stay

English Online Dictionary. What means stay‎? What does stay mean?

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: stā, IPA^(key): /steɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier (“to fix, prop up, support, stay”), from estaye, estaie (“a prop, stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade (“a prop, stay, help, aid”) (compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stadi (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English stede (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady.

Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin stāre (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds.

An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish *stakā, *stakō (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick.

Verb

stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed or (obsolete) staid)

1. (intransitive) To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
   • 1874 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Three Friends of Mine,” IV, in The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems, Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875, p. 353,^[1]

     I stay a little longer, as one stays / To cover up the embers that still burn.
2. (intransitive, copulative) To continue to have a particular quality.
3. (transitive) To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
4. (transitive) To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
5. (transitive) To stop or delay something.
   1. To stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
      • 1671, John Evelyn, Diary, entry dated 14 November, 1671, in The Diary of John Evelyn, London: Macmillan, 1906, Volume 2, p. 337,^[5]

        This business staid me in London almost a week […]
   2. To restrain; withhold; check; stop.
      • 1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 5, in The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, London: Andrew Crook, 1666, p. ,^[6]

        […] all that may but with any the least shew of possibility stay their mindes from thinking that true, which they heartily wish were false, but cannot think it so […]

      • 1852, Charlotte Brontë, letter cited in Elizabeth Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857, Volume 2, Chapter 10,^[7]

        […] you must follow the impulse of your own inspiration. If THAT commands the slaying of the victim, no bystander has a right to put out his hand to stay the sacrificial knife: but I hold you a stern priestess in these matters.
   3. To cause to cease; to put an end to.
   4. To put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back.
6. (transitive) To hold the attention of. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
7. (transitive, obsolete) To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.
8. (transitive, obsolete) To wait for; await.
9. (transitive, obsolete) To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.).
10. (intransitive, obsolete) To rest; depend; rely.
11. (intransitive, obsolete) To stop; come to a stand or standstill.
12. (intransitive, archaic) To come to an end; cease.
13. (intransitive, archaic) To dwell; linger; tarry; wait.
14. (intransitive, dated) To make a stand; to stand firm.
15. (intransitive) To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power.

16. (intransitive, obsolete) To wait; rest in patience or expectation.
17. (intransitive, obsolete, used with on or upon) To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.
18. (intransitive, Scotland, South Africa, India, Southern US, African-American Vernacular, Singapore, colloquial) To live; reside.

Synonyms

• (prop; support; sustain): bear, prop up, uphold
• (stop; detain; hinder): See also Thesaurus:hinder
• (restrain; withhold; check): curb; repress, stifle; See also Thesaurus:curb
• (cause to cease): cancel, cease, discontinue, halt, stop, terminate; See also Thesaurus:end
• (put off; defer; postpone): See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (bear up under): endure, resist; See also Thesaurus:persevere
• (wait for): await, wait for, wait on; See also Thesaurus:wait for
• (rest; depend; rely): See also Thesaurus:rely
• (come to a stand or standstill): blin, brake, desist, halt, stop; See also Thesaurus:stop
• (come to an end): cease; See also Thesaurus:desist or Thesaurus:end
• (dwell; linger; tarry; wait): See also Thesaurus:tarry
• (make a stand): contend, break a lance, stand firm, take a stand
• (last or persevere to the end): See also Thesaurus:persist
• (remain in a particular place): abide, sojourn; See also Thesaurus:sojourn
• (rest in patience or expectation): wait; See also Thesaurus:wait
• (wait as an attendant): attend, bestand, serve; See also Thesaurus:serve
• (continue to have a particular quality): continue, keep, remain; See also Thesaurus:remain
• (live; reside): See also Thesaurus:reside

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• abide
• belive
• continue
• dwell
• live
• remain
• reside
• tarry

Noun

stay (plural stays)

1. Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time.

   Synonym: sojourn

2. (law) A postponement, especially of an execution or other punishment.
3. (archaic) A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.
4. A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
5. (nautical) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
6. Restraint of passion; prudence; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
7. (obsolete) Hindrance; let; check.

Derived terms

• gay for the stay
• stay time
• staycation

Translations

References

Etymology 2

From Middle English stay, from Old French estaye, estaie (“a prop, a stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade ("a prop, stay, help, aid"; compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Old Dutch *stad (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). See above.

Noun

stay (plural stays)

1. A prop; a support.
   • April 27, 1823, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk

     Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
2. A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.

3. (in the plural) A corset.
4. (archaic) A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English stay, from Old English stæġ (“stay, a rope supporting a mast”), from Proto-West Germanic *stag, from Proto-Germanic *stagą (“stay, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *stek-, *stāk- (“stand, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with Dutch stag (“stay”), German Stag (“stay”), Swedish stag (“stay”), Icelandic stag (“stay”).

Noun

stay (plural stays)

1. (nautical) A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and leading from one masthead down to some other, or other part of the vessel.
2. A guy, rope, or wire supporting or stabilizing a platform, such as a bridge, a pole, such as a tentpole, the mast of a derrick, or other structural element.

3. The transverse piece in a chain-cable link.

Synonyms

• mastrope

Hyponyms

• (rope supporting a mast): backstay, forestay, mainstay, triatic stay

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed)

1. To brace or support with a stay or stays

   stay a mast

2. (transitive, nautical) To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.
3. (transitive, nautical) To tack; put on the other tack.

   to stay ship

4. (intransitive, nautical) To change; tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship.

References

Etymology 4

From Middle English *steȝe, from Old English *stǣġe, an apocopated variant of stǣġel (“steep, abrupt”), from Proto-West Germanic *staigil (“steep”), see sty.

Alternative forms

• stey, stee, steigh, sti

Adjective

stay (comparative stayer or more stay, superlative stayest or most stay)

1. (UK dialectal) Steep; ascending.
2. (UK dialectal) (of a roof) Steeply pitched.
3. (UK dialectal) Difficult to negotiate; not easy to access; sheer.
4. (UK dialectal) Stiff; upright; unbending; reserved; haughty; proud.

Adverb

stay (comparative stayer or more stay, superlative stayest or most stay)

1. (UK dialectal) Steeply.

Further reading

• “stay”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “stay”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Tsay, Yats, tays, yats

Middle English

Alternative forms

• staye, stey

Etymology

From Old English stæġ (“stay, a rope supporting a mast”), from Proto-Germanic *stagą (“stay, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *stek-, *stāk- (“stand, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand”).

Noun

stay (plural stayes)

1. (nautical) A stay (rope).

Declension

Descendants

• Scots: stay
• English: stay