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Stay   /steɪ/   Listen
verb
Stay  v. t.  (past & past part. stayed or staid; pres. part. staying)  
1.
To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support. "Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side." "Sallows and reeds... for vineyards useful found To stay thy vines."
2.
To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time. "He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute."
3.
To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully. "She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes."
4.
To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold. "Him backward overthrew and down him stayed With their rude hands and grisly grapplement." "All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false."
5.
To hinder; to delay; to detain; to keep back. "Your ships are stayed at Venice." "This business staid me in London almost a week." "I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new."
6.
To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. "I stay dinner there."
7.
To cause to cease; to put an end to. "Stay your strife." "For flattering planets seemed to say This child should ills of ages stay."
8.
(Engin.) To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler.
9.
(Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind.
To stay a mast (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and backstays.



Stay  v. i.  
1.
To remain; to continue in a place; to abide fixed for a space of time; to stop; to stand still. "She would command the hasty sun to stay." "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."
2.
To continue in a state. "The flames augment, and stay At their full height, then languish to decay."
3.
To wait; to attend; to forbear to act. "I 'll tell thee all my whole device When I am in my coach, which stays for us." "The father can not stay any longer for the fortune."
4.
To dwell; to tarry; to linger. "I must stay a little on one action."
5.
To rest; to depend; to rely; to stand; to insist. "I stay here on my bond." "Ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon."
6.
To come to an end; to cease; as, that day the storm stayed. (Archaic) "Here my commission stays."
7.
To hold out in a race or other contest; as, a horse stays well. (Colloq.)
8.
(Naut.) To change tack, as a ship.



noun
Stay  n.  (Naut.) A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel's side are called backstays.
In stays, or Hove in stays (Naut.), in the act or situation of staying, or going about from one tack to another.
Stay holes (Naut.), openings in the edge of a staysail through which the hanks pass which join it to the stay.
Stay tackle (Naut.), a tackle attached to a stay and used for hoisting or lowering heavy articles over the side.
To miss stays (Naut.), to fail in the attempt to go about.
Triatic stay (Naut.), a rope secured at the ends to the heads of the foremast and mainmast with thimbles spliced to its bight into which the stay tackles hook.



Stay  n.  
1.
That which serves as a prop; a support. "My only strength and stay." "Trees serve as so many stays for their vines." "Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry."
2.
pl. A corset stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women, and rarely by men. "How the strait stays the slender waist constrain."
3.
Continuance in a place; abode for a space of time; sojourn; as, you make a short stay in this city. "Make haste, and leave thy business and thy care; No mortal interest can be worth thy stay." "Embrace the hero and his stay implore."
4.
Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop. "Made of sphere metal, never to decay Until his revolution was at stay." "Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay."
5.
Hindrance; let; check. (Obs.) "They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false."
6.
Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety. (Obs.) "Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays." "The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king." "With prudent stay he long deferred The rough contention."
7.
(Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together, or stiffen them.
Stay bolt (Mech.), a bolt or short rod, connecting opposite plates, so as to prevent them from being bulged out when acted upon by a pressure which tends to force them apart, as in the leg of a steam boiler.
Stay busk, a stiff piece of wood, steel, or whalebone, for the front support of a woman's stays. Cf. Busk.
Stay rod, a rod which acts as a stay, particularly in a steam boiler.






Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48








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"Stay" Quotes from Famous Books



... hawthorn hedge, Vouchsafe in Cupid's cup my heart to pledge; My heart's dear blood, sweet Cis is thy carouse Worth all the ale in Gammer Gubbin's house. I say no more, affairs call me away, My father's horse for provender doth stay. Be thou the Lady Cressetlight to me. Sir Trolly Lolly will I prove to thee. Written in haste, farewell my cowslip sweet, Pray let's a ...
— The Anatomy of Melancholy • Democritus Junior

... who would have acquitted me, I would like also to talk with you about this thing which has happened, while the magistrates are busy, and before I go to the place at which I must die. Stay then a while, for we may as well talk with one another while there is time. You are my friends, and I should like to show you the meaning of this event which has happened to me. O my judges—for ...
— The Ontario High School Reader • A.E. Marty

... train or steamer bears you away from the city and its myriad associations, the old illusive impression will quiver back about you for a moment,—not as if to mock the expectation of the past, but softly, touchingly, as if pleading to you to stay; and such a sadness, such a tenderness may come to you, as one knows after reconciliation with a friend misapprehended and unjustly judged.... But you will never more see those streets,—except ...
— Masterpieces of Mystery In Four Volumes - Mystic-Humorous Stories • Various

... Ambassador has pressed me to hint, that the present moment is favorable to push our treaty with the court." In the body of the letter he says: "The Count de Expilly has promised me to continue his attention to our prisoners during his stay at Algiers; and I have also engaged the Consul of Spain, who remains there on his return, to take care of them. Advances have been made for their support which ought to be refunded." I suppose these advances have been made by order of Mr. Lambe, and that his powers being at an end, it will be incumbent ...
— The Writings of Thomas Jefferson - Library Edition - Vol. 6 (of 20) • Thomas Jefferson

... that really is the meaning of those tearful farewells at Victoria and Charing Cross, that heavy-hearted cheering and waving of handkerchiefs as the liner puts off from the docks, which are for us who stay at home the symbol of our share in the burden of empire. When our sisters and our daughters (and our cousins and aunts) sail away to Marseilles and the East they go to find husbands, largely because for ...
— Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146, March 18, 1914 • Various


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