[f. stable var. STABLY sb. + STAND v.] See quot.
The word was conjecturally substituted by Hanmer (1744), for stables in Winter’s Tale, II. i. 134; the passage with Hanmer’s reading is quoted by Johnson as Shakespeare’s.
1598. Manwood, Laws of Forest, xviii. § 9. 114 b. By the Assises of the Forrest of Lancaster [margin Assisa forestæ de Lancast. fol. 63], Taken with the maner, is when one is found in the kings Forrest in any one of these 4. degrees, viz. Stable stand Dogge drawe Back Beare and Bloudy hand. Stable stande is, when a man is found in any Forrest at his standing, with a Crosse bowe bent, ready to shoote at any Deere, or, with a Long bow, or els, standing close by a tree with Greyhounds in his lease, ready to let slip.
