Definition of "staunch"

Not permitting water or some other liquid to escape or penetrate; watertight.  quotations

1. (by extension) Impermeable to air or other gases; airtight.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • [T]vvas very difficult to procure a Bladder ſmall and fine enough for that litle Cylinder; and that one, vvhich at length vve procured, vvould not continue ſtanch for many Tryals, but vvould after a vvhile part vvith a litle Air in the vvell exhauſted Receiver, vvhen tvvas clog'd vvith the utmoſt VVeight it could ſuſtain: but vvhilſt it continued ſtanch vve made one fair Tryal vvith it, […]

     1669, Robert Boyle, “Experiment XLVII. About an Attempt Made to Measure the Force of the Spring of Included Air, and Examine a Conjecture about the Difference of Its Strength in Unequally Broad Mouth’d Vessels.”, in A Continuation of New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, Touching the Spring and Weight of the Air, and Their Effects. The I. Part. […], Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Henry Hall, printer to the University, for Richard Davis, page 160

Strongly built; also, in good or strong condition.  quotations  examples

(figuratively)

1. Staying true to one's aims or principles; firm, resolute, unswerving.  quotations  examples

   Quotations

   • VVe may commend / A Gentlemans modeſty, manners, and fine language, / […] / Yet, though he obſerue, and vvaſte his ſtate vpon vs, / If he be ſtanch and bid not for the ſtocke / That vve vvere borne to traffick vvith; the truth is / VVe care not for his company.

     1624, Phillip [i.e., Philip] Massinger, The Bond-man: An Antient Storie. […], London: […] Edw[ard] Allde, for Iohn Harison and Edward Blackmore, […], Act I, scene iii, signature [B4], recto

   • In Politicks, I hear, you're ſtanch, / Directly bent againſt the French; / Deny to have your free-born Toe / Dragoon'd into a VVooden Shoe: […]

     1689 May 24 (date written; Gregorian calendar), Mat[thew] Prior, “An Epistle to Fleetwood Shephard, Esq”, in Poems on Several Occasions, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], published 1709, page 20

   • And you are ſtaunch indeed in learning's cauſe, / If you can crovvn a diſcipline that dravvs / Such miſchiefs after it, vvith much applauſe.

     1785, William Cowper, “Tirocinium: Or, A Review of Schools”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson; […], page 319

   • They seemed completely satiated with the vengeance they had prosecuted with such staunch and sagacious activity.

     1818 July 25, Jedadiah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Company, page 176

   • It is therefore probable that De la Marck might have effected his escape, […] but for the staunch pursuit of Quentin, his uncle Le Balafré, and some of his comrades.

     1823, [Walter Scott], “The Sally”, in Quentin Durward. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., page 344

   • My father was amazingly ignorant—so ignorant, in fact, as not to know that he knew nothing. He was staunch, however, to church and king, and full of old-fashioned prejudices.

     1824, Geoffrey Crayon [pseudonym; Washington Irving], “Buckthorne, or The Young Man of Great Expectations”, in Tales of a Traveller, part 1 (Strange Stories. […]), Philadelphia, Pa.: H[enry] C[harles] Carey & I[saac] Lea, […], page 126

   • Is it like you, who have known me so long and sought my advice in all matters—like you, who from a girl have had a strong mind and a staunch heart?

     1841 February–November, Charles Dickens, “Barnaby Rudge”, in Master Humphrey’s Clock, volume II, London: Chapman & Hall, […], chapter 6, page 265

   • [T]ouching the much vexed question of stimulants he relished a glass of choice old wine in season as both nourishing and bloodmaking and possessing aperient virtues (notably a good burgundy which he was a staunch believer in) […]

     1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 16: Eumaeus]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], part III [Nostos], page 571

   • The fast-food chain Chick-fil-A was founded by a staunch Christian, is closed on Sundays and has previously donated to organisations with anti-LGBTQ+ stances.

     2023 June 12, Tom Dart, “US culture wars come to baseball as MLB celebrates Pride month”, in The Guardian‎

2. Dependable, loyal, reliable, trustworthy.  quotations

   Quotations

   • [T]here ain't a stauncher-hearted gal going, or I'd have cut her throat three months ago.

     1838, Boz [pseudonym; Charles Dickens], “A Strange Interview, Which Is a Sequel to the Last Chapter”, in Oliver Twist; or, The Parish Boy’s Progress. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], page 49

   • Never at any time in its history has there been so much universal anger at and criticism of the Southern. The railway's staunchest friends must concede that most of it is justified.

     1959 April, P. Ransome-Wallis, “The Southern in Trouble on the Kent Coast”, in Trains Illustrated, London: Ian Allan Publishing, page 213

   1. (chiefly hunting) Of a hunting dog: that can be depended on to pick up the scent of, or to mark, game.  quotations  examples

      Quotations

      • [T]he horſemen & huntſmen ſhould blemiſh at ſuch places as they ſee the Hart enter into a thicket or couert to the end that if the hounds fall to change, they may return to thoſe blemiſhes, and put their hounds to the right ſlot and view, vntill they haue rowzed or found him againe with their bloudhound, or with ſome other ſtanch old hound of the kennell, in the which they may aſſie themſelues. For old ſtaunch houndes which will not hunt change, when they ſee an Hart rowzed & before them, they neuer call on, nor once open: but if they be young raſh houndes, they will runne with full cry & ſo take change.

        1575, Jacques du Fouilloux, “Certaine Observations and Subtleties to be Used by Huntsmen in Hunting an Hart at Force”, in George Gascoigne, transl., The Noble Art of Venerie or Hunting. […], London: […] Thomas Purfoot, published 1611, page 112

      • For, scarce a spear's length from his haunch, / Vindictive toiled the blood-hounds staunch; […]

        1810, Walter Scott, “Canto I. The Chase.”, in The Lady of the Lake; […], Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for John Ballantyne and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, and William Miller, stanza VII, page 10

      • Beatte especially, was as staunch as a veteran hound.

        1835, [Washington Irving], “A Hunt for a Lost Comrade”, in A Tour on the Prairies (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 1), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, page 237

3. (obsolete) Cautious, restrained.  quotations

   Quotations

   • It is good to be very ſtaunch and cautious of talking about other Men and their Concernments, in vvay of paſſing Characters on them, or deſcanting upon their Proceedings for vvant of other Diſcourse: This is the common refuge of Idleneſs, and the practice of fidling Goſſips, vvho becauſe they vvill do nothing themſelves, muſt be reflecting upon the doings of others; […]

     a. 1678 (date written), Isaac Barrow, “The Ninth Sermon. 1 Thess[alonians] 4. 11.”, in Several Sermons against Evil-Speaking, London: […] Brabazon Aylmer, […], published 1678, page 105

4. stubborn, intransigent  examples

Alternative spelling of stanch  quotations  examples

(obsolete) That which stanches or checks a flow.

1. (specifically, archaic) A plant or substance which stops the flow of blood; a styptic.

(obsolete) An act of stanching or stopping.

(mining) Synonym of afterdamp (“suffocating gases present in a coal mine after an explosion caused by firedamp”)  examples

Alternative spelling of stanch (“a floodgate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a shallow part of a stream by its release; also, a dam or lock in a river”)  examples