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A blooming period or stage of development; something lovely that gives rich promise. In the blossom of my youth. Massinger.

The stage in a theater; as, to go upon the boards, to enter upon the theatrical profession.

A place for baggage at either end of an old-fashioned stagecoach.

Something deposited as security; a pledge; a surety; a hostage. [Obs.] Ye may retain as borrows my two priests. Sir W. Scott.

theater, or other place of public amusement. Laughed at by the pit, box, galleries, nay, stage. Dorset. The boxes and the pit are sovereign judges. Dryden.

o act as a boy; -- in allusion to the former practice of boys acting women's parts on the stage. I shall see Some squeaking Cleopatra boy my greatness. Shak.

(Zoöl.) A peculiar early larval stage of certain starfishes, having a bilateral structure, and swimming by means of bands of vibrating cilia.

A young salmon or parr, in the stage in which it has transverse black bands, as if burned by a gridiron.

The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal.

Trodden by buskins; pertaining to tragedy. "The buskined stage." Milton.

A connected series of military operations forming a distinct stage in a war; the time during which an army keeps the field. Wilhelm.

ty of riding; a lift. [Scotch] We bargained with the driver to give us a cast to the next stage. Smollett. If we had the cast o' a cart to bring it. Sir W. Scott.

ssion, and lividity, rapidly passing into a state of collapse, followed by death, or by a stage of reaction of fever. -- Cholera bacillus. See Comma bacillus. -- Cholera infantum, a dangerous summer disease, of infants, caused by hot weather, bad air, or poor milk, and especially fatal in large cities. -- Cholera mo…

The first stage of epidemic cholera.

h invests the fetus in the womb; also, the similar membrane investing many ova at certain stages of development.

To pass through the stages of circumnutation.

terature or art. Give, as thy last memorial to the age, One classic drama, and reform the stage. Byron. Mr. Greaves may justly be reckoned a classical author on this subject [Roman weights and coins]. Arbuthnot.

The larval stage of a tapeworm (Tænia coenurus) which forms bladderlike sacs in the brain of sheep, causing the fatal disease known as water brain, vertigo, staggers or gid.

Relating to comedy, as distinct from tragedy. I can not for the stage a drama lay, Tragic or comic, but thou writ'st the play. B. Jonson.

To concur to one end; to agree. The press, the pulpit, and the stage Conspire to censure and expose our age. Roscommon.