A place on which to stand, a standing place; (figurative ) a basis of operation.
Origin
Mid 19th century; earliest use found in Maria Edgeworth (1768–1849), novelist and educationist. From Hellenistic Greek ποῦ στῶ ‘where I may stand’; from the saying attributed to Archimedes, δός μοι ποῦ στῶ, καὶ κινῶ τὴν γῆν ‘give me (a place) where I may stand, and I will move the earth’.