Forms: 4–6 stanche, staunche, 4–5 stawnche, stonch, 5 staunge, 6 stainch, staynche, stenche, stinch, 6–7 stench, 4– stanch, staunch. [ad. OF. estanchier (mod.F. étancher) to stop the flow of (water), stanch (blood), stop up (a leak), make (a vessel) watertight, to quench (thirst), corresponding to Pr., Sp., Pg. estancar in similar senses (Pg. also to exhaust, weary), It. stancare to weary:—Com. Rom. *stancare, according to some scholars a contraction of popular L. *stagnicāre, f. stagn-um pool, pond (whence STAGNATE v., STAGNANT a.]
1. trans. To stop the flow of (water, etc.). Now only poet. (rare). Also, † to dam up.
1481. Caxton, Myrr., II. xxv. 118. Thus groweth the rayne And whan it is alle fallen to therthe & the grete moisture is staunched the clowde hath lost his broun colour.
1535. Coverdale, Ezek. xxxi. 15. I will staunch his floudes.
1576. Fleming, Panopl. Epist., 26. Those thinges, which could staunche the streames of my teares.
1642. Bridge, Wound. Consc. Cured, ii. 19. That Justice … may run down like water which hath been stanched up.
1876. Swinburne, Erechtheus, 426. A living well of life nor stanched nor stained.
† b. fig. To dry up the springs of; to exhaust (one’s credit). Obs.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 197. For to stanch his foysoun homward haf I ment.
1380. Lay Folks Catech. (L.), 1390. Ydylnesse is … stoppynge and staunchyng, grace and good thewys.
1568. Fulwel, Like will to Like, E ij. My credit also is now quite staunched.
† c. intr. for refl. To cease flowing. Obs.
c. 1400. trans. Secreta Secret., Gov. Lordsh., 90. Water ys ouercomand in Planetys, and staunches noght but by dounshedyng.
1588. A. King, trans. Canisius’ Catech., in Cath. Tract. (S.T.S.), 187. The raine staincheit the 40 day efter Noa entereit in the ark.
2. trans. To stop the flow of (blood or other issue from the body); to stop the flow of blood from (a wound).
In the first two quots. possibly intr. for refl.: see c.
13[?]. Seuyn Sag. (W.), 1136. For al that heuer he mighte do, His menesoun might nowt staunche tho.
a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 2577. For alle þe barbours of Bretayne salle noghte thy blode stawnche!
14[?]. Sir Beues (M.), 534. To the freshe erth he laid hym flatt, For to staunche his woundus with that.
a. 1425. trans. Arderne’s Treat. Fistula, etc. 47. Þe fluxe or þe rynnyng þer y-dried, or stopped, or staunched, þai dye sone after.
1599. Breton, Will of Wit, etc. (Grosart), 39/1. First the blood must bee stinched.
1610. G. Fletcher, Christ’s Vict. Earth, lix. Ode, Not all the skill his wounds can stench.
1684. trans. Bonet’s Merc. Compit., II. 379. The flux could be stenched by no other Remedies.
1718. Pope, Iliad, IV. 229. Now seek some skilful Hand, whose pow’rful Art May stanch th’Effusion, and extract the Dart.
a. 1721. Prior, Dial. Locke & Montaigne, 657. A Cobweb is good … to … stanch cut thumbs.
1781. Cowper, Retirement, 322. [To] staunch the bleedings of a broken heart.
1819. Scott, Ivanhoe, xxxvii. The bleeding was stanched, the wound was closed.
1859. Tennyson, Elaine, 519. Then came the hermit out and … stanch’d his wound.
1872. Dixon, Switzers, xxxi. 315. They learn to staunch the flow of blood.
1890. R. Bridges, Shorter Poems, I. Elegy, vii. The branches … bleed from unseen wounds that no sun stanches.
† b. To stop the bleeding or diarrhœa of (a person). Obs.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, XVII. xi. 706. Two felawes … lyfte her vp and staunched her but she had bled soo moche that she myght not lyue.
1530. Palsgr., 732/2. He fell a bledyng, but none coulde stanche hym tyll he was dede.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 35. But if the siege be by reason a man hath eaten ought that is unwholsom, then ought he not to be staunched so sone.
c. intr. for refl.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, i. 57. Whiche corps neuer staunched of bledynge by the space of viii myles.
1526. Tindale, Luke viii. 44. Immediatly her issue off bloud staunched.
1655. Culpepper, etc., Riverius, IV. vii. 118. Presently the blood stanched.
1599. A. M., trans. Gabelhouer’s Bk. Physicke, 317/1. Strewe of this pouldre theron, and keepe it alwayes on the wounde; if with the first time it will not stench, applye it theron the seconde time.
1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. II. iii. (1864), 43. The heart will bleed, and stanch when it has bled enough.
† 3. trans. To quench, allay, satisfy (thirst, hunger, desire, etc.); also, to repress, extinguish (appetite, hatred, anger, etc.). Obs.
c. 1315. Shoreham, Poems, II. 96. Ine hys pyne hys stronge þerst Stanchede hy wyþ ȝalle.
c. 1374. Chaucer, Boeth., II. pr. ii. (1868), 34. Þe couetyse of men þat may not be staunched [L. inexpleta cupiditas].
c. 1375. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., I. 183. If he staunche þis love and seie to þis þing þat he wole not love it so myche.
c. 1430. Lydg., Min. Poems (Percy Soc.), 14. The wyne of Mercy staunchithe be nature The gredy thristis of cruelle hastynes.
c. 1430. Pilgr. Lyf Manhode, I. lxxxiii. (1869), 48. Fulfille it and saule it and staunche it [his desire] might not al the world.
1456. Sir G. Haye, Law of Arms (S.T.S.), 27. Ane unfillable gredy appetite … [that] never may be stanchit.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, XII. vi. 9. O, stanch ȝour wraith for schame, or all is lorn!
1532. Psalter of Jesus, ᛭᛭ j. The desyre of my vnstable herte in tyme of prayer staunche I beseche the.
1581. N. Burne, Disput., 143 b. This maist honest refusal could nather stench his lust nor ambition.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 80. Stanching hir hunger with herbes and barlie bredd, and her thirst with onelie water.
1679. Dryden, Œdipus, I. i. So will I seize and stanch The hunger of my love on this proud beauty.
1755. R. Forbes, Ajax’ Sp., Shop Bill, 39. Perhaps I may their greening stench, ’ere I hae done.
† b. To satisfy the appetite of. Also, to appease or cure (a person) of a desire or passion. Obs.
1340. Alex. & Dind., 938. Þanne wol he … wexe wilde of his wil & wikke to staunche.
1390. Gower, Conf., III. 11. For tastinge is defended me, And I can noght miselven stanche.
1440. Shirley, Dethe K. James (1818), 7. The … kynge … noght stanchid of his unsacionable and gredi avarice, ordeynd that tallage … upon his people, gretter … then ever … afore.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 273, in Babees Bk. Helpe to staunche hom of malice.
1486. Bk. St. Albans, Hawking, c j b. Take hede the first day of to moch eetyng unto tyme that she be stawnchid.
4. To quench (a fire). arch.
c. 1450. Lovelich, Grail, liii. 279. God with hym schal senden his grace, and In this diche stawnchen this feer.
a. 1513. Fabyan’s Chron., VII. (1811), 512. Whiche fyre was scantly stenchyd in .viii. dayes after.
1860. M. Arnold, St. Brandan, 69. I stanch with ice my burning breast.
5. To arrest the progress of (a disease); to allay (pain); to relieve (a person) of pain.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xliv. (Lucy), 20. Na scho mycht get na medycine, þat cuth hire stanche of þat pyne.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XVII. clxxxii. (1495), 723. Grene grapes haue the vertue to binde and to staunche Coleryk perbrakynge.
a. 1400. in Rel. Ant. (1841), I. 190. Fro basylica … A branche veyn spryngeth … The cardiacle he wol stanche.
1551. Turner, Herbal, I. B vj. Aloe … stancheth the heade ake.
1809–10. Coleridge, Friend (1865), 212. The patriot’s sword may cut off the Hydra’s head; but he possesses no brand to stanch the active corruption of the body.
1862. Goulburn, Pers. Relig., III. i. (1873), 155. Unless the moral malady be stanched in us by the Blood and Grace of Christ … salvation is for us out of the question.
1863. D. G. Mitchell, My Farm of Edgewood, 52. I haue sometimes availed myself of a curious bit of old narrative to staunch the pain of a sting.
† 6. To put an end to (strife, enmity, rebellion, or any mischievous agency or condition). Obs.
1338. R. Brunne, Chron. (1725), 253. If … holy kirke wild stanche sibred bituex þam tuo.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxvi. (Nicholas), 329. Sic were to gere stanchit be, þe emperoure send princes thre.
c. 1400. 26 Pol. Poems, iv. 17. Men may not staunche a comoun noys.
1409. Exch. Rolls Scot., IV. p. ccx. Gif thar happynnis ony discorde … [thai] sal lelily do thair power on aythir part to ger it be stanchit in lufely manere.
c. 1430. Life St. Kath. (Roxb.), 5. He staunged soo by hys manly and vertuouse gouernaunce þat rebellioun.
1473–4. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., I. 51. Lettres … to stanche thare gadering for the court of Forfare.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. 164. The Ire of goddis mon be first mesit to stanche þe said pest.
1573. G. Harvey, Letter-bk. (Camden), 40. [He] cam downe himself … to stenche this strife.
1828. Scott, F. M. Perth, xiii. Their feud would be stanched by the death of one, or probably both, of the villains.
† b. To restrain from turbulence or violence; to put down, suppress (rebels, lawbreakers). Sc.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. ii. 21. The hie fadir Gaif thame [sc. the winds] ane kyng, quhilk as thar lord and juge, At certane tyme thame stanching and withhald.
1547. Acc. Ld. High Treas. Scot., IX. 75. With charges to the Maister of Maxwell … to remane in Moffet ane moneth for stancheing of thevis.
1559. Extracts Burgh Rec. Edin. (1875), III. 50. All actis [etc.] … set furth for stanching of sturdy beggeris.
a. 1578. Lindesay (Pitscottie), Chron. Scot. (S.T.S.), I. 92. This wickit man that cuild na wayis be stenchit fra reffe and oppressioun. Ibid., 196. The king wschit out … to stenche thir twa lordis of thair combat and tuilzie.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 10. Quha nathir in peace or weire can be stainchet from takeng the pray. Ibid., 172. He stanchet all seditious personnes.
† c. intr. for refl. Of storm, war, dissension: To come to an end, be allayed. Of persons: To cease from violence. Obs.
c. 1420. Chron. Vilod., 4549. And þe wynde stonchede & blew nomore.
1508. Kennedie, Flyting w. Dunbar, 543. Sterand the potis of hell, et newir stanchis.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, I. v. 110. The cruell tyme sone thereftir sall ceis, And weris stanch, all sal be rest and pece.
c. 1560. Rolland, Seven Sages, 96. The first to spend he neuer stanches.
7. To stop up, to render water-tight or weather-proof. [After F. étancher.]
1776. G. Semple, Building in Water, 34. We got our Dam staunched as before mentioned.
1847. Emerson, Poems, Threnody, 84. The gathered sticks to staunch the wall Of the snow-tower, when snow should fall.
a. 1862. O’Curry, Mann. Anc. Irish (1873), III. 32. I cannot say how they staunched the walls…, whether with clay, moss, or skins.
1892. P. H. Emerson, Son of Fens, xiv. 112. We’ll go put the other board in now. I think we’re stanched one.
8. Comb. † stanch-blood (a) a blood-stone; (b) yarrow, Achillea Millefolium.
1567. Maplet, Gr. Forest, 7 b. Ematites … is called of some stench bloud.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXVI. xii. II. 163, marg. Stanch-bloud, a kind of Yarrow.
Hence Stanched ppl. a. (in first quot. = ? cured of passion: see vb. 3 b), Stanching ppl. a.
1682. H. More, Annot. Glanvill’s Lux O., xiv. 147. It is unbeseeming either a sober and stanched man or a good Christian.
1852. Wiggins, Embanking, 19. Peat or bog is also a good material for a sea-bank, not only by reason of its staunching but also its adhesive qualities when packed. Ibid., 22. Such a material may also be … very hard and staunching when dry.
1865. Alex. Smith, Summer in Skye, I. 318. When the stanched rain-clouds were burning into a sullen red at sunset.
