stanch

¹ American  

[stawnch, stanch, stahnch] / stɔntʃ, stæntʃ, stɑntʃ /

Also staunch

verb (used with object)

1. to stop the flow of (a liquid, especially blood).

2. to stop the flow of blood or other liquid from (a wound, leak, etc.).

3. Archaic. to check, allay, or extinguish.

---

verb (used without object)

1. to stop flowing, as blood; be stanched.

noun

1. Also called navigation weir.  Also called flash-lock.  a lock that, after being partially emptied, is opened suddenly to send a boat over a shallow place with a rush of water.

stanch ² American  

[stawnch, stahnch, stanch] / stɔntʃ, stɑntʃ, stæntʃ /

adjective

stancher, stanchest

1. staunch.

---

stanch British  

/ stɑːntʃ, stɔːntʃ /

verb

1. to stem the flow of (a liquid, esp blood) or (of a liquid) to stop flowing

2. to prevent the flow of a liquid, esp blood, from (a hole, wound, etc)

3. an archaic word for assuage

---

noun

1. a primitive form of lock in which boats are carried over shallow parts of a river in a rush of water released by the lock

Other Word Forms

• stancher
  noun
• stanchness
  noun
• stanchable
  adjective
• unstanchable
  adjective
• stanchly
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of stanch

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English stanchen, staunchen (verb) < Old French estanchier “to close, stop, slake (thirst),” from Vulgar Latin stanticāre (unattested), equivalent to Latin stant- (stem of stāns, present participle of stāre to stand ) + -icāre causative suffix

Explanation

Use the verb stanch to describe stopping a liquid from spreading. A bandage can stanch bleeding and thick towels can stanch the flow of water across the kitchen floor when you drop a full glass of water. The vowel sound in stanch most frequently sounds like on: "stonch." Stanch can also be pronounced to rhyme with branch. Though it's a verb mostly commonly associated with keeping blood from flowing from a wound, the origin is likely the Latin word stagnum, meaning "pond, pool." This word is related to stagnate, describing water that has no movement.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stanch stancher stanchest

He wrapped the leg to stanch the bleeding.

From Slate ● Jul. 7, 2026

But it’s not enough to stanch what the county estimates will be a $700-million annual loss by the 2028-29 fiscal year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

Nixon imposed a global 10% tariff to stanch the deteriorating U.S. balance of payments.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 8, 2026

Parentez said Martinez drove herself to a nearby auto shop, where employees used shop towels to stanch her wounds until paramedics arrived.

From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2025

I let every juicy morsel of anger and bitterness well up inside me, making no attempt to stanch any of it.

From "October Sky" by Homer Hickam

The Hardages also—of course you have no stancher friends than they are—have stood up stubbornly for Rowan.

From The Mettle of the Pasture by Allen, James Lane

"Never was a stancher heart than thine, Caillette, or a truer friend."

From Under the Rose by Isham, Frederic Stewart

It was peering into our dock-yards to find steamers and sailing-vessels out of which to gather makeshift navies, until it could find leisure to build stancher ships.

From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 15, No. 88, February, 1865 by Various

There's not a stancher, closer-mouthed creature in existence than Bear.

From Nobody's Child by Dejeans, Elizabeth

"They could not have a stancher or prettier champion, my dear," said a gray-haired man who sat near me.

From The Mistress of Bonaventure by Bindloss, Harold

Last week, at Lahore, the fruitful work of Sir Sikander was ended: a sudden heart attack brought death to Britain's stanchest friend in India.

From Time Magazine Archive

But not even his stanchest admirer could pretend that his search for a brave new world constituted an outline of U.S. foreign policy.

From Time Magazine Archive

This did him no harm with the thousands of Texas Mexicans who are now his stanchest supporters.

From Time Magazine Archive

When Quanah sang his deep-throated lament over her body, even the stanchest cowhands in the audience had to blow their noses.

From Time Magazine Archive

The truth of evolution is the stanchest friend of religion.

From Elementary Theosophy by Rogers, L. W. (Louis William)