Stahlianism 
Stahlianism (sta'lian-izm), . [< fitahlian + 
-ism.] Same as iiiiiiiiixni, 2. 
Stahlism (stii'lizm), >i. [< Xtiili/ (see Ntaliliau) 
+ -ixin.] Same as animism, 2. 
stahlspiel (stal'spel), . [G., < stalil, steel, + 
x/HW, play.] Same as lyre 1 , 1 (c). 
staid (stad). A mode of spelling the preterit 
and past participle of xtai/%. 
staid (stad), a. [Formerly also stayed; an ailj. 
use of staid, pp.] Sober; grave; steady; se- 
date; regular; not wild, volatile, flighty, or 
fanciful: as, a staid elderly person. 
Put thyself 
Into a havlour of less fear, ere wildness 
Vanquish my gtaider senses. 
Shak., Cymbeline, iii. 4. 10. 
The tall fair person, and the still staid mien. 
Crabbe, Works, IV. 143. 
staidly (stad'li), adv. [Formerly also stayedli/.] 
In a staid manner; calmly; soberly. 
'Tis well you have manners. 
That curtsy again, and hold your countenance staidly. 
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 2. 
staidness (stad'nes), n. [Formerly also stayed- 
ness; < staid + -ness.] The state or character 
of being staid ; sobriety ; gravity ; sedateness ; 
steadiness: as, staidness and sobriety of age. 
The love of things ancient doth 
levity and want of experience mak 
tions. 
5890 
You do remember 
This stain |a mole] upmi her.' 
Shak., Cymbeline, ii. 4. 138. 
Swift trouts. diversified with crimson stains. 
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 145. 
2. A blot; a blemish; a cause of reproach or 
disgrace: as, a stain on one's character. 
stake 
Knnii IHT warm bed. and up the corkscrew stair, 
\Vith hand and rope we haled the groaning sow. 
Tennyson, Walking to the Mail. 
Staircase-Shell (star'kas-shel;, ,i. A shell of 
the genus Solarium ; any member of the ,<'/< 
i-iiil;r. See cut Under Solarium. 
Stair-foot (star'fut), H. The bottom of a sh.ir 
Hereby I will lead her that is the praise and yet the Bacon, Hist. Hen. VII., p. 1L'3. 
*tnin at all womankind. Sir P. Sidney, stair-head (star'hed), 71. The top of a stair. 
I say you are the man who denounced to my uncle this I \ M \ KK w m, another sweep which is better olf nor I 
miserable stain upon the birth of my betrothed. am, and pay him -2,. d. a week for a little stair-hmil place 
L. W. M. Lockhart, Fair to See, xxii. with a ln-d in it. 
3. In entom., a well-defined spot of color which .l/.'/A.'^London Labour and London Poor, II. 428. 
appears to be semi-transparent, so that it mere- stair-rod (stiir'rod), n. A rod or a strip of thin 
ly modifies the ground-color : it may be pro- metal, sometimes folded and corrugated to give 
duced by very tine dots, as on a butterfly's wing, it stiffness, used to hold a stair-carpet in place. 
4. Taint ; tarnish : evil or corrupting effect : " u f^ured across the width of the step by rings or sta- 
sis rhfi /; of in St mitrlit trnno- tino-o ples into whlch ]t ' 8 slipped, and in other ways; by ex 
f. 8 ' ~ Sin. Of. fcliglit trace, tinge, tension, something not a rod answering the same pur- 
tincture. pose. 
You have some stain of soldier in you ; let me ask you stairway (star'wa), . A staircase. Moore. 
a question. Shot., All's Well, i. 1. 12-2. (Imp. Diet.) 
6. Coloring matter; a liquid used to color Stair-wire (star'wir), . A slender stair-rod of 
wood, ivory, etc., by absorption. metal. 
The ivory is invariably again placed in cold water that The banisters were beeswaxed, and the very stair-vires 
has been boiled, before it is transferred to the stain. malle y" r e S es wink, they were so glittering. 
Workshop Receipts, 2d ser., p. 234. Dickens, sketches, Tales, i. 1. 
Diffuse stains, those dyes which stain all parts of the Stairyt (star'i), a. [Early mod. E. slayry ; < 
Brought up among Quakers, although not one herself, ' iV'TT 3 '/ ~" r ~7", - j , -, r, ctair^Ttrrvrt fat- th'Toii-fl 
sheadmiredandrespectedtheio^^andoutwardpeace: 8tainable(sta'na-bl),, [< stein . + -able.] Ca- StaithWOrt ath wert), . 
fulness common among the young women of that sect. pable of being stained, as objects for the micro- Staiver, v. t. nee starer. 
Mrs. Gaskell, Sylvia's Lovers, xxxii. scope. See stain, v., 4 (c). Encyc. Brit., XIX. stakt. An obsolete preterit of stick 1 , 
Staig (stag), n. [Avar, of stay.] A young horse; 833. stake 1 (stak), n. [< ME. stake, < AS. gtaca, a 
a stallion. [Scotch.] stainchel(stan'chel), M. A Scotch form of stan- stake, a pin, = OFries. stake = MD. stake, 
Stall (stal), n. A spelling of stale?. rlni 1 . staecke, staeck, D. staak, a stake, post, = MLG. 
stain (stan), f. [< ME. steinen, steynen (> Icel. stainer (sta'ner), n. [< stain + -er 1 .] 1. One stake > a stake, post, pillory, prison, LG. stake, 
steina), by apheresis from disteinen, disteigneii, who or that which stains, blots, or tarnishes. ' <* staken, a stake, = Icel. gtjaki, a stake, pole, 
distcynen,desteinen,E.distain: seedistain.] I. 2. One who stains or colors; especially, in the candlestick, = Sw. stake, a stake, a candlestick, 
trans. 1. To discolor, as by the application of trades, a workman whose employment is stain- = Dan. stage, a stake (Scand. forms appar. < 
ing wood, etc. See paper-stainer. 3. A tine- LG -)! , cf - OHG. stacJiutta, stacchulla, MHO. G. 
ture or coloring matter used in staining. 
Stainless (stan'les), a. [< stain + -less.] Free 
from spot or stain, whether physical or moral ; 
unblemished; immaculate; untarnished: liter- 
ally or figuratively. 
some foreign matter; make foul; spot: as, to 
stain the hand with dye, or with tobacco-juice ; 
to stain the clothes. 
An image like thyself, all stain'd with gore. 
Sliak., Venus and Adonis, 1. (104. 
2. To soil or sully with guilt or infamy; tarnish; 
stachcl, a sting; from the root of stick (AS. 
*stecaii, pret. "stasc): see stick 1 , ., and of . sticks, 
ii., uttick. Cf. OF. estake, estaque, estacke, es- 
tucquc, stake, also estachc, estaiche.staclie, etc., 
a stake, prop, bar, etc., = Sp. Pg. estaca, a 
bring reproach on; corrupt; deprave: as, to Stainlessly (stan'les-li), adr. In a stainless stake, = It. sfacco, a hook, < Teut.] 1. A stick 
*_.- AL _ -i *.__ . _j_....-j fi, ii v*n n *t. ^^4-u f..,4 n .~. *_ A ~4.~: of wood sharj>ened at one end and set in the 
ground, or prepared to be set in the ground, as 
7 - j. - 7 - j_. , . .. , , part of a fence ? as a boundary-mark, as a post 
stair (= MD. steygher, steegher, stegher, D. stei- to tether an animal to, or as a support for some- 
stain the character; stained with guilt. 
Never believe, though in my nature reign'd 
All frailties that besiege all kinds of blood, 
That it could so preposterously be stain'd, 
To leave for nothing all my sum of good. 
Shale., Sonnets, cix. 
3t. To deface; disfigure; impair, as shape, beau- 
ty, or excellence. 
But he 's something stain'd 
With grief that's beauty's canker, thou mightst call him 
A goodly person. Shak., Tempest, i. 2. 414. 
We were all a little stained last night, sprinkled with a 
cup or two. B. Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, i. 1. 
4. To color by a process other than painting or 
coating or covering the surface, (a) To color (as 
glass) by something which combines chemically with the 
substance to be colored. (6) To color by the use of a thin 
liquid which penetrates the material, as in dyeing cloth or 
staining wood, (c) In microscopy, to impregnate with a 
substance whose chemical reaction on the tissue so treat- 
ed gives it a particular color. The great value of staining 
for this purpose results from the fact that some tissues are 
stainable by a certain reagent to which others respond but 
manner; with freedom from stain. 
Stair (star), n. [< ME. staire, stayre, stayer, 
Kteir, steire, steyre, stcyer, < AS. stager, a step, 
ger, a stair, step, quay, pier, scaffold), < stiyan 
= D. stijgen, etc., mount, climb: see sty 1 , v., and 
cf. stile 1 , sty 1 , n., from the same verb.] If. A 
step ; a degree. 
He [Mars] passeth but oo steyre in dayes two. 
Chaucer, Complaint of Mars, 1. 12!). 
Forthy she standeth on the highest stayre 
Of th' honorable stage of womanhead. 
Spenser, F. Q., III. v. 54. 
2. One of a series of steps to mount by : as, a 
flight of stairs. 
The qween bar furst the cros afturward, 
To fecche folk from helleward, 
On holy stayers to steyen vpward 
And regne with God vr lorde. 
Holy Rood (E. E. T. S.), p. 14S. 
The stairs, as he treads on them, kiss his feet. 
Shak., L. L. L., v. 2. 330. 
feebly or not at all, so that some points, as the nucleus of . . - 
cells, etc., may be more distinctly seen by the contrast in 3 A flio-ht or succession of fliirht* of stpns 
color. Many different preparations are used for the pur- ' !t ?P 8 ' , 
pose in different cases. ranged one behind and above the other m such 
5. To print colors upon (especially upon paper- a wa y as to afford passage from a lower to a 
hangings). [Eng.] 6t. To darken; dim; ob- higherlevel, 
seure. 
Clouds and eclipses stain both moon and sun. 
Shak., Sonnets, \\\v 
Hence 7t. To eclipse; excel. 
O voyce that doth the thrush in shrilness stain. 
Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, iii. 
Her beauty shin'd most bright, 
Far staining every other brave and comely dame 
or vice versa: as, a winding stair; 
the back stair: often used in the plural in the 
same sense. 
Komyng% outward, fast it gonne biholde. 
Downward a steyre, into an herber grene. 
Chaucer, Troilus, ii. 1705. 
Below stairs, in the basement or lower part of a house. 
Close-string stairs, a dog-legged stairs without an 
el, and wi 
That did appear in sight. 
Patient Grissel (Child's Ballads, IV. 209). 
Stained cloth. Same sapainted cloth (which see under 
cloth). Stained glass. " 
tion. 
thing, as a hedge, a vine, a tent, or a fishing- 
net. 
Here hefd and here kyng haldyng with no partie, 
Bote stande as a stake that styketh in a muyre 
By-twyne two londes for a trewe inarke. 
Piers Plowman (C\ iv. 384. 
Sharp stakes pluck'd out of hedges 
They pitched in the ground. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., I. 1. 117. 
Was never salmon yet that shone so fair 
Among the stakes on Dee. 
Kingsley, The Sands of Dee. 
Specifically 2. The post to which a person 
condemned to death by burning is bound : as, 
condemned to the stake; burned at the stake; 
also, a post to which a bear to be baited is tied. 
Have you not set mine honour at the stake, 
And baited it with all the unmuzzled thoughts 
That tyrannous heart can think ? 
Shak., T. N., iii. 1. 129. 
3. In leathcr-maniif., a post on which a skin 
is stretched for currying or graining. E. H. 
Knight. 4. A vertical bar fixed in a socket or 
in staples on the edge of the bed of a platform 
railway-car or of a vehicle, to secure the load 
from rolling off, or, when a loose substance, as 
gravel, etc., is earned, to hold in place boards 
which retain 
the load. 5. A 
small anvil used 
for working in 
thin metal, as by 
tinsmiths : it ap- 
pears to be so 
called because 
Various forms of Stakes for Sheet-metal 
Working. 
open newel, and with the steps housed into the strings. 
Down stairs, in the lower part of a house. Flight Of 
stairs, a succession of steps in a continuous line or from 
one landing to another. Geometrical stairs. Seege- 
... . , ometric. Pair of stairs, a set or flight of steps or stairs. 
loth). Stained glass. Seeglass. Seepairi, 6. Up stairs, in the upper part of a house. 
jo ll in stain or discolora- streak (s.ar'b^)^ A WSf-,.- stuck into the bench by a sharp vertiea, prop 
As the berry breaks before jujj,^ ^ ^ ^ , th ascend P lg to the tip. See f ut Te^^ltanvil, which stands upon a small 
2 To take stams; become stained, soiled, or staircase (star' kas),, [< S fa,r + case".] The ir n f00t D the WOTkben j h i^HK ohl ~ lon aers ' 
sullied; grow dim; be obscured. par t of a building which contains the stairs: stake-and-rider fence ' ' 
The only soil of his fair virtue's gloss, ' r 
Shak., L. L. L., ii. 1. 48. 
stain (stan), H. [< stain, v.] 1. A spot; a dis- 
coloration, especially a discoloration produced 
by contact with foreign matter by external 
causes or influences: as, mildew-steins. 
Though the figure of the house without be very extra- 
ordinary good, yet the stayre-case is exceeding poor. 
Pepys, Diary, III. 267. 
Corkscrew staircase or stair, a winding staircase hav- 
ing a solid newel. 
and pp. staked, ppr. 
MD. MLG. staken (= 
OF. estachier = Sp. estaear), stake ; from the 
noun.] 1. To fasten to a stake ; tether; also, 
to impale. 
Stake him to the ground, like a man that had hang'tl 
himself. Shirley, Love Tricks, ii. 1. 
