User Contributed Dictionary
Noun
stanchions- Plural of stanchion
Verb
stanchions- third-person singular of stanchion
Extensive Definition
A stanchion is an upright bar or post, often
providing support for some other object. Some specific uses:
- An architectural term applied to the upright iron bars in windows that pass through the eyes of the saddle bars or horizontal irons to steady the leadlight. (The French call the latter traverses, the stanchions montants, and the whole arrangement armature. Stanchions frequently finish with ornamental heads forged out of the iron.)
- Upright posts inserted into the ground or floor to protect the corner of a wall.
- Portable posts used to manage lines and queues.
- Fixed posts with decorative ropes
- Retractable belt stanchions
- Using a spring mechanism
- Using a weighted pulley system
- Vertical support for chains or ropes, as in marine applications (lifelines on yachts are supported by stanchions).
- Metal mounts securing the headrest to the seat in a car.
- In association football and other goal-based sports, horizontal or diagonal extensions to the goalposts that prevent the goalnet from drooping.
- In military aircraft, the vertical supports for troop seating temporarily installed in cargo aircraft.
- The metal stalls in modern dairy barns that lock the cows in place while they are milked.
- The two upper members of the bicycle fork that connect to the crown (also called fork legs).
See also Column.