Obs. [a refashioning of stang, STANK sb., after L. stagnum pond. Cf. OF. stagne (one example in Godef.).] A pond, esp. a fish-pond; also, a weir or dam. = STANK sb.
c. 1470. Harding, Chron. IV. iii. They gatte eche daye with nettes,… The fyshe in stagnes.
1471. Caxton, Recuyell (Sommer), 38. Menerue … shewid her self in this tyme by the stagne or riuer callid triton by the gretenes and subtilte of her engyne. Ibid. (1483), Golden Leg., St. Andrew, 83 b/2. After thys he called them the seconde tyme by the stagne of genezareth, whyche is named the see of galylee.
1512. Helyas, in Thoms, Prose Rom. (1828), III. 50. He arived nigh to a stagne or ponde where as he sawe vi. fayre swannes.
1562. Act 5 Eliz., c. 21 § 1. Noblemen … have … made … Pooles, Stagnes, Stewis, Motes, Pittes or Pondes for thonelye encrease of Fishe.
1627. H. Burton, Baiting of Pope’s Bull, To Rdr. 4. Becomming as a stagne or pond, not stirring, for feare of discovering mine owne filth.
1636. 5th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., 419/2. Bulkley … and Cheadle … have stayed and diuerted the said river by means of a stagne, placed across and athwart the stream.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Stagnes, a statute term for pools of standing water.
