online medical dictionary | definition of stagnate

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)

Origin: L. Stagnatus, p.p. Of stagnare to stagnate, make stagnant, from stagnum a piece of standing water. See Stank a pool, and cf. Stanch.

(01 Mar 1998)