different between mainstay vs stanchion

English

Etymology

From Middle English main stai, equivalent to main +? stay (“rope”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?me?n.ste?/

Noun

mainstay (plural mainstays)

1. A chief support.
2. Someone or something that can be depended on to make a regular contribution.
3. (nautical) A stabilising rope from the top of the mainmast to the bottom of the foremast.

Translations

Anagrams

• Mayanist

English

Etymology

From Old French estanson, estanchon, (Modern French étançon), from estance (“a stay, a prop”), from Latin stans (“standing”), present participle of st?.

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?n?sh?n, IPA^(key): /?stæn??n/ or
• (Can we verify⁽⁺⁾ this pronunciation?) enPR: stän?sh?n, IPA^(key): /?st??n??n/

Noun

stanchion (plural stanchions)

1. A vertical pole, post, or support.
   • 1938, Xavier Herbert, Capricornia, New York: D. Appleton-Century, 1943, Chapter IX, p. 149, [1]

     The train began to move. Lace walked with it, holding a stanchion.

   • 2013, J. M. Coetzee, The Childhood of Jesus. Melbourne, Australia: The Text Publishing Company. chapter 27. p. 268.

     He staggers against a stanchion, trips over a rope, and tumbles into the space between the quay and the steel plates of the freighter.

2. A framework of such posts, used to secure or confine cattle.

Derived terms

• barrack stanchion

Translations

Verb

stanchion (third-person singular simple present stanchions, present participle stanchioning, simple past and past participle stanchioned)

1. To erect stanchions, or equip something with stanchions.
2. To confine by means of stanchions, typically used for cattle.

References

• stanchion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.