stagnate (stagnat)

i.; pret. and pp. stag nated, ppr. stagnating. [L. stagnatus, pp. of stagnare (> It. stagnare = F. stagner ), form a pool of standing water, stagnate, be overflowed, I am fifty winters old; Blood then stagnates and grows cold. Cotton , Anacreontic. In this flat country, large rivers, that scarce had declivity enough to run, crept slowly along, through meadows of fat black earth, stagnating in many places as they went. Bruce , Source of the Nile, I. 372. 2. To cease to be brisk or active; become dull, inactive, or inert: as, busine stagnates. Ready-witted tenderne .. never stagnates in vain lamentations while there is room for hope. Scott. stagnatet (stag'nāt), a. [L. stagnatus, pp.: see the verb.] Stagnant. To drain the stagnate fen. Somerville, The Chase, iii. 440.