dais

noun

da·​is ˈdā-əs 

nonstandard

ˈdī- 

: a raised platform (as in a hall or large room)

Mounting the dais which had been set up for his use, he swirled the sinister cloak about him and sat down in the Abbot's chair.

—Brian Jacques

Synonyms

• platform
• podium
• rostrum
• stage
• stand
• tribune

Examples of dais in a Sentence

the speaker took his place at the front of the dais

Recent Examples on the Web

The new procedures come after a group of people approached the dais and refused to leave the Board of Supervisors' chamber following a public meeting last month. —Sasha Hupka, The Arizona Republic, 12 Mar. 2024

Jacob stepped onto the dais, looked out on the sea of marble columns, and flexed his naked biceps. —Frederick Kaufman, Harper's Magazine, 26 Feb. 2024

The California Real Estate Association has poured $65,000 toward keeping Sacramento City Councilman Eric Guerra in office and to keep his challenger — a real estate agent herself — off the dais. —Theresa Clift, Sacramento Bee, 7 Feb. 2024

Castro leaned deeply over the dais, his elbows nearly resting on its surface. —Elliot Ackerman, WIRED, 5 Feb. 2024

In his 1980 debates with Jimmy Carter, Reagan, at the end of the exchange, made sure to walk across the dais to shake hands with Carter — to show that Reagan was clearly the taller, and hence the more commanding, of the two. —Richard Lederer, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 Feb. 2024

That approach also earned him a reputation for being impatient on the dais, where he was sometimes criticized for texting or posting on social media in the middle of council meetings. —Teo Armus, Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2023

Forbes said postgame, throwing her hands up at the dais. —Luca Evans, Orange County Register, 11 Mar. 2024

At the House dais, Speaker Mike Johnson held the gavel, looking stricken. —Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker, 17 Feb. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English deis, des "high table, elevated platform occupied by a court or council," borrowed from Anglo-French deis, dais (continental Old French deis "table of honor set up on a platform"), going back to Medieval Latin discus "raised table, platform," going back to Latin, "discus, kind of plate, gong," borrowed from Greek dískos "discus," in Late Greek also "dish, round mirror, the sun's disk, gong" — more at discus

Note: See note at dish entry 1. The predominant form in Middle French is dois, which should have resulted in Modern French [dwa]; the reason for the outcome dais [dɛ], with the presumed shift [dwɛ] to [dɛ], is in this, as in a number of parallel cases, unclear. As pointed out by the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, the English word was, excepting Scots, out of use by 1600; the current word is an antiquarian revival, with the spelling presumably copying modern French.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

dais

noun

da·​is ˈdā-əs 

: a raised platform (as in a large room)