Stay

Stay Stay (st[=a]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stayed} (st[=a]d) or {Staid} (st[=a]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Staying}.] [OF. estayer, F. ['e]tayer to prop, fr. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai, a prop, probably fr. OD. stade, staeye, a prop, akin to E. stead; or cf. stay a rope to support a mast. Cf. {Staid}, a., {Stay}, v. i.] 1. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support. [1913 Webster]

Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side. --Ex. xvii. 12. [1913 Webster]

Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found To stay thy vines. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]

2. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time. [1913 Webster]

He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute. --Sir W. Scott. [1913 Webster]

3. To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully. [1913 Webster]

She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

4. To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold. [1913 Webster]

Him backward overthrew and down him stayed With their rude hands and grisly grapplement. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]

All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false. --Hooker. [1913 Webster]

5. To hinder; to delay; to detain; to keep back. [1913 Webster]

Your ships are stayed at Venice. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

This business staid me in London almost a week. --Evelyn. [1913 Webster]

I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new. --Locke. [1913 Webster]

6. To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. ``I stay dinner there.'' --Shak. [1913 Webster]

7. To cause to cease; to put an end to. [1913 Webster]

Stay your strife. --Shak. [1913 Webster]

For flattering planets seemed to say This child should ills of ages stay. --Emerson. [1913 Webster]

8. (Engin.) To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler. [1913 Webster]

9. (Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind. [1913 Webster]

{To stay a mast} (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and backstays. [1913 Webster]