What is "to stand off and on"

Stand \Stand\ (st[a^]nd), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Stood (st[oo^]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Standing.] [OE. standen; AS. standan; akin to OFries. stonda, st[=a]n, D. staan, OS. standan, st[=a]n, OHG. stantan, st[=a]n, G. stehen, Icel. standa, Dan. staae, Sw. st[*a], Goth. standan, Russ. stoiate, L. stare, Gr. 'ista`nai to cause to stand, sth^nai to stand, Skr. sth[=a]. [root]163. Cf. Assist, Constant, Contrast, Desist, Destine, Ecstasy, Exist, Interstice, Obstacle, Obstinate, Prest, n., Rest remainder, Solstice, Stable, a. & n., Staff, Stage, Stall, n., Stamen, Stanchion, Stanza, State, n., Statute, Stead, Steed, Stool, Stud of horses, Substance, System.]

1. To be at rest in an erect position; to be fixed in an upright or firm position; as:

   1. To be supported on the feet, in an erect or nearly erect position; -- opposed to lie, sit, kneel, etc. ``I pray you all, stand up!''
      --Shak.

   2. To continue upright in a certain locality, as a tree fixed by the roots, or a building resting on its foundation.

      It stands as it were to the ground yglued.
      --Chaucer.

      The ruined wall Stands when its wind-worn battlements are gone.
      --Byron.

2. To occupy or hold a place; to have a situation; to be situated or located; as, Paris stands on the Seine.

   Wite ye not where there stands a little town?
   --Chaucer.

3. To cease from progress; not to proceed; to stop; to pause; to halt; to remain stationary.

   I charge thee, stand, And tell thy name.
   --Dryden.

   The star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.
   --Matt. ii. 9.

4. To remain without ruin or injury; to hold good against tendencies to impair or injure; to be permanent; to endure; to last; hence, to find endurance, strength, or resources.

   My mind on its own center stands unmoved.
   --Dryden.

5. To maintain one's ground; to be acquitted; not to fail or yield; to be safe.

   Readers by whose judgment I would stand or fall.
   --Spectator.

6. To maintain an invincible or permanent attitude; to be fixed, steady, or firm; to take a position in resistance or opposition. ``The standing pattern of their imitation.''
   --South.

   The king granted the Jews . . . to gather themselves together, and to stand for their life.
   --Esther viii. 11.

7. To adhere to fixed principles; to maintain moral rectitude; to keep from falling into error or vice.

   We must labor so as to stand with godliness, according to his appointment.
   --Latimer.

8. To have or maintain a position, order, or rank; to be in a particular relation; as, Christian charity, or love, stands first in the rank of gifts.

9. To be in some particular state; to have essence or being; to be; to consist. ``Sacrifices . . . which stood only in meats and drinks.''
   --Heb. ix.

10. Accomplish what your signs foreshow; I stand resigned, and am prepared to go.
    --Dryden.

    Thou seest how it stands with me, and that I may not tarry.
    --Sir W. Scott.

    10. To be consistent; to agree; to accord.

    Doubt me not; by heaven, I will do nothing But what may stand with honor.
    --Massinger.

11. (Naut.) To hold a course at sea; as, to stand from the shore; to stand for the harbor.

    From the same parts of heaven his navy stands.
    --Dryden.

12. To offer one's self, or to be offered, as a candidate.

    He stood to be elected one of the proctors of the university.
    --Walton.

13. To stagnate; not to flow; to be motionless.

    Or the black water of Pomptina stands.
    --Dryden.

14. To measure when erect on the feet.

    Six feet two, as I think, he stands.
    --Tennyson.

15. (Law)

    1. To be or remain as it is; to continue in force; to have efficacy or validity; to abide.
       --Bouvier.

    2. To appear in court.
       --Burrill.

16. (Card Playing) To be, or signify that one is, willing to play with one's hand as dealt. Stand by (Naut.), a preparatory order, equivalent to Be ready. To stand against, to oppose; to resist. To stand by.

    1. To be near; to be a spectator; to be present.

    2. To be aside; to be set aside with disregard. ``In the interim [we] let the commands stand by neglected.''
       --Dr. H. More.

    3. To maintain; to defend; to support; not to desert; as, to stand by one's principles or party.

    4. To rest on for support; to be supported by.
       --Whitgift.

    5. To remain as a spectator, and take no part in an action; as, we can't just stand idly by while people are being killed. To stand corrected, to be set right, as after an error in a statement of fact; to admit having been in error. --Wycherley. To stand fast, to be fixed; to be unshaken or immovable. To stand firmly on, to be satisfied or convinced of. ``Though Page be a secure fool, and stands so firmly on his wife's frailty.'' --Shak. To stand for.

       1. To side with; to espouse the cause of; to support; to maintain, or to profess or attempt to maintain; to defend. ``I stand wholly for you.''
          --Shak.

       2. To be in the place of; to be the substitute or representative of; to represent; as, a cipher at the left hand of a figure stands for nothing. ``I will not trouble myself, whether these names stand for the same thing, or really include one another.''
          --Locke.

       3. To tolerate; as, I won't stand for any delay. To stand in, to cost. ``The same standeth them in much less cost.'' --Robynson (More's Utopia). The Punic wars could not have stood the human race in less than three millions of the species. --Burke. To stand in hand, to conduce to one's interest; to be serviceable or advantageous. To stand off.

          1. To keep at a distance.

          2. Not to comply.

          3. To keep at a distance in friendship, social intercourse, or acquaintance.

       4. To appear prominent; to have relief. ``Picture is best when it standeth off, as if it were carved.'' --Sir H. Wotton. To stand off and on (Naut.), to remain near a coast by sailing toward land and then from it. To stand on (Naut.), to continue on the same tack or course. To stand out.

          1. To project; to be prominent. ``Their eyes stand out with fatness.''
             --Psalm lxxiii. 7.

          2. To persist in opposition or resistance; not to yield or comply; not to give way or recede. His spirit is come in, That so stood out against the holy church. --Shak. To stand to.

             1. To ply; to urge; to persevere in using. ``Stand to your tackles, mates, and stretch your oars.''
                --Dryden.

             2. To remain fixed in a purpose or opinion. ``I will stand to it, that this is his sense.''
                --Bp. Stillingfleet.

          3. To abide by; to adhere to; as to a contract, assertion, promise, etc.; as, to stand to an award; to stand to one's word.

          4. Not to yield; not to fly; to maintain, as one's ground. ``Their lives and fortunes were put in safety, whether they stood to it or ran away.''
             --Bacon.

       5. To be consistent with; to agree with; as, it stands to reason that he could not have done so; same as stand with, below .

    6. To support; to uphold. ``Stand to me in this cause.'' --Shak. To stand together, to be consistent; to agree. To stand to reason to be reasonable; to be expected. To stand to sea (Naut.), to direct the course from land. To stand under, to undergo; to withstand. --Shak. To stand up.

       1. To rise from sitting; to be on the feet.

       2. To arise in order to speak or act. ``Against whom, when the accusers stood up, they brought none accusation of such things as I supposed.''
          --Acts xxv. 18.

       3. To rise and stand on end, as the hair.

       4. To put one's self in opposition; to contend. ``Once we stood up about the corn.'' --Shak. To stand up for, to defend; to justify; to support, or attempt to support; as, to stand up for the administration. To stand upon.

          1. To concern; to interest.

          2. To value; to esteem. ``We highly esteem and stand much upon our birth.''
             --Ray.

          3. To insist on; to attach much importance to; as, to stand upon security; to stand upon ceremony.

          4. To attack; to assault. [A Hebraism] ``So I stood upon him, and slew him.''
             --2 Sam. i. 10.

             To stand with, to be consistent with. ``It stands with reason that they should be rewarded liberally.''
             --Sir J. Davies.