Stay | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Stāy, v. i.

verbintransitive

v. i. [imp. & p. p. STAYED, or STAID; p. pr. & vb. n. STAYING.] [Dan. staae, Sw. stå, to stand. Cf. O. Fr. ester, esteir, ster, steir, to keep standing, to remain, from Lat. stare, to stand. Cf. infra.]

Sense 1. To remain; to continue in a place; to abide fixed for any indefinite time; to stop; to stand still.

She would command the hasty sun to stay. Spenser.

Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first. Dryden.

Sense 2. To continue in a state.

The flames augment, and stay At their full height, then languish to decay. Dryden.

Sense 3. To wait; to attend; to forbear to act. “I stay for Turnus.” Dryden.

Would ye stay for them from having husbands? Ruth i. 13.

Sense 4. To dwell; to tarry.

I must stay a little on one action. Dryden.

Sense 5. To rest; to rely; to confide; to trust.

Ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon. Is. xxx. 12.

Sense 6. (Naut.) To change tack, as a ship.

Stāy, v. t.

verbtransitive

v. t. 1. To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold. “Down him staid with their rude hands.” Spenser.

All that may stay the mind from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false. Hooker.

Sense 2. To hinder from proceeding; to delay; to obstruct.

Your ships are staid at Venice. Shak.

This business staid me in London almost a week. Evelyn.

I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me to be new. Locke.

Sense 3. [O. Fr. estayer, N. Fr. étayer, to prop, estai, estaie, N. Fr. étai, étaie, a prop, from O. D. stæde, stæge, a prop, stæden, to establish, Icel. stedia, to confirm; A-S. stede, a place, stead, O. H. Ger. stata, M. H. Ger. state, a place, state, occasion.] 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. Ex. xvii. 12.

Sallows and reeds for vineyards useful found To stay thy vines. Dryden.

Sense 4. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part.

He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute. W. Scott.

Sense 5. (Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the wind, from being on one side, is caused to blow on the other. Totten.

To stay a mast (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and back-stays.

Stāy, n.

noun

n. [See supra.] 1. Continuance in a place; abode for a time indefinite; 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. Dryden. Embrace the hero, and his stay implore. Waller. 2. Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop. Made of sphere-metal, never to decay Until his revolution was at stay. Milton. Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay. Hayward. If there had been no friars, Christendom might have continued quiet, and things remained at a stay. Selden. 3. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety. [Obs.] “Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays.” Herbert. The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king. Bacon. With prudent stay he long deferred The rough contention. Philips. 4. [Fr. estai, étai, support, a large rope, estaie, étaie, a prop, Ger., D., Dan., Sw., & Icel. stag, a strong rope to support the mast.] That which serves as a prop or support. “My only strength and stay.” Milton. Trees serve as so many stays for their vines. Addison. Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry. Coleridge.

(pl.) A kind of waistcoat stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women; a bodice; a corset.
(Naut.) (a.) 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, back-stays. (b.) (pl.) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.

Stays and Stay Sails. a, foretop-mast-stay sail; b, main-top-mast-stay sail; c, maintop-gallant-stay sail; d, main-royal-stay sail; e, mizzen-stay sail; f, mizzen-top-mast-stay sail; g, h, fore, main, and mizzen-top-mast and top-gallant-mast back-stays; i, fore-stay; j, main-stay; k, mizzen-stay. 7. (Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together. In stays, or heave in stays (Naut.), in the act or situation of staying, or going about from one tack to another. Dana. — To miss stays, to fail in the attempt to go about. Totten. — Triatic stay, a rope secured at the ends to the heads of the fore and main masts with thimbles spliced to its bight to hook stay-tackles to.