Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Stanch

Stanch (stȧnch) , transitive verb

[Old French estanchier, French étancher to stop a liquid from flowing; akin to Pr., Sp., & Portuguese estancar, Italian stancare to weary, Late Latin stancare, stagnare, to stanch, from Latin stagnare to be or make stagnant. See Stagnate.]

1.
To stop the flowing of, as blood; to check; also, to stop the flowing of blood from; as, to stanch a wound.
Iron or a stone laid to the neck doth stanch the bleeding of the nose. — Bacon
2.
To extinguish; to quench, as fire or thirst. [Obsolete]

Stanch , intransitive verb

To cease, as the flowing of blood.
Immediately her issue of blood stanched. — Luke viii. 44

Stanch , noun

1.
That which stanches or checks. [Obsolete]
2.
A flood gate by which water is accumulated, for floating a boat over a shallow part of a stream by its release. — Knight

Stanch (-ẽr) , adjective

[From Stanch, transitive verb, and hence literally signifying, stopped or stayed; compare Sp. estanco stopped, tight, not leaky, as a ship. See Stanch, transitive verb]

1.
Strong and tight; sound; firm; as, a stanch ship.
One of the closets is parqueted with plain deal, set in diamond, exceeding stanch and pretty. — Evelyn
2.
Firm in principle; constant and zealous; loyal; hearty; steady; steadfast; as, a stanch churchman; a stanch friend or adherent. — V. Knox
In politics I hear you 're stanch. — Prior
3.
Close; secret; private. [Obsolete]
This is to be kept stanch. — Locke

Stanch , transitive verb

To prop; to make stanch, or strong.
His gathered sticks to stanch the wall Of the snow tower when snow should fall. — Emerson