stanch

adj

1. (alt-of, archaic)Archaic spelling of staunch.

   “a stanch ship    a stanch churchman”

   “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.”

   “Hovv goodly, and hovv to be vviſht vvere ſuch an obedient unanimity as this, vvhat a fine conformity vvould it ſtarch us all into? doubtles a ſtanch and ſolid peece of frame-vvork, as any January could freeze together.”

   “[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, […]”

adv

1. (obsolete)Possibly strictly.

   “But you vvill loſe your Labour, and vvhat is more, their Love and Reverence too, if they can receive from others, vvhat you deny them. This is to be kept very ſtanch, and carefully to be vvatched.”

verb

1. (US, especially, poetic, transitive)To stop the flow of (water or some other liquid).

   “I will couer the depe vpon him, I will ſtaunch his floudes, and the greate waters ſhalbe reſtrayned.”

2. (US, especially, poetic, transitive)To stop the flow of (water or some other liquid).

   “A small amount of cotton can be stuffed into the nose to stanch the flow of blood if necessary.”

   “[A] hẽnes [henne's] brayne is beſt: whiche (as Auicen ſaith) ſtancheth bledynge at yͤ noſe.”

   “It [rhubarb] is good againſt ſpitting of bloud, and ſtancheth it, out of vvhat part ſoeuer it runne.”

   “Hallovved be thou Veruein, as thou grovveſt on the ground, / For in the mount of Caluary there thou vvas firſt found: / Thou healedſt our Sauiour Ieſus Chriſt, and ſtanchedſt his bleeding vvound: / In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghoſt, I take thee frõ the ground.”

   “Bloud is ſtanched diuers vvayes. […] As Iron, or a Stone laid to the necke doth ſtanch the Bleeding at the Noſe; Alſo it hath beene tried, that the Teſticles, being put into ſharpe Vinegar, hath made a ſudden Receſſe of the Spirits, and ſtanched Bloud.”

3. (US, especially, poetic, transitive)To stop the flow of (water or some other liquid).

   “His gathered sticks to stanch the wall / Of the snow-tower, when snow should fall; […]”

4. (US, especially, transitive)To check or stop, or deter (an action).

   “[W]hy ſhould a man refuſe the glad tydings of ſalutation, or ſtop his eares at the voyce of the skilfull charmer, becauſe the meſſenger that brings the tydings, is ouertaken vvith ſome knovvne ſinne? Or becauſe hee that charmeth, ſtancheth not the iſſue of his ovvne corruption?”

   “[T]heir feud would be stanched by the death of one, or probably both, of the villains, […]”

   “Beijing devotes immense resources to restricting access for and stanching scrutiny from international groups and reporters.”

5. (US, especially, transitive)To check or stop, or deter (an action).

   “It [squill] ſtancheth the ache of the ſtomack⸝ it helpeth digeſtion⸝ and maketh a man well colored.”

   “The water of the ſame [angelica root], in a colde cauſe, is good to be layd on places diſeaſed with the Goute and Sciatica. For it ſtancheth the pain, and melteth a waye the tough humours that are gathered togither.”

6. (US, especially, obsolete, transitive)To extinguish or put out (as a fire, anger, etc.); also, to quench or satisfy (as desire, hunger, thirst, etc.).

   “[A]s an angry Cur / Snarles vvhile he feeds, ſo vvill I ſeize and ſtanch / The hunger of my love on this proud beauty, / And leave the ſcraps for Slaves.”

7. (US, also, especially, intransitive, reflexive)Of bleeding: to stop.

   “And a woman hauing an iſſue of blood twelue yeres, which had ſpent all her liuing vpon Phiſitions, neither could be healed of any, / Came behinde him [Jesus], and touched the border of his garment: and immediatly her iſſue of blood ſtanched.”

   “[G]iving a dram and a half of Lapis Prunellæ in cold VVater, preſently the blood ſtanched vvhen the ſame and other Medicines could not formerly do it.”

8. (US, also, especially, intransitive, obsolete, reflexive)Of an occurrence or other thing: to come to an end; to cease; also, of persons: to stop acting violently.

noun

1. (US, alt-of, alternative, especially)Alternative spelling of staunch (“that which stanches; act of stanching”).
2. (US, especially)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.