verb

stanch

STAHNCH/stɑːntʃ/

To stop or check a flow or loss.

The hands press cloth against the vessel's leak to stanch the flow.

Two adult hands press a folded cloth against a small leak in a water-filled clay vessel so the water stream diminishes to drops; nonmedical liquid-flow sense, no blood.

Etymology

stanchOld Frenchstop flowing, hinder, extinguish

Estanchier could describe stopping blood flow or extinguishing a fire. Stanch preserves the liquid sense of bringing an ongoing process to a halt; its deeper ancestry is uncertain.

More examples

The company cuts expenses to stanch its financial losses.
She uses a cloth to stanch the leak.
Direct pressure stanched the flow of blood.

Forms

stanch · stanches · stanched · stanching

Similar words

stem: Also means holding back a flow, spread, or loss.
curb: Emphasizes limiting something rather than stopping its flow completely.
halt: Means stopping any activity or movement, not specifically a flow.