# stance

Pronunciation: US/AUS say "STANS" /stæns/; UK say "STAHNS" /stɑːns/

## Noun

1. A person's opinion or attitude toward an issue or question.
   - Simple: What a person thinks or believes about something.
   - _The senator softened her stance on the tax proposal after the hearing._
   - _He took a firm stance against cutting the after-school program._
2. The manner or posture in which someone positions and holds their body while standing.
   - Simple: The way a person holds their body while standing.
   - _The coach corrected his batting stance before the next pitch._
   - _A wrestler with a stable stance is hard to knock off his feet._
3. A place where someone or something stands; a position, site, or station.
   - Simple: A spot or place where someone or something stands.
   - _The lookout returned to his usual stance on the hill above the river._
   - _Workers marked out each stance in the yard with painted lines._
4. A foothold or ledge on which a climber stands to set up a belay.
   - Simple: A small ledge or spot where a climber can stand to hold the rope safely.
   - _From a sheltered stance behind the flake, she brought up her partner._
   - _The leader built an anchor at the next stance before belaying the second climber._
5. A place where buses or taxis wait for passengers, such as a bus stop or taxi stand. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A place where buses or taxis wait to pick up people.
   - _The new bus stance has covered seating for waiting passengers._
   - _Drivers are not allowed to park outside the designated stance reserved for waiting taxis._
6. A site where a fair or market takes place, or a pitch from which a street trader does business. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: A spot at a fair or market where a trader can sell goods.
   - _Each trader pays a weekly fee for a stance in the market square._
   - _He set up his fruit stall on the same stance every fair day._

## Verb

7. To place, position, or station something; specifically, to put cattle into a pen or enclosure in preparation for sale. *(dialectal, Scotland)*
   - Simple: To place or put something in a spot, or to put cattle in a pen before selling them.
   - _Drovers stance the cattle in holding pens the night before the auction._
   - _Stewards must stance each lot separately so buyers can inspect the animals._

## Noun

8. A stanza; a group of lines forming a unit within a poem. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A group of lines that forms one part of a poem.
   - _The old hymnal printed every stance with a decorated initial letter._
   - _He composed a mournful stance to close the elegy._

## Origin

From Middle English 'staunce' (a place to stand, position, or situation), from Old French 'estance', from Italian 'stanza' (room, standing place), from Vulgar Latin '*stantia' and Latin 'stō' ('to stand, stay'), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European '*steh₂-' ('to stand up'). It is a doublet of 'stanza', and the verb comes from the noun.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/stance (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).