Definition of "stanch" [stanch]

• To stop or check the flow of (blood or tears, for example). (verb-transitive)
• To stop the flow of blood from (a wound). (verb-transitive)
• To stop, check, or allay: "My anxiety is stanched; I am at peace” ( Scott Turow). See Usage Note at staunch1. (verb-transitive)
• Variant of staunch1. See Usage Note at staunch1. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "All of them say the same thing, that stanch is the more common verbal spelling and that staunch is the more common adjectival spelling, but that the two are interchangeable."
• "And at his call the stanch hearts unite into one great, strong heart, deep and sensitive as a silver bell not yet cast."
• "I believe she could have a great charity, that no evil-doing would dismay her: "stanch" sums her up."