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

ng my bow. Goldsmith. Yet knows not how to find the uncertain place, And blunders on, and staggers every pace. Dryden. To blunder on. (a) To continue blundering. (b) To find or reach as if by an accident involving more or less stupidity, -- applied to something desirable; as, to blunder on a useful discovery.…

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.

Motionless; destitute of breezes. A stagnant, breezeless air becalms my soul. Shenstone.

upon the object spanned, as in engraving, watchmaking, etc., or which forms a platform or staging over which something passes or is conveyed.

A spitlike start, on the head of a young stag.

rees, shrubs, etc.; -- said of cattle, sheep, deer, and some other animals. Yes, like the stag, when snow the plasture sheets, The barks of trees thou browsedst. Shak.

ced above the pump. -- Bull snake (Zoöl.), the pine snake of the United States. -- Bull stag, a castrated bull. See Stag. -- Bull wheel, a wheel, or drum, on which a rope is wound for lifting heavy articles, as logs, the tools in well boring, etc.

An ox, steer, or stag.

The federal council of the German Empire. In the Bundesrath and the Reichstag are vested the legislative functions. The federal council of Switzerland is also so called.

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.