Stāte1, n.
[Lat. status, a standing, position, from stare, statum, to stand; It. stato, Sp. & Pg. estado, Pr. estat, stat, O. Fr. estat, N. Fr. état.]
Sense 1. The circumstances or condition of a being or thing at any given time.
State is a term nearly synonymous with “mode,” but of a meaning more extensive, and is not so exclusively limited to the mutable and contingent. Sir W. Hamilton.
Declare the past and present state of things. Dryden.
Keep the state of the question in your eye. Boyle.
Sense 2. Rank; condition; quality; as, the state of honor.
Sense 3. Condition of prosperity or grandeur; wealthy or prosperous circumstances; height; dignity.
She instructed him how he should keep state, yet with a modest sense of his misfortunes. Bacon.
She rather accepteth them out of state, than borroweth them out of need. Fuller.
Sense 4. Any body of men united by profession, or constituting a community of a particular character; as, the civil and ecclesiastical states in Great Britain.
Sense 5. The bodies that constitute the legislature of a country; as, the states general.
Sense 6. The principal persons in a government.
The bold design Pleased highly those infernal states. Milton.
Sense 7. A person of high rank. [Obs.] Latimer.
Sense 8. A political body, or body politic; the whole body of people united under one government, whatever may be the form of the government.
Municipal law is a rule of conduct prescribed by the supreme power in a state. Blackstone.
The Puritans in the reign of Mary, driven from their homes, sought an asylum in Geneva, where they found a state without a king, and a church without a bishop. R. Choate.
Sense 9. In the United States, one of the commonwealths or bodies politic, the people of which make up the body of the nation, and which, under the national constitution, stand in certain specified relations with the national government, and are invested, as commonwealths, with full power in their several spheres, over all matters not expressly inhibited.
Sense 10. Appearance of greatness; pomp.
In state the monarchs marched. Dryden.
Where least of state, there most of love is shown. Dryden.
Sense 11. A raised dais or platform on which was placed a chair or throne with a canopy above it. [Obs.]
His high throne, under state Of richest texture spread. Milton.
When he went to court, he used to kick away the state, and sit down by his prince cheek by jowl. Swift.
Sense 12. Estate; possession. [Obs.] See ESTATE.
Daniel.
Sense 13. Highest and stationary condition, as that of maturity between growth and decline, or as between the increase and the abating of a disease. [Obs.]
When state is joined with another word, it denotes public, or what belongs to the community or body politic, or to the government; also, what belongs to the States severally in the American Union; as, state affairs; state policy; a state secret; state rights.
State barge, a royal barge, or a barge belonging to a government. — State bed, an elaborately carved or decorated bed. — State carriage, a highly decorated carriage for officials going in state, or taking part in public processions. Simmonds. — State paper, a paper relating to the political interests or government of a state. Jay. — States-general (Hist.), in France, before the revolution, the assembly of the three orders of the kingdom, namely, the clergy, the nobility, and the third estate, or commonalty. In the Netherlands, the legislative body, composed of two chambers. — State-sword, a sword used on state occasions, being borne before a sovereign by an attendant of high rank. — State trial, a trial of persons for political offenses.
Syn. — STATE, SITUATION, CONDITION. State is the generic term, and denotes in general the mode in which a thing stands or exists. The situation of a thing is its state in reference to external objects and influences; its condition is its internal state, or what it is in itself considered. Our situation is good or bad as outward things bear favorably or unfavorably upon us; our condition is good or bad according to the state we are actually in as respects our persons, families, property, and other things which comprise our sources of enjoyment.
I do not Infer as if I thought my sister’s state Secure. Milton.
We now hope to enjoy what in our situation might be called “the luxuries of life.” Cook.
And, O, what man’s condition can be worse Than his whom blessings starve and blessings curse? Cowley.