Jump to content

stag

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: StAG

English

[edit]
A stag (noun sense 1) of the species Cervus nippon

Alternative forms

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

From Middle English stagge, steg, from Old English stagga, stacga (“a stag”) and Old Norse steggi, steggr (“a male animal”), both from Proto-Germanic *staggijô, *staggijaz (“male, male deer, porcupine”), probably from Proto-Indo-European *stegʰ-, *stengʰ- (“to sting; rod, blade; sharp, stiff”). Cognate with Icelandic steggi, steggur (“tomcat, male fox”). Related to staggard, staggon.

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /stæɡ/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -æɡ

Noun

[edit]

stag (countable and uncountable, plural stags)

  2. (countable) An adult male deer, especially a red deer and especially one in high adulthood versus a young adult.
    Synonyms: buck, hart (sometimes hypernymous)
    Coordinate term: knobber (sometimes hyponymous)
    • 2024 July 23, Lilit Marcus, “Japan may be sick of mass tourism. But the deer in this ancient UNESCO-listed city love it”, in CNN‎[1]:
      The city recently carried out a deer census, determining there are 313 stags (males), 798 does (females) and 214 fawns (babies) in Nara Park.
  3. (countable, chiefly Scotland) A young horse (colt or filly).
  5. (British) A male turkey: a turkeycock.
  6. (by extension, countable, obsolete) A romping girl; a tomboy.
  7. (countable) An improperly or late castrated bull or ram – also called a bull seg (see note under ox).
  8. (countable, finance) An outside irregular dealer in stocks, who is not a member of the exchange.
  9. (countable, finance) One who applies for the allotment of shares in new projects, with a view to sell immediately at a premium, and not to hold the stock.
  10. (countable, usually attributive) An unmarried man; a bachelor; a man not accompanying a woman at a social event.
    a stag dance; a stag party; a stag bar
  11. (countable) A social event for men held in honor of a groom on the eve of his wedding, attended by male friends of the groom; sometimes a fundraiser.
    Synonyms: (US) bachelor party, (UK) stag do, stag party, stag lunch
    Coordinate terms: bachelorette party, hen party
    The stag will be held in the hotel's ballroom.
  12. (countable, slang) An informer.
    • 1838, [Joseph Holt], edited by T. Crofton Croker, Memoirs of Joseph Holt, General of the Irish Rebels, in 1798, volume II, London: Henry Colburn, page 52:
      We had two disturbers of the harmony of the ship; I mean two stags or informers, one named Robert Wilson, the other John Hewit, from the north of Ireland.
  13. (uncountable, UK, military, slang) Guard duty.
    • 2000, Richard Tomlinson, The big breach: from top secret to maximum security, page 31:
      Between shifts on stag or manning the radio, we grabbed a few hours sleep.
    • 2012, Max Benitz, Six Months Without Sundays: The Scots Guards in Afghanistan:
      Three days were spent on standby or patrols and a fourth day on guard, with at least eight hours on stag.
  14. (countable) A stag beetle (family Lucanidae).
    • 2007, Eric R. Eaton, Kenn Kaufman, Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America, page 132:
      Members of the genus Pasimachus […] can be confused with stag beetles […] but stags have elbowed antennae.
  15. (countable) The Eurasian wren, Troglodytes troglodytes.

Hyponyms

[edit]

Derived terms

[edit]
[edit]

Translations

[edit]

Verb

[edit]

stag (third-person singular simple present stags, present participle stagging, simple past and past participle stagged)

  1. (intransitive, British) To act as a "stag", an irregular dealer in stocks.
  2. (transitive) To watch; to dog, or keep track of.
    Synonym: shadow

Translations

[edit]

Adverb

[edit]

stag (not comparable)

  1. Of a man, attending a formal social function without a date.
    My brother went stag to prom because he couldn't find a date.

Translations

[edit]

References

[edit]
  • (to watch): John Camden Hotten's Slang Dictionary (1873)

Further reading

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]

Cornish

[edit]

Etymology 1

[edit]
This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.
Particularly: “Related to Welsh stanc, ystanc?”

Cognate with Breton stag.

Noun

[edit]

stag m (plural stagow)

  1. tether
Derived terms
[edit]

Adjective

[edit]

stag

  1. attached, fixed, stuck

Verb

[edit]

stag

  1. inflection of staga (“to attach”):
    1. third-person singular present indicative/future indicative
    2. second-person singular imperative

Etymology 2

[edit]

(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium. Particularly: “Possibly onomatopoeia”)

Noun

[edit]

stag m (plural stagow)

  1. mud, mire
    Synonyms: leys, leysek, pri

Middle English

[edit]

Noun

[edit]

stag

  1. alternative form of stagge

Old English

[edit]

Pronunciation

[edit]
  • IPA(key): /stɑːɡ/, [stɑːɣ]

Verb

[edit]

stāg

  1. first/third-person singular preterite indicative of stīgan

Swedish

[edit]

Etymology

[edit]

Inherited from Old Swedish stag, from Old Norse stag, from Proto-Germanic *stagą.

Noun

[edit]

stag n

  1. (nautical) a stay
  2. an appliance with a function similar to a nautical stay

Declension

[edit]
Declension of stag
nominative genitive
singular indefinite stag stags
definite staget stagets
plural indefinite stag stags
definite stagen stagens

References

[edit]

Anagrams

[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=stag&oldid=89274187"