Etimology
From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier (“to fix, prop up, support, stay”), from estaye, estaie (“a prop, stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade (“a prop, stay, help, aid”) (compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stadi (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English stede, stæde (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady. Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin stāre (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds.An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish *stakā, *stakō (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick.
verb
stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed or (obsolete) staid)
(intransitive) To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
(intransitive, copulative) To continue to have a particular quality.
(transitive) To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
(transitive) To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
(transitive) To stop or delay something.
(transitive) To hold the attention of. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
(transitive, obsolete) To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.
(transitive, obsolete) To wait for; await.
(transitive, obsolete) To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.).
(intransitive, obsolete) To rest; depend; rely.
(intransitive, obsolete) To stop; come to a stand or standstill.
(intransitive, archaic) To come to an end; cease.
(intransitive, archaic) To dwell; linger; tarry; wait.
(intransitive, dated) To make a stand; to stand firm.
(intransitive) To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power.
(intransitive, obsolete) To wait; rest in patience or expectation.
(intransitive, obsolete, used with on or upon) To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.
(intransitive, Scotland, South Africa, India, Southern US, African-American Vernacular, colloquial) To live; reside
Examples
We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.
She would commaund the hasty Sunne to stay,Or backward turne his course from heuen's hight,
Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first,
I stay a little longer, as one stays / To cover up the embers that still burn.
“Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.
Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.
For as the Flames augment, and as they stay / At their full Height, then languish to decay, / They rise, and sink by Fits […]
The evergreen arch wouldn’t stay firm after she got it up, but wiggled and threatened to tumble down on her head when the hanging baskets were filled.
The three men in the room stayed motionless, holding their breaths.
The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing", […] and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention.
Lord Mayor of London. See, where he stands between two clergymen!Duke of Buckingham. Two props of virtue for a Christian prince,To stay him from the fall of vanity:
But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
Draw in your right elbow, turn your hand outward and bear it lightly, gripe not the pen too hard, with your left hand stay the paper.
Sallows and Reeds, on Banks of Rivers born,Remain to cut; for Vineyards useful found,To stay thy Vines and fence thy fruitful Ground.
[…] he has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, as fast as Phoebe could cut it, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute […]
Your ships are stay’d at Venice.
This business staid me in London almost a week […]
[…] I was willing to stay my Reader on an Argument, that appears to me new […]
The task of recalling him from the vagrancy into which he always sank when he had spoken, was like recalling some very weak person from a swoon, or endeavouring, in the hope of some disclosure, to stay the spirit of a fast-dying man.
[…] she filled the room she entered, and felt often as she stood hesitating one moment on the threshold of her drawing-room, an exquisite suspense, such as might stay a diver before plunging while the sea darkens and brightens beneath him […]
She rose to leave but Libor stayed her.
[…] all that may but with any the least shew of possibility stay their mindes from thinking that true, which they heartily wish were false, but cannot think it so […]
So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul.
[…] you must follow the impulse of your own inspiration. If THAT commands the slaying of the victim, no bystander has a right to put out his hand to stay the sacrificial knife: but I hold you a stern priestess in these matters.
Between Pegāna and the Earth flutter ten thousand thousand prayers that beat their wings against the face of Death, and never for one of them hath the hand of the Striker been stayed, nor yet have tarried the feet of the Relentless One.
Now stay your strife […]
For flattering planets seemed to sayThis child should ills of ages stay,
The governor stayed the execution until the appeal could be heard.
Without one word to deny himself, Yuan let himself be bound, his hands behind his back, and no one could stay the matter.
As I curled up like a dying fish beneath his flailing boots, I managed to stay his assault long enough to tell him that I had only ever seen myself as his most loyal servant […]
She will not stay the siege of loving terms,Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
My father stays my coming;
Let me stay the growth of his beard,
I stay dinner there.
Some of the company staid supper, which prevented the embarrassment that must unavoidably have arisen, had the family been by themselves.
How glad they had been to hear papa invite him to stay dinner, how sorry when he said it was quite out of his power […]
Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
I stay here on my bond.
That day the storm stayed.
Here my commission stays,
Yet not to be wholly silent of all your Charities I must stay a little on one Action, which preferr’d the Relief of Others, to the Consideration of your Self.
That horse stays well.
I’ll tell thee all my whole device / When I am in my coach, which stays for us.
The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion, nor the Mother for a new Sett of Babies to play with […]
I have a servant comes with me along,That stays upon me […]
Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
Hey, where do you stay at?
Related words
synonyms
(prop; support; sustain): bear, prop up, uphold
(stop; detain; hinder): See also Thesaurus:hinder
(restrain; withhold; check): curb; repress, stifle; See also Thesaurus:curb
(cause to cease): cancel, cease, discontinue, halt, stop, terminate; See also Thesaurus:end
(put off; defer; postpone): See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
(bear up under): endure, resist; See also Thesaurus:persevere
(wait for): await, wait for, wait on; See also Thesaurus:wait for
(rest; depend; rely): See also Thesaurus:rely
(come to a stand or standstill): blin, brake, desist, halt, stop; See also Thesaurus:stop
(come to an end): cease; See also Thesaurus:desist or Thesaurus:end
(dwell; linger; tarry; wait): See also Thesaurus:tarry
(make a stand): contend, break a lance, stand firm, take a stand
(last or persevere to the end): See also Thesaurus:persist
(remain in a particular place): abide, sojourn; See also Thesaurus:sojourn
(rest in patience or expectation): wait; See also Thesaurus:wait
(wait as an attendant): attend, bestand, serve; See also Thesaurus:serve
(continue to have a particular quality): continue, keep, remain; See also Thesaurus:remain
(live; reside): See also Thesaurus:reside
noun
stay (plural stays)
Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time.
(law) A postponement, especially of an execution or other punishment.
(archaic) A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.
A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
(nautical) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
Restraint of passion; prudence; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
(obsolete) Hindrance; let; check.
Examples
Synonym: sojourn
I hope you enjoyed your stay in Hawaii.
The governor granted a stay of execution.
Later that day, however, Judge O'Kelley signed a stay of execution when Mr. Potts authorized other attorneys to renew his appeals.
Just before the deadline Donald Kowalski's attorney, Jack Fena, was able to obtain a stay in order to give him time to file a motion to overturn the testing order.
An appellate judge temporarily stayed the monitor’s work until a three-judge federal appeals panel can decide whether the stay should be kept in place longer while Apple undertakes a full challenge to the appointment of a monitor.
stand at a stay
Made of ſphear-metal, never to decay / Untill his revolution was at ſtay.
Affaires of state […] seemed rather to stand at a stay.
The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays.
With prudent stay he long deferred / The rough contention.
They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false.
Etimology
From Middle English stay, from Old French estaye, estaie (“a prop, a stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade ("a prop, stay, help, aid"; compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Old Dutch *stad (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). See above.
noun
stay (plural stays)
A prop; a support.
A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.
(in the plural) A corset.
(archaic) A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.
Examples
My onely strength and stay.
The trees themselves serve, at the same time, as so many stays for their Vines
Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
Even when the deceptive mask was torn away, and the broken-hearted parent, beholding the accursed fact, that his darling son, the fancied stay of his declining age, was enlisted against him in his brother's horrible revolt, cursed them both and died, not even then did one compunctuous visiting touch his callous heart.
Where are the stays for my collar?
Her figure was tall, yet not too tall; comely and well-developed, yet not fat; her head set on her shoulders with an easy, pliant firmness; her waist, perfection in the eyes of a man, for it occupied its natural place, it filled out its natural circle, it was visibly and delightfully undeformed by stays.
When Jenny's stays are newly laced.
Etimology
From Middle English stay, from Old English stæġ (“stay, a rope supporting a mast”), from Proto-Germanic *stagą (“stay, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *stek-, *stāk- (“stand, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with Dutch stag (“stay”), German Stag (“stay”), Swedish stag (“stay”), Icelandic stag (“stay”).
noun
stay (plural stays)
(nautical) A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and leading from one masthead down to some other, or other part of the vessel.
A guy, rope, or wire supporting or stabilizing a platform, such as a bridge, a pole, such as a tentpole, the mast of a derrick, or other structural element.
The transverse piece in a chain-cable link.
Examples
The engineer insisted on using stays for the scaffolding.
Related words
synonyms
mastrope
hyponyms
(rope supporting a mast): backstay, forestay, mainstay, triatic stay
verb
stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed)
To brace or support with a stay or stays
(transitive, nautical) To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.
(transitive, nautical) To tack; put on the other tack.
(intransitive, nautical) To change; tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship.
Examples
stay a mast
to stay ship
Etimology
From Middle English *steȝe, from Old English *stǣġe, an apocopated variant of stǣġel (“steep, abrupt”), from Proto-West Germanic *staigil (“steep”), see sty.
adjective
stay (comparative stayer or more stay, superlative stayest or most stay)
(UK dialectal) Steep; ascending.
(UK dialectal) (of a roof) Steeply pitched.
(UK dialectal) Difficult to negotiate; not easy to access; sheer.
(UK dialectal) Stiff; upright; unbending; reserved; haughty; proud.
Examples
The Castle of Edr. is naturally a great strenth situate upon the top of a high Rock perpendicular on all sides, except on the entry from the burgh, which is a stay ascent and is well fortified with strong Walls, three gates each one within another, with Drawbridges, and all necessary fortifications.
adverb
stay (comparative stayer or more stay, superlative stayest or most stay)
(UK dialectal) Steeply.