mainstay

[ meyn-stey ]
See synonyms for: mainstaymainstays on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. Nautical. the stay that secures the mainmast forward.

  2. a person or thing that acts as a chief support or part: Coffee is the mainstay of the country's economy.

Origin of mainstay

1
First recorded in 1475–85; main1 + stay2

Other words for mainstay

Words Nearby mainstay

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use mainstay in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for mainstay

mainstay

/ (ˈmeɪnˌsteɪ) /


noun
  1. nautical the forestay that braces the mainmast

  2. a chief support

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012