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Stays

 - 8 dictionary results
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stay

1  [stey] ,verb, stayed or staid, stay⋅ing, noun
Use Stays in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to spend some time in a place, in a situation, with a person or group, etc.: He stayed in the army for ten years.
2. to continue to be as specified, as to condition or state: to stay clean.
3. to hold out or endure, as in a contest or task (fol. by with or at): Please stay with the project as long as you can.
4. to keep up, as with a competitor (fol. by with).
5. Poker. to continue in a hand by matching an ante, bet, or raise.
6. to stop or halt.
7. to pause or wait, as for a moment, before proceeding or continuing; linger or tarry.
8. Archaic. to cease or desist.
9. Archaic. to stand firm.
–verb (used with object)
10. to stop or halt.
11. to hold back, detain, or restrain, as from going further.
12. to suspend or delay (actions, proceedings, etc.).
13. to appease or satisfy temporarily the cravings of (the stomach, appetite, etc.).
14. to remain through or during (a period of time): We stayed two days in San Francisco.
15. to remain to the end of; remain beyond (usually fol. by out).
16. Archaic. to await.
–noun
17. the act of stopping or being stopped.
18. a stop, halt, or pause; a standstill.
19. a sojourn or temporary residence: a week's stay in Miami.
20. Law. a stoppage or arrest of action; suspension of a judicial proceeding: The governor granted a stay of execution.
21. Informal. staying power; endurance.
—Idiom
22. stay the course, to persevere; endure to completion.
Origin:
1400–50; late ME staien < AF estaier, OF estai-, s. of ester < L stāre to stand
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stay

2  [stey] ,noun, verb, stayed, stay⋅ing.
–noun
1. something used to support or steady a thing; prop; brace.
2. a flat strip of steel, plastic, etc., used esp. for stiffening corsets, collars, etc.
3. a long rod running between opposite walls, heads or sides of a furnace, boiler, tank, or the like, to strengthen them against internal pressures.
4. stays, Chiefly British. a corset.
–verb (used with object)
5. to support, prop, or hold up (sometimes fol. by up).
6. to sustain or strengthen mentally or spiritually.
7. to rest on (something, as a foundation or base) for support.
8. to cause something to become fixed or to rest on (a support, foundation, base, etc.)
Origin:
1505–15; appar. same as stay 3 (cf. OF estayer to hold in place, support, perh. deriv. of ME steye stay 3 )

stay

3  [stey] noun, verb, stayed, stay⋅ing. Chiefly Nautical
–noun
1. any of various strong ropes or wires for steadying masts, funnels, etc.
–verb (used with object)
2. to support or secure with a stay or stays: to stay a mast.
3. to put (a ship) on the other tack.
–verb (used without object)
4. (of a ship) to change to the other tack.
—Idiom
5. in stays, (of a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel) heading into the wind with sails shaking, as in coming about.
Origin:
bef. 1150; ME stey(e), OE stæg; c. G Stag
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To Stays
stay 1   (stā)   
v.   stayed, stay·ing, stays

v.   intr.

  1. To continue to be in a place or condition: stay home; stay calm.

  2. To remain or sojourn as a guest or lodger: stayed at a motel.

  3. To stop moving; halt.

  4. To wait; pause.

  5. To endure or persist: stayed with the original plan.

  6. To keep up in a race or contest: tried to stay with the lead runner.

  7. Games To meet a bet in poker without raising it.

  8. To stand one's ground; remain firm.

  9. Archaic To cease from a specified activity.

v.   tr.

  1. To stop or halt; check.

  2. To postpone; delay.

  3. To delay or stop the effect of (an order, for example) by legal action or mandate: stay a prisoner's execution.

  4. To satisfy or appease temporarily: stayed his anger.

  5. To remain during: stayed the week with my parents; stayed the duration of the game.

  6. To wait for; await: "I will not stay thy questions. Let me go;/Or if thou follow me, do not believe/But I shall do thee mischief in the wood" (Shakespeare).

n.  

  1. The act of halting; check.

  2. The act of coming to a halt.

  3. A brief period of residence or visiting.

  4. A suspension or postponement of a legal action or an execution: granted a stay to the prisoner's execution.


[Middle English steien, from Old French ester, esteir, from Latin stāre; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: These verbs mean to continue to be in a given place. Stay is the least specific, though it can also suggest that the person involved is a guest or visitor: "Must you go? Can't you stay?" (Charles J. Vaughan).
Remain often implies continuing or being left after others have gone: I remained at the end of the meeting to talk to the speaker.
Wait suggests remaining in readiness, anticipation, or expectation: "Your father is waiting for me to take a walk with him" (Booth Tarkington).
Abide implies continuing for a lengthy period: "Abide with me" (Henry Francis Lyte).
Tarry and linger both imply a delayed departure, but linger more strongly suggests reluctance to leave: "She was not anxious but puzzled that her husband tarried" (Eden Phillpotts). "I alone sit lingering here" (Henry Vaughan).
To sojourn is to reside temporarily in a place: "He was sojourning at [a] hotel in Bond Street" (Anthony Trollope). See Also Synonyms at defer1.
stay 2   (stā)   
tr.v.   stayed, stay·ing, stays

  1. To brace, support, or prop up.

  2. To strengthen or sustain mentally or spiritually.

  3. To rest or fix on for support.

n.  

  1. A support or brace.

  2. A strip of bone, plastic, or metal, used to stiffen a garment or part, such as a corset or shirt collar.

  3. stays A corset.


[Middle English staien, from Old French estaiier, from estaie, a support, of Germanic origin.]
stay 3   (stā)   
n.  

  1. Nautical A heavy rope or cable, usually of wire, used as a brace or support for a mast or spar.

  2. A rope used to steady, guide, or brace.

tr. & intr.v.   stayed, stay·ing, stays Nautical
To put (a ship) on the opposite tack or to come about.

[Middle English, from Old English stæg.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

stay  (v.)
"to remain," 1440, from M.Fr. estai-, stem of ester "to stay or stand," from O.Fr., from L. stare "to stand" (cf. It. stare, Sp. estar "to stand, to be"), from PIE base *sta- "to stand" (see stet). Originally "come to a halt;" sense of "remain" is first recorded 1575. Noun senses of "appliance for stopping," "period of remaining in a place," and (judicial) "suspension of proceeding" all developed 1525-1550. Stay-at-home (adj.) is from 1806. Stay put is first recorded 1843, Amer.Eng. Phrase stay the course is originally (1885) in ref. to horses holding out till the end of a race.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Legal Dictionary

Main Entry: stay
Function: noun
: a temporary suspension or injunction of an action or process by a usually discretionary judicial or executive order stay of execution of the judgment> <stay of a lower court's judgment pending certiorari —W. J. Brennan, Junior> —see also AUTOMATIC STAY —compare cease-and-desist order at ORDER 3b, MANDAMUS, SUPERSEDEAS
Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law, © 1996 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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