackton
6. : to protect (areas of a printing plate that require no further etching) with a resist of asphalt varnish or other solution
intransitive verb
1. : to travel by stage
after four and a half days of continuous staging … he arrived — G.R.Stewart
2. : to establish a military base or position
staging there for attacks — Time
ordnance company staging for the night nearby — Yale Review
III. adjective
1. : conventionalized, stereotyped
so French as to make him seem almost a stage Frenchman — Osbert Sitwell
the face of a stage curate — Fred Majdalany
2. : of, relating to, or constituting a manner of pronouncing a language on formal occasions (as in stage acting or public speaking) that is not necessarily identical with any one dialect of the language and that seeks to avoid dialectal features that have the least currency among educated speakers
IV. transitive verb
: to determine the phase or severity of (a disease) based on a classification of established symptomatic criteria ; also : to evaluate (a patient) to determine the phase, severity, or progression of a disease