To stand to reason

Stand Stand (st[a^]nd), v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Stood} (st[oo^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Standing}.] [OE. standen; AS. standan; akin to OFries. stonda, st[=a]n, D. staan, OS. standan, st[=a]n, OHG. stantan, st[=a]n, G. stehen, Icel. standa, Dan. staae, Sw. st[*a], Goth. standan, Russ. stoiate, L. stare, Gr. 'ista`nai to cause to stand, sth^nai to stand, Skr. sth[=a]. [root]163. Cf. {Assist}, {Constant}, {Contrast}, {Desist}, {Destine}, {Ecstasy}, {Exist}, {Interstice}, {Obstacle}, {Obstinate}, {Prest}, n., {Rest} remainder, {Solstice}, {Stable}, a. & n., {Staff}, {Stage}, {Stall}, n., {Stamen}, {Stanchion}, {Stanza}, {State}, n., {Statute}, {Stead}, {Steed}, {Stool}, {Stud} of horses, {Substance}, {System}.] 1. To be at rest in an erect position; to be fixed in an upright or firm position; as: (a) To be supported on the feet, in an erect or nearly erect position; -- opposed to {lie}, {sit}, {kneel}, etc. ``I pray you all, stand up!'' --Shak. (b) To continue upright in a certain locality, as a tree fixed by the roots, or a building resting on its foundation. [1913 Webster]

It stands as it were to the ground yglued. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

The ruined wall Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone. --Byron. [1913 Webster]

2. To occupy or hold a place; to have a situation; to be situated or located; as, Paris stands on the Seine. [1913 Webster]

Wite ye not where there stands a little town? --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]

3. To cease from progress; not to proceed; to stop; to pause; to halt; to remain stationary. [1913 Webster]

I charge thee, stand, And tell thy name. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. --Matt. ii. 9. [1913 Webster]

4. To remain without ruin or injury; to hold good against tendencies to impair or injure; to be permanent; to endure; to last; hence, to find endurance, strength, or resources. [1913 Webster]

My mind on its own center stands unmoved. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

5. To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or yield; to be safe. [1913 Webster]

Readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall. --Spectator. [1913 Webster]

6. To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition. ``The standing pattern of their imitation.'' --South. [1913 Webster]

The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life. --Esther viii. 11. [1913 Webster]

7. To adhere to fixed principles; to maintain moral rectitude; to keep from falling into error or vice. [1913 Webster]

We must labor so as to stand with godliness, according to his appointment. --Latimer. [1913 Webster]

8. To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation; as, Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts. [1913 Webster]

9. To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist. ``Sacrifices . . . which stood only in meats and drinks.'' --Heb. ix. 10. [1913 Webster]

Accomplish what your signs foreshow; I stand resigned, and am prepared to go. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

Thou seest how it stands with me, and that I may not tarry. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

10. To be consistent; to agree; to accord. [1913 Webster]

Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing But what may stand with honor. --Massinger. [1913 Webster]

11. (Naut.) To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the shore; to stand for the harbor. [1913 Webster]

From the same parts of heaven his navy stands. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

12. To offer one's self, or to be offered, as a candidate. [1913 Webster]

He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university. --Walton. [1913 Webster]

13. To stagnate; not to flow; to be motionless. [1913 Webster]

Or the black water of Pomptina stands. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

14. To measure when erect on the feet. [1913 Webster]

Six feet two, as I think, he stands. --Tennyson. [1913 Webster]

15. (Law) (a) To be or remain as it is; to continue in force; to have efficacy or validity; to abide. --Bouvier. (b) To appear in court. --Burrill. [1913 Webster]

16. (Card Playing) To be, or signify that one is, willing to play with one's hand as dealt. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

{Stand by} (Naut.), a preparatory order, equivalent to {Be ready}.

{To stand against}, to oppose; to resist.

{To stand by}. (a) To be near; to be a spectator; to be present. (b) To be aside; to be set aside with disregard. ``In the interim [we] let the commands stand by neglected.'' --Dr. H. More. (c) To maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert; as, to stand by one's principles or party. (d) To rest on for support; to be supported by. --Whitgift. (e) To remain as a spectator, and take no part in an action; as, we can't just stand idly by while people are being killed.

{To stand corrected}, to be set right, as after an error in a statement of fact; to admit having been in error. --Wycherley.

{To stand fast}, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable.

{To stand firmly on}, to be satisfied or convinced of. ``Though Page be a secure fool, and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty.'' --Shak.

{To stand for}. (a) To side with; to espouse the cause of; to support; to maintain, or to profess or attempt to maintain; to defend. ``I stand wholly for you.'' --Shak. (b) To be in the place of; to be the substitute or representative of; to represent; as, a cipher at the left hand of a figure stands for nothing. ``I will not trouble myself, whether these names stand for the same thing, or really include one another.'' --Locke. (c) To tolerate; as, I won't stand for any delay.

{To stand in}, to cost. ``The same standeth them in much less cost.'' --Robynson (More's Utopia).

The Punic wars could not have stood the human race in less than three millions of the species. --Burke.

{To stand in hand}, to conduce to one's interest; to be serviceable or advantageous.

{To stand off}. (a) To keep at a distance. (b) Not to comply. (c) To keep at a distance in friendship, social intercourse, or acquaintance. (d) To appear prominent; to have relief. ``Picture is best when it standeth off, as if it were carved.'' --Sir H. Wotton.

{To stand off and on} (Naut.), to remain near a coast by sailing toward land and then from it.

{To stand on} (Naut.), to continue on the same tack or course.

{To stand out}. (a) To project; to be prominent. ``Their eyes stand out with fatness.'' --Psalm lxxiii. 7. (b) To persist in opposition or resistance; not to yield or comply; not to give way or recede.

His spirit is come in, That so stood out against the holy church. --Shak.

{To stand to}. (a) To ply; to urge; to persevere in using. ``Stand to your tackles, mates, and stretch your oars.'' --Dryden. (b) To remain fixed in a purpose or opinion. ``I will stand to it, that this is his sense.'' --Bp. Stillingfleet. (c) To abide by; to adhere to; as to a contract, assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award; to stand to one's word. (d) Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain, as one's ground. ``Their lives and fortunes were put in safety, whether they stood to it or ran away.'' --Bacon. (e) To be consistent with; to agree with; as, it stands to reason that he could not have done so; same as {stand with}, below . (f) To support; to uphold. ``Stand to me in this cause.'' --Shak.

{To stand together}, to be consistent; to agree.

{To stand to reason} to be reasonable; to be expected.

{To stand to sea} (Naut.), to direct the course from land.

{To stand under}, to undergo; to withstand. --Shak.

{To stand up}. (a) To rise from sitting; to be on the feet. (b) To arise in order to speak or act. ``Against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed.'' --Acts xxv. 18. (c) To rise and stand on end, as the hair. (d) To put one's self in opposition; to contend. ``Once we stood up about the corn.'' --Shak.

{To stand up for}, to defend; to justify; to support, or attempt to support; as, to stand up for the administration.

{To stand upon}. (a) To concern; to interest. (b) To value; to esteem. ``We highly esteem and stand much upon our birth.'' --Ray. (c) To insist on; to attach much importance to; as, to stand upon security; to stand upon ceremony. (d) To attack; to assault. [A Hebraism] ``So I stood upon him, and slew him.'' --2 Sam. i. 10.

{To stand with}, to be consistent with. ``It stands with reason that they should be rewarded liberally.'' --Sir J. Davies. [1913 Webster]