1 : a large platform on which people can stand and can be seen by an audience; "he clambered up onto the stage and got the actors to help him into the box"
2 : a large coach-and-four formerly used to carry passengers and mail on regular routes between towns; "we went out of town together by stage about ten or twelve miles"
3 : a small platform on a microscope where the specimen is mounted for examination
4 : any distinct time period in a sequence of events
