Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A raised platform, as in a lecture hall, for speakers or honored guests.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A platform or raised floor at one end or one side of a reception-room or hall, upon which seats for distinguished persons are placed; especially, such a platform covered with a canopy: formerly often called specifically high dais.
- noun Hence Any similar raised portion of the floor of an apartment, used as the place at which the most distinguished guests at a feast are seated, as a platform for a lecturer, etc.
- noun A canopy or covering.
- noun A long board, seat, or settle erected against a wall, and sometimes so constructed as to serve for both a settee and a table; also, a seat on the outer side of a country-house or cottage, frequently formed of turf.
- noun A pew in a church.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete The high or principal table, at the end of a hall, at which the chief guests were seated; also, the chief seat at the high table.
- noun A platform slightly raised above the floor of a hall or large room, giving distinction to the table and seats placed upon it for the chief guests.
- noun obsolete A canopy over the seat of a person of dignity.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
raised platform in a room fordignified occupancy .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a platform raised above the surrounding level to give prominence to the person on it
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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 Do you think the placement of this dais is a coincidence?
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KT -- the online version itself omitted my own inclusion among the ranks of dragon ladies, so the dais is going to be positively aflame!
Blow THIS. Roger Sutton 2007
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Many kicho were arranged along the east side of the Queen's dais from the inner room to the veranda.
Diaries of Court Ladies of Old Japan b. 974? Murasaki Shikibu Izumi Shikibu 1920
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The dais is covered with prayer-rugs, and contains the holy niche and the pulpit of the preacher.
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A painted stone pathway surrounds that part of the stage, and there are even a couple of patches of grass to suggest the garden, but the centerpiece of the set, which stretches from the courtyard up onto the office dais, is what looks like a mosaic floor such as you might find in a very old church, with the impassive visage of a saint of some kind, face partially eaten away by missing tiles, staring blankly up at heaven.
My review of Globe Theatre’s production of Doubt, A Parable ewillett 2009
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Seated on a chair in the center of the dais was a long, humanoid figure clad in red and white and wearing a veil that completely obscured his or her features.
LEGENDS OF THE DRAGONREALM Richard A. Knaak 2009
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BASH (voice-over): Arlen Specter didn't show up for this Senate Judiciary Committee meeting, but his empty seat at the very end of the dais is a stark illustration of his new junior ranking since Democrats stripped his seniority on all committees.
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Seated on a chair in the center of the dais was a long, humanoid figure clad in red and white and wearing a veil that completely obscured his or her features.
LEGENDS OF THE DRAGONREALM Richard A. Knaak 2009
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Seated on a chair in the center of the dais was a long, humanoid figure clad in red and white and wearing a veil that completely obscured his or her features.
LEGENDS OF THE DRAGONREALM Richard A. Knaak 2009
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On the dais was a rollcall of Washington power: the president, the secretary of Defense, the civilian and military leaders of America's armed forces, sundry spouses.
chained_bear commented on the word dais
In castles, a raised platform for the high table, at the end of the upper hall.
I had a job once at which people had occasion to use this term frequently, and they always pronounced it "dye-ess." Drove me batshit.
August 25, 2008