stag line

noun

1. the men at a social gathering who are not accompanied by a date or dancing partner.

Word History and Origins

Origin of stag line¹

An Americanism dating back to 1915–20

Example Sentences

The yearning to bridge this gap is most persistently and most romantically evoked in Fitzgerald, of course, in characters like the former Jay Gatz of Nowhere, North Dakota, staring across Long Island Sound at that distant green light, and all those moony young men standing in the stag line at the country club, hoping to be noticed by the rich girls.

From Literature

For many less fortunate males, who vastly outnumber the females, the frenzy is more like a wretched high school dance: they form a stag line on the beach.

From Time Magazine Archive

And not even an hours-long downpour�which soaked through the turquoise-colored roof of the vast pavilion and kept a mop-and-bucket brigade of 70 swabbing through the night �could douse the enthusiasm of the stag line, as Anne's photograph album of her coming-out will forever record.

From Time Magazine Archive

Patiently the 300-man stag line waited to dance with the only women who had been inveigled to attend the dance�three lonely Goan girls.

From Time Magazine Archive

As Jackie and Lee grew older, they met their beaux under the Biltmore clock, fox-trotted through subscription dances at the Plaza and St. Regis with a beardless stag line known for decades as the "St. Grottlesex" set.

From Time Magazine Archive