Other forms: stages, staged, staging
A stage is the raised floor in a theatre where performers stand. On stage, backstage, the main stage at a festival.
It also means a step in a process — the first stage, at this stage, a three-stage plan — and that is now the commoner sense in ordinary speech and writing. In cycling and motor racing, a stage is one day's or one section's competition. As a verb, to stage is to put on a production, and by extension to organise any public event: stage a protest, stage a comeback. Note stage-manage, which means to control the appearance of an event, always with suspicion attached.
1nounstageThe raised area where performers appear.
“She walked onto the stage to complete silence.”
2nounstepOne step in a process.
“At this stage nothing has been decided.”
3verborganiseTo organise and present a performance or an event.
“The company staged three plays that season.”
4nounsectionOne section of a race or journey.
“He won the mountain stage by two minutes.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
stage is a raised platform, or a step.
Old French estage meant a floor or storey of a building, from a Latin root meaning to stand — the same root as stand, station and stable. A stage is a standing place, and the theatre sense is one raised floor among many.
Proto-Indo-European
*steh₂-
Old French
estage — dwelling, residence; position, situation, condition
Middle English
stage
English, today
stage
From Middle English stage, from Old French estage (“dwelling, residence; position, situation, condition”), from Old French ester (“to be standing, be located”). Cognate with Old English stæþþan (“to make staid, stay”), Old Norse steðja (“to place, provide, confirm, allow”), Old English stede (“state, status, standing, place, station, site”). More at stead. a doublet of étage.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA