Stage

Stage has several meanings:

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• The current status of something, such as a stage of development.
• In rocketry, a stage is one of several independent rockets used to reduce the need for fuel.
• Referring to rivers, the stage is the height of the water on a stream gauge. Flood stage occurs when it begins to overflow the surrounding areas.
• In medicine, the stage of a tumor is used to assess the prognosis of a cancer. See staging (pathology).
• In paleontology, a faunal stage is a period of time covering a few million years.
• A stagecoach is often called simply a stage.
• A specialized motor vehicle that functions as did the stagecoach is also called a stage - see the Limousine#Stage article.
• In rallying and bicycle racing, a stage is a one-day segment of a multi-day race. The entire race is sometimes called a "stage race". Although each stage has a winning rider, the overall winner of the race is the rider who has the lowest cumulative time for all the stages.