stage

Everyday

1. A stage is a raised floor in a theatre or hall where people act, sing or speak. tree →
2. A stage is one step or part in a process or a time of growth. tree →
3. To stage a play or event is to put it on for people to watch. tree →
4. «The stage» can mean acting as a job. tree →
5. A stage coach was a large horse-drawn coach that carried passengers along a road in the past. tree →

In the lessons

In school, the class performs a play on stage. In science, living things go through life-cycle stages (egg, caterpillar, chrysalis, butterfly), and the Moon has stages called phases. In maths, a problem can be solved in stages (steps). In stories, «at this stage» tells the reader where in the events we are. Phrases: «on stage», «go on stage», «stage fright», «in stages», «at this stage», «early stages», «stage by stage».

Examples

• Our class sang songs on the stage. tree →
• A caterpillar is one stage in the life of a butterfly. tree →
• Solve the problem in two stages. tree →
• She had stage fright before the concert. tree →
• The school staged a play about the Romans. tree →
• The building is in the last stage of work. tree →
• At this stage, nobody knew the treasure was gone. tree →
• The tadpole is the second stage of a frog's life. tree →
• The stage coach went rattling past. tree →

Note

Plural stages. «Stage» (step) is like «phase»; it tells order. «On stage» = performing. Stage fright is being nervous before performing, and it is normal.

In Jewish tradition

It means one of the stopping places on the Israelites' journey through the wilderness, not a platform for acting.

Interpretation. Numbers 33 lists forty-two stages. Commentators like Rashi say they are recorded to show God's kindness in guiding the people, and some find in them a path of spiritual growth.

Examples

• And Moses wrote their goings forth, stage by stage, by the commandment of the LORD; and these are their stages at their goings forth. (Torah NUM.33.2, JPS 1917) tree →
• And the children of Israel set forward by their stages out of the wilderness of Sinai; and the cloud abode in the wilderness of Paran. — (Torah NUM.10.12, JPS 1917) tree →
• These are the stages of the children of Israel, by which they went forth out of the land of Egypt by their hosts under the hand of Moses and Aaron. (Torah NUM.33.1, JPS 1917) tree →

Note

Plural stages. «Stage» (step) is like «phase»; it tells order. «On stage» = performing. Stage fright is being nervous before performing, and it is normal.