'Stay' definitions:

Definition of 'stay'

(from WordNet)
noun
Continuing or remaining in a place or state; "they had a nice stay in Paris"; "a lengthy hospital stay"; "a four- month stay in bankruptcy court"
noun
The state of inactivity following an interruption; "the negotiations were in arrest"; "held them in check"; "during the halt he got some lunch"; "the momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow"; "he spent the entire stop in his seat" [syn: arrest, check, halt, hitch, stay, stop, stoppage]
noun
A judicial order forbidding some action until an event occurs or the order is lifted; "the Supreme Court has the power to stay an injunction pending an appeal to the whole Court"
noun
A thin strip of metal or bone that is used to stiffen a garment (e.g. a corset)
noun
(nautical) brace consisting of a heavy rope or wire cable used as a support for a mast or spar
verb
Stay the same; remain in a certain state; "The dress remained wet after repeated attempts to dry it"; "rest assured"; "stay alone"; "He remained unmoved by her tears"; "The bad weather continued for another week" [syn: stay, remain, rest] [ant: change]
verb
Stay put (in a certain place); "We are staying in Detroit; we are not moving to Cincinnati"; "Stay put in the corner here!"; "Stick around and you will learn something!" [syn: stay, stick, stick around, stay put] [ant: move]
verb
Dwell; "You can stay with me while you are in town"; "stay a bit longer--the day is still young" [syn: bide, abide, stay]
verb
Continue in a place, position, or situation; "After graduation, she stayed on in Cambridge as a student adviser"; "Stay with me, please"; "despite student protests, he remained Dean for another year"; "She continued as deputy mayor for another year" [syn: stay, stay on, continue, remain]
verb
Remain behind; "I had to stay at home and watch the children" [ant: depart, quit, take leave]
verb
Stop or halt; "Please stay the bloodshed!" [syn: stay, detain, delay]
verb
Stay behind; "The smell stayed in the room"; "The hostility remained long after they made up" [syn: persist, remain, stay]
verb
Hang on during a trial of endurance; "ride out the storm" [syn: last out, stay, ride out, outride]
verb
Stop a judicial process; "The judge stayed the execution order"
verb
Fasten with stays
verb
Overcome or allay; "quell my hunger" [syn: quell, stay, appease]

Definition of 'Stay'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Definition of 'Stay'

From: GCIDE
  • Stay \Stay\ (st[=a]), n. [AS. staeg, akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. stag; cf. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai, of Teutonic origin.] (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. See Illust. of Ship. [1913 Webster]
  • In stays, or Hove in stays (Naut.), in the act or situation of staying, or going about from one tack to another. --R. H. Dana, Jr.
  • 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. --Totten.
  • 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. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Stay'

From: GCIDE
  • Stay \Stay\ (st[=a]), v. i. [[root]163. See Stay to hold up, prop.]
  • 1. To remain; to continue in a place; to abide fixed for a space of time; to stop; to stand still. [1913 Webster]
  • She would command the hasty sun to stay. --Spenser. [1913 Webster]
  • Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • I stay a little longer, as one stays To cover up the embers that still burn. --Longfellow. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. To continue in a state. [1913 Webster]
  • The flames augment, and stay At their full height, then languish to decay. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 3. To wait; to attend; to forbear to act. [1913 Webster]
  • I 'll tell thee all my whole device When I am in my coach, which stays for us. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • The father can not stay any longer for the fortune. --Locke. [1913 Webster]
  • 4. To dwell; to tarry; to linger. [1913 Webster]
  • I must stay a little on one action. --Dryden. [1913 Webster]
  • 5. To rest; to depend; to rely; to stand; to insist. [1913 Webster]
  • I stay here on my bond. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • Ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon. --Isa. xxx. 12. [1913 Webster]
  • 6. To come to an end; to cease; as, that day the storm stayed. [Archaic] [1913 Webster]
  • Here my commission stays. --Shak. [1913 Webster]
  • 7. To hold out in a race or other contest; as, a horse stays well. [Colloq.] [1913 Webster]
  • 8. (Naut.) To change tack, as a ship. [1913 Webster]

Definition of 'Stay'

From: GCIDE
  • 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]

Synonyms of 'stay'

From: Moby Thesaurus

Words containing 'Stay'