n. [ Cf. OF. estai, F. étai 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 ]

v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Stayed r Staid p. pr. & vb. n. Staying. ] [ OF. estayer, F. étayer to prop, fr. OF. estai, F. étai, 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 ]

v. i. [ √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 ]

n. [ AS. staeg, akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. stag; cf. OF. estai, F. étai, 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 ]

a. Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See Staid. Bacon. Pope. [ 1913 Webster ]

adv. Staidly. See Staidly. [ R. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. Staidness. [ Archaic ] W. Whately. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. Solidity; weight. [ R. ] Camden. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One who upholds or supports that which props; one who, or that which, stays, stops, or restrains; also, colloquially, a horse, man, etc., that has endurance, as in a race. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A lace for fastening stays. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Without stop or delay. Mir. for Mag. [ 1913 Webster ]