staunch

Short definition from Wiktionary

Adjective

1. 1
   Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.
2. 2
   Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight: Impermeable to air or other gases; airtight.
3. 3
   Strongly built; also, in good or strong condition.
4. 4
   Staying true to one's aims or principles; firm, resolute, unswerving.
5. 5
   Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.
6. 6
   Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy: Of a hunting dog: that can be depended on to pick up the scent of, or to mark, game.
7. 7
   Cautious, restrained.
8. 8
   Stubborn, intransigent.

Verb

1. 1
   Alternative spelling of stanch.

Noun

1. 1
   That which stanches or checks a flow.
2. 2
   That which stanches or checks a flow: A plant or substance which stops the flow of blood; a styptic.
3. 3
   An act of stanching or stopping.
4. 4
   Synonym of afterdamp (“suffocating gases present in a coal mine after an explosion caused by firedamp”).
5. 5
   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”).