- Stay busk
- Stay Stay, n. [Cf. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai support, and E. stay
a rope to support a mast.]
1. That which serves as a prop; a support. ``My only strength
and stay.'' --Milton.
[1913 Webster]
Trees serve as so many stays for their vines. --Addison. [1913 Webster]
Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry. --Coleridge. [1913 Webster]
2. pl. A corset stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women, and rarely by men. [1913 Webster]
How the strait stays the slender waist constrain. --Gay. [1913 Webster]
3. Continuance in a place; abode for a space of time; sojourn; as, you make a short stay in this city. [1913 Webster]
Make haste, and leave thy business and thy care; No mortal interest can be worth thy stay. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
Embrace the hero and his stay implore. --Waller. [1913 Webster]
4. Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop. [1913 Webster]
Made of sphere metal, never to decay Until his revolution was at stay. --Milton. [1913 Webster]
Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay. --Hayward. [1913 Webster]
5. Hindrance; let; check. [Obs.] [1913 Webster]
They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false. --Robynson (More's Utopia). [1913 Webster]
6. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety. [Obs.] ``Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays.'' --Herbert. [1913 Webster]
The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king. --Bacon. [1913 Webster]
With prudent stay he long deferred The rough contention. --Philips. [1913 Webster]
7. (Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together, or stiffen them. [1913 Webster]
{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. [1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English. 2000.
