stay

verb

/steɪ/

Etymology

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.

derived from *(s)teg-✻
derived from *stakô✻
derived from *stakā✻
derived from estaye
derived from *stéh₂tis✻
derived from *stadiz✻
derived from *stadi✻
derived from staeye
derived from estayer
inherited from steyen

Definitions

1
To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time
To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
- We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.
- She would commaund the hasty Sunne to stay, Or backward turne his course from heuen's hight,
- Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first,
2
To continue to have a particular quality.
- Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.
- Promise me you'll always stay/remain my little prince.
- For as the Flames augment, and as they stay / At their full Height, then languish to decay, / They rise, and sink by Fits […]
3
To prop
To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
- Lord Mayor of London. See, where he stands between two clergymen! Duke of Buckingham. Two props of virtue for a Christian prince, To stay him from the fall of vanity:
- Draw in your right elbow, turn your hand outward and bear it lightly, gripe not the pen too hard, with your left hand stay the paper.
›+ 39 more definitionsshow fewer
1. 4
  To support from sinking
  To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
  - […] he has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, as fast as Phoebe could cut it, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute […]
2. 5
  To stop or delay something.
  - Your ships are stay’d at Venice.
  - 1671, John Evelyn, Diary, entry dated 14 November, 1671, in The Diary of John Evelyn, London: Macmillan, 1906, Volume 2, p. 337, This business staid me in London almost a week […]
  - […] I was willing to stay my Reader on an Argument, that appears to me new […]
3. To hold the attention of.
4. 7
  To bear up under
  To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.
  - She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,
5. 8
  To wait for
  To wait for; await.
  - My father stays my coming;
  - Let me stay the growth of his beard,
6. 9
  To remain for the purpose of
  To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.).
  - I stay dinner there.
  - Some of the company staid supper, which prevented the embarrassment that must unavoidably have arisen, had the family been by themselves.
  - How glad they had been to hear papa invite him to stay dinner, how sorry when he said it was quite out of his power […]
7. 10
  To rest
  To rest; depend; rely.
  - Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:
  - I stay here on my bond.
8. To stop
  To stop; come to a stand or standstill.
9. 12
  To come to an end
  To come to an end; cease.
  - That day the storm stayed.
  - Here my commission stays,
10. 13
  To dwell
  To dwell; linger; tarry; wait.
  - Yet not to be wholly silent of all your Charities I must stay a little on one Action, which preferr’d the Relief of Others, to the Consideration of your Self.
11. To make a stand
  To make a stand; to stand firm.
12. 15
  To hold out, as in a race or contest
  To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power.
  - That horse stays well.
13. 16
  To wait
  To wait; rest in patience or expectation.
  - I’ll tell thee all my whole device / When I am in my coach, which stays for us.
  - The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion, nor the Mother for a new Sett of Babies to play with […]
  - "That is all. Stay—in the paper you have, look down the first money column and see if there is any reference to the Central and Suburban."
14. 17
  To wait as an attendant
  To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.
  - I have a servant comes with me along, That stays upon me […]
  - Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.
15. 18
  To live
  To live; reside.
  - Hey, where do you stay at?
16. 19
  Continuance or a period of time spent in a place
  Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time.
  - I hope you enjoyed your stay in Hawaii.
17. 20
  A postponement, especially of an execution or other punishment.
  - The governor granted a stay of execution.
  - Later that day, however, Judge O'Kelley signed a stay of execution when Mr. Potts authorized other attorneys to renew his appeals.
  - Just before the deadline Donald Kowalski's attorney, Jack Fena, was able to obtain a stay in order to give him time to file a motion to overturn the testing order.
18. 21
  A stop
  A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.
  - stand at a stay
  - Made of ſphear-metal, never to decay / Untill his revolution was at ſtay.
  - Affaires of state […] seemed rather to stand at a stay.
19. A fixed state
  A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
20. A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
21. 24
  Restraint of passion
  Restraint of passion; prudence; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
  - The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
  - Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays.
  - With prudent stay he long deferred / The rough contention.
22. 25
  Hindrance
  Hindrance; let; check.
  - They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false.
23. 26
  A prop
  A prop; a support.
  - My onely strength and stay.
  - The trees themselves serve, at the same time, as so many stays for their Vines
  - April 27, 1823, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
24. 27
  A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of…
  A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.
  - Where are the stays for my collar?
25. 28
  A corset.
  - When Jenny's stays are newly laced.
26. A fastening for a garment
  A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.
27. A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and leading from one masthead down to some…
  A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and leading from one masthead down to some other, or other part of the vessel.
28. 31
  A guy, rope, or wire supporting or stabilizing a platform, such as a bridge, a pole, such…
  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.
  - The engineer insisted on using stays for the scaffolding.
29. The transverse piece in a chain-cable link.
30. 33
  To brace or support with a stay or stays
  - stay a mast
31. To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.
32. 35
  To tack
  To tack; put on the other tack.
  - to stay ship
33. To change
  To change; tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship.
34. Steep
  Steep; ascending.
35. (of a roof) Steeply pitched.
36. Difficult to negotiate
  Difficult to negotiate; not easy to access; sheer.
37. Stiff
  Stiff; upright; unbending; reserved; haughty; proud.
38. Steeply.
39. A surname.

The neighborhood

synonymrepress
synonymstifle
synonymcease
synonymdiscontinue
synonymhalt
synonymstop
synonymterminate
synonymresist
synonymwait for
synonymwait on
synonymbrake
synonymdesist
neighborabide
neighborbelive
neighborcontinue
neighbordwell
neighborlive
neighborremain
neighborreside
neighbortarry

Derived

farmstay, gay for the stay, homestay, staycation, staymaking, stayover, staystitch, stay time, perch stay, staybolt, staymaker, misstay

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at stay. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

A definitional loop anchored at stay. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at stay

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA