From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
stage
n 1: any distinct time period in a sequence of events; "we are
in a transitional stage in which many former ideas must be
revised or rejected" [syn: phase, stage]
2: a specific identifiable position in a continuum or series or
especially in a process; "a remarkable degree of frankness";
"at what stage are the social sciences?" [syn: degree,
level, stage, point]
3: a large platform on which people can stand and can be seen by
an audience; "he clambered up onto the stage and got the
actors to help him into the box"
4: the theater as a profession (usually `the stage'); "an early
movie simply showed a long kiss by two actors of the
contemporary stage"
5: a large coach-and-four formerly used to carry passengers and
mail on regular routes between towns; "we went out of town
together by stage about ten or twelve miles" [syn:
stagecoach, stage]
6: a section or portion of a journey or course; "then we
embarked on the second stage of our Caribbean cruise" [syn:
stage, leg]
7: any scene regarded as a setting for exhibiting or doing
something; "All the world's a stage"--Shakespeare; "it set
the stage for peaceful negotiations"
8: a small platform on a microscope where the specimen is
mounted for examination [syn: stage, microscope stage]
v 1: perform (a play), especially on a stage; "we are going to
stage `Othello'" [syn: stage, present, represent]
2: plan, organize, and carry out (an event); "the neighboring
tribe staged an invasion" [syn: stage, arrange]
From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stage \Stage\ (st[=a]j), n. [OF. estage, F. ['e]tage, (assumed)
LL. staticum, from L. stare to stand. See Stand, and cf.
Static.]
1. A floor or story of a house. [Obs.] --Wyclif.
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2. An elevated platform on which an orator may speak, a play
be performed, an exhibition be presented, or the like.
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3. A floor elevated for the convenience of mechanical work,
or the like; a scaffold; a staging.
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4. A platform, often floating, serving as a kind of wharf.
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5. The floor for scenic performances; hence, the theater; the
playhouse; hence, also, the profession of representing
dramatic compositions; the drama, as acted or exhibited.
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Knights, squires, and steeds, must enter on the
stage. --Pope.
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Lo! where the stage, the poor, degraded stage,
Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age. --C.
Sprague.
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6. A place where anything is publicly exhibited; the scene of
any noted action or career; the spot where any remarkable
affair occurs; as, politicians must live their lives on
the public stage.
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When we are born, we cry that we are come
To this great stage of fools. --Shak.
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Music and ethereal mirth
Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring.
--Miton.
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7. The platform of a microscope, upon which an object is
placed to be viewed. See Illust. of Microscope.
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8. A place of rest on a regularly traveled road; a stage
house; a station; a place appointed for a relay of horses.
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9. A degree of advancement in a journey; one of several
portions into which a road or course is marked off; the
distance between two places of rest on a road; as, a stage
of ten miles.
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A stage . . . signifies a certain distance on a
road. --Jeffrey.
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He traveled by gig, with his wife, his favorite
horse performing the journey by easy stages.
--Smiles.
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10. A degree of advancement in any pursuit, or of progress
toward an end or result.
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Such a polity is suited only to a particular stage
in the progress of society. --Macaulay.
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11. A large vehicle running from station to station for the
accommodation of the public; a stagecoach; an omnibus. "A
parcel sent you by the stage." --Cowper. [Obsolescent]
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I went in the sixpenny stage. --Swift.
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12. (Biol.) One of several marked phases or periods in the
development and growth of many animals and plants; as,
the larval stage; pupa stage; zoea stage.
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Stage box, a box close to the stage in a theater.
Stage carriage, a stagecoach.
Stage door, the actors' and workmen's entrance to a
theater.
Stage lights, the lights by which the stage in a theater is
illuminated.
Stage micrometer, a graduated device applied to the stage
of a microscope for measuring the size of an object.
Stage wagon, a wagon which runs between two places for
conveying passengers or goods.
Stage whisper, a loud whisper, as by an actor in a theater,
supposed, for dramatic effect, to be unheard by one or
more of his fellow actors, yet audible to the audience; an
aside.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stage \Stage\ (st[=a]j), v. t.
To exhibit upon a stage, or as upon a stage; to display
publicly. --Shak.
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