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

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

Charlemagne Feedback Venture 1 OLB LLC proposes to eliminate top floor rear windows on units overlooking Charlemagne homes and that drew trustee concerns at the boardroom dais. —Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2024

Too weak and out of breath to stand at the dais, Marsden sat in the front row of the audience. —Max Blau, ProPublica, 29 Jan. 2024

Then a man in a gray suit with a shock of white hair reached the dais. —Gregory S. Schneider, Washington Post, 10 Jan. 2024

Build these artificial flowers that range from roses, poppies, daises and snapdragons to add to your favorite vessel. —Scott Gilbertson, WIRED, 11 Oct. 2023

Charlemagne was mentioned during dais conversations at the Jan. 23 meeting. —Karie Angell Luc, Chicago Tribune, 29 Jan. 2024

But this dynamic has turned city council meetings into routine spectacles, where public comment drags on for hours and speakers hurl invectives at the seven members sitting on the dais. —Reis Thebault, Washington Post, 2 Mar. 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)