stand for

stand for (third-person singular simple present stands for, present participle standing for, simple past and past participle stood for)

1. (idiomatic) To mean; to symbolize; to represent

   The abbreviation CIA stands for "Central Intelligence Agency".

   • 2014, A teacher, "Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents", The Guardian, 23 September 2014:

     Some teachers festoon every spare inch of wall with vocabulary choices or maths techniques to use, which look great at first, but to some children might appear quite daunting. You'll probably see unfamiliar acronyms such as Walt (We Are Learning To). Be sure to ask what they stand for and how they are used in practice.

   • John Locke

     I will not trouble myself, whether these names stand for the same thing, or really include one another.

2. To advocate, to support
3. To tolerate

   We won't stand for that type of behaviour.

• Stanford, forstand