the speaker took his place at the front of the dais
Recent Examples on the WebMcKinzie plans to remain on the City Commission until Nov. 7 before taking a seat on the county dais. Susannah Bryan, Sun Sentinel, 10 Sep. 2022 Odinga supporters rushed the dais, flung chairs onto the floor, and clashed with security officials brandishing truncheons. Declan Walsh, BostonGlobe.com, 16 Aug. 2022 Speaking from the dais of the House, Biden is expected to tout what White House officials have reiterated in recent days is the fastest burst of economic growth in nearly 40 years.Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2022 Angeli would later make his way into the U.S. Senate chamber and leave a note on the dais where Pence had been presiding minutes before. Richard Ruelas, The Arizona Republic, 21 July 2022 After Saban, the next coach on the dais at SEC Media Days was Clark Lea of Vanderbilt. Joseph Goodman | Jgoodman@al.com, al, 19 July 2022 Judge Barany, who had wavy salt-and-pepper hair and thick caterpillar eyebrows, sat in front of them on his dais, facing the pewlike benches at the back of the room. Bryce Covert, The New Republic, 5 July 2022 Kerber came down off the dais, took it and walked over to where Hawash had been seated, switching out the bottles herself.New York Times, 25 Jan. 2022 At the reception, one niece ran circles around the room, and then vomited on herself on the dais at the front of the room during the meal. Amy Dickinson, Detroit Free Press, 19 June 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Middle English deis, des "high table, elevated platform occupied by a court or council," borrowed from Anglo-French deis, dais (continental Old French deis "table of honor set up on a platform"), going back to Medieval Latin discus "raised table, platform," going back to Latin, "discus, kind of plate, gong," borrowed from Greek dískos "discus," in Late Greek also "dish, round mirror, the sun's disk, gong" — more at discus
Note: See note at dish entry 1. The predominant form in Middle French is dois, which should have resulted in Modern French [dwa]; the reason for the outcome dais [dɛ], with the presumed shift [dwɛ] to [dɛ], is in this, as in a number of parallel cases, unclear. As pointed out by the Oxford English Dictionary, first edition, the English word was, excepting Scots, out of use by 1600; the current word is an antiquarian revival, with the spelling presumably copying modern French.