DAIS, originally the raised part of the floor at the end of a mediaeval hall. On this the lord of the mansion dined with his friends at the high table, apart from the retainers and servants. There was generally a deep-re cessed bay window at one or at each end of the dais to give greater privacy than the open hall could afford. In France the word is understood as a canopy or hanging over a seat, probably from the fact that the seats of great men were often surmounted by such a feature. In ordinary usage the term means any raised platform in a room, for cere monial use (see CANOPY).