Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
Stagnate \Stag"nate\, a.
Stagnant. [Obs.] ``A stagnate mass of vapors.'' --Young.
Stagnate \Stag"nate\ (st[a^]g"n[=a]t), v. i. [imp. & p. p.
{Stagnated}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stagnating}.] [L. stagnatus, p.
p. of stagnare to stagnate, make stagnant, from stagnum a
piece of standing water. See {Stank} a pool, and cf.
{Stanch}, v. t.]
1. To cease to flow; to be motionless; as, blood stagnates in
the veins of an animal; hence, to become impure or foul by
want of motion; as, air stagnates in a close room.
2. To cease to be brisk or active; to become dull or
inactive; as, commerce stagnates; business stagnates.
Ready-witted tenderness . . . never stagnates in
vain lamentations while there is any room for hope.
--Sir W.
Scott.
Source : WordNet®
stagnate
v 1: stand still; "Industry will stagnate if we do not stimulate
our economy"
2: cause to stagnate; "There are marshes that stagnate the
waters"
3: cease to flow; stand without moving; "Stagnating waters";
"blood stagnates in the capillaries"
4: be idle; exist in a changeless situation; "The old man sat
and stagnated on his porch"; "He slugged in bed all
morning" [syn: {idle}, {laze}, {slug}] [ant: {work}]