Noun

(en noun)

Any of the hereditary social classes and subclasses of South Asian societies.

A separate and fixed order or class of persons in society who chiefly associate with each other.

* Macaulay

The tinkers then formed an hereditary caste .

Noun

(en noun)

A phase.

* (1800-1859)

Such a polity is suited only to a particular stage in the progress of society.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-28, author=(Joris Luyendijk)

, volume=189, issue=3, page=21, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= Our banks are out of control , passage=Seeing the British establishment struggle with the financial sector is like watching an alcoholic […].  Until 2008 there was denial over what finance had become. […]  But the scandals kept coming, and so we entered stage three – what therapists call "bargaining". A broad section of the political class now recognises the need for change but remains unable to see the necessity of a fundamental overhaul. Instead it offers fixes and patches.}}

The area, in any theatre, generally raised, upon which an audience watches plays or other public ceremonies.

* (Alexander Pope) (1688-1744)

Knights, squires, and steeds must enter on the stage .

* (1791–1875)

Lo! Where the stage , the poor, degraded stage, / Holds its warped mirror to a gaping age.

A floor or storey of a house.

(Wyclif)

A floor elevated for the convenience of mechanical work, etc.; scaffolding; staging.

A platform, often floating, serving as a kind of wharf.

A stagecoach, an enclosed horsedrawn carriage used to carry passengers.

* (William Cowper) (1731-1800)

a parcel sent you by the stage

* (Jonathan Swift) (1667–1745)

I went in the sixpenny stage .

(label) A place of rest on a regularly travelled road; a station; a place appointed for a relay of horses.

(label) A degree of advancement in a journey; one of several portions into which a road or course is marked off; the distance between two places of rest on a road.

* Jeffrey

A stage signifies a certain distance on a road.

* 1858 , (Samuel Smiles), (Robert Stephenson), The Life of George Stephenson: Railway Engineer , p.356

He travelled by gig, with his wife, his favourite horse performing the journey by easy stages .

*{{quote-book, year=1910, author=(Emerson Hough)

, title= The Purchase Price, chapter=3 , passage=The Mount Vernon , favoured by a good stage of water, soon cleared the narrow Monongahela channel, passed the confluence, and headed down under full steam, […].}}

(label) The number of an electronic circuit’s block, such as a filter, an amplifier, etc.

The place on a microscope where the slide is located for viewing.

(label) A level; one of the sequential areas making up the game.

A place where anything is publicly exhibited, or a remarkable affair occurs; the scene.

* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)

When we are born, we cry that we are come / To this stage of fools.

* (John Milton) (1608-1674)

Music and ethereal mirth / Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring.

* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 2, author=Phil McNulty, work=BBC

, title= Bulgaria 0-3 England , passage=Rooney's United team-mate Chris Smalling was given his debut at right-back and was able to adjust to the international stage in relatively relaxed fashion as Bulgaria barely posed a threat of any consequence.}}