[f. STAGE sb. + -ER1.
It is not wholly impossible that in the expression old stager (sense 1 below) the word may be ad. OF. estagier an inhabitant, resident (f. estage STAGE sb.), or med.L. stagiārius (see STAGIARY1) which is used in English monastic records (e.g., Cust. St. Augustine’s, Canterbury, Henry Bradshaw Soc. Publ. XXIII.) for an aged monk who was lodged permanently in the infirmary. Derivation from STAGE sb. is, however, more probable, but the precise notion seems difficult to determine. The usual explanation that the theatrical stage is alluded to (‘one who has been long on the stage of life’) finds no support in the 16th and 17th-c. examples; the primary sense may be that indicated in the definition of sense 2, but this is supported only by a single quotation.]
1. Old stager: one who has become graduated or qualified by long experience; one who has been long employed in an office, a profession, course of life, etc.; a veteran, an old hand. Also occas. of animals.
1570. Foxe, A. & M., III. 1756/1. [They] betooke them to theyr legges … resembling in some part a spectacle not much vnlike to the old stagers of Oxford, worse feared then hurt, when as the Church there was noysed to be on fier.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., IV. 181. They … doo … disdayne ye gouernment … of the old Bee … when the swarmes be great and lusty, and that the old stagers [orig. L. veteres] are disposed to send abroade their Colonies.
1648. Heylin, Relat. & Observ., I. 10. It was worth observing to see how officiously some of the old Stagers took leave of the Publique Purse, before it came into Hucksters hands.
1665. M. Nedham, Med. Medicinæ, 284. The next Digestion … the old Stagers will needs have to be in the Veines of the Mesenterie.
1669. Hist. Pope’s Nephews, II. (1673), 135. ’Tis a tedious thing to Princes Ministers, who are old Stagers in Councils and Affairs, to have to do with raw, unexperienced Persons.
a. 1734. North, Life Ld. Keeper Guilford (1742), 146. Some of the old Stagers of his Party told him plainly, he might take his Ease.
1737. Bracken, Farriery Impr. (1756), I. 17. A young Horse, though he be more subject to Diseases than an old hardened Stager.
1748. Chesterf., Lett., clxxii. (1792), II. 137. But here let me, as an old stager upon the theatre of the world, suggest one consideration to you.
1786–9. Bentham, Princ. Internat. Law, Wks. 1843, II. 549. True—but there are young beginners as well as old stagers.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xxxv. You never come down to see your old acquaintance … you would find most of the old stagers still stationary there.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xxx. I’m an old stager in the West Indies, and I’ll let you into a secret.
1841. Prescott, in Life Longfellow (1891), I. 411. I do not know that an old stager in authorship, like you, cares for anybody’s opinion.
1895. Scully, Kafir Stories, 169. My horse was a steady old stager, not at all given to shying.
b. Hence stager simply, and with other adjs., as cunning, sly. Also (rarely) young stager, one of small experience, a beginner.
1664. Butler, Hud., II. i. 297. Quoth She, I’ve heard old cunning Stagers Say, Fools for Arguments use wagers.
1687. Dryden, Hind & P., III. 497. ’Tis true, some stagers of the wiser sort Made all these idle wonderments their sport.
1692. L’Estrange, Fables, lxxxi. 79. At last, One Experienced Stager [a mouse] that had Baffled Twenty Traps and Tricks Before, Discover’d the Plot.
1709. Swift, Project Adv. Relig., Misc. (1711), 190. The pert Pragmatical Demeanor of several young Stagers in Divinity.
1836. J. Struthers, Dychmont, IV. Poet. Wks. (1850), II. 101. Where’s the sly stager Gizzy Rags?
† 2. One who has attained a definite stage or rank in his profession. Obs. rare.
1583. Execution for Treason, 4. And them to send … under secret maskes,… with titles of Seminaries for some of the meaner sort, and of Iesuites for the stagers and ranker sort.
3. A stage-player. Obs. exc. arch.
1580. 2nd & 3rd Blast Plays & Theatres, 111. As for those stagers … are they not commonlie such kind of men in their conuersation, as they are in profession?
1601. B. Jonson, Poetaster, I. ii. What? shall I haue my son a Stager now? an Enghle for Players? a Gull? a Rooke? a Shot-clog? Ibid., III. iv. Suffer him not to droop, in prospect of a Player, a Rogue, a Stager.
1602. Dekker, Satirom., D 1 b. Thou borrowedst a gowne of Roscius the Stager,… and sentst it home lowsie.
1630. B. Jonson, New Inn (1631), H 2. (Just Indign. Author), And safe in your stage-clothes, Dare quit, vpon your oathes, The stagers, and the stage-wrights too (your peeres) Of larding your large eares.
1873. Browning, Red Cott. Nt.-cap, 1264. Sganarelle,… That stager in the saint’s correct costume.
† 4. One who runs a stage or course. Obs.
1638. Brathwait, Barnabees Jrnl., III. T 4. Thence to Towlerton, where those Stagers [Stadiodromi] Or Horse-coursers run for wagers.
1687. Norris, Misc., 138. The Antient Stager of the Day Has run his minutes out, and number’d all his way.
b. A stage-coach or stage-coach horse.
1852. Tait’s Mag., XIX. 656. The shock was so violent that the crazy stager, its conductor, its two horses and a single passenger rolled pell-mell in the … road.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, Stager, a horse running in a stage carriage.
Hence † Stageress Obs. rare–1, a play-actress.
1633. Prynne, Histrio-m., 649. Hee who hath married a strumpet, or a woman-actor or stageresse, cannot be an Elder, a Bishop, or Deacon.
