stay

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 Frankish *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, stæde (“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

1. (transitive) To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
   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. 1677, Hannah Woolley, “Directions for Writing the most Vsual and Legible Hands for Women”, in The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, page 17
   Sallows and Reeds, on Banks of Rivers born, Remain to cut; for Vineyards useful found, To stay thy Vines and fence thy fruitful Ground. 1725, John Dryden, transl., Virgil’s Husbandry, or an Essay on the Georgics, London, Book 2, p. 37
2. (transitive) To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
3. (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, This business staid me in London almost a week […]
      […] she filled the room she entered, and felt often as she stood hesitating one moment on the threshold of her drawing-room, an exquisite suspense, such as might stay a diver before plunging while the sea darkens and brightens beneath him […] 1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, published 1985, page 44
      She rose to leave but Libor stayed her. 2010, Howard Jacobson, chapter 9, in The Finkler Question, New York: Bloomsbury
   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. , […] 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, […] 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.
      For flattering planets seemed to say This child should ills of ages stay, 1847, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Threnody”, in Poems, Boston: James Munroe, page 242
   4. To put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back.
      The governor stayed the execution until the appeal could be heard.
      Without one word to deny himself, Yuan let himself be bound, his hands behind his back, and no one could stay the matter. 1935, Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided, London: Methuen, Part 1, p. 137
      As I curled up like a dying fish beneath his flailing boots, I managed to stay his assault long enough to tell him that I had only ever seen myself as his most loyal servant […] 2001, Richard Flanagan, “The Leatherjacket”, in Gould’s Book of Fish, New York: Grove, pages 187–188
4. (transitive) To hold the attention of.
5. (transitive, obsolete) To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.
6. (transitive, obsolete) To wait for; await.
7. (transitive, obsolete) To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.).
   Some of the company staid supper, which prevented the embarrassment that must unavoidably have arisen, had the family been by themselves. 1791, Elizabeth Inchbald, A Simple Story, Oxford, published 2009, page 177
8. (intransitive, obsolete) To rest; depend; rely.
9. (intransitive, obsolete) To stop; come to a stand or standstill.
10. (intransitive, archaic) To come to an end; cease.
    That day the storm stayed.
11. (intransitive, archaic) 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. 1700, John Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern, London: Jacob Tonson, dedicatory epistle
12. (intransitive, dated) To make a stand; to stand firm.
13. (intransitive) To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power.
    That horse stays well.
14. (intransitive) 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.
    1874 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Three Friends of Mine,” IV, in The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems, Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875, p. 353, I stay a little longer, as one stays / To cover up the embers that still burn.
    “Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going. 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients
15. (intransitive, obsolete) To wait; rest in patience or expectation.
16. (intransitive, obsolete, used with on or upon) To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.
17. (intransitive, copulative) To continue to have a particular quality.
    Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.
    The three men in the room stayed motionless, holding their breaths. 1943, Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear, London: Heinemann, published 1960, Book 3, Chapter 2, p. 210
    The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about […], or offering services that let you "stay up to date with what your friends are doing",[…]and so on. But the real way to build a successful online business is to be better than your rivals at undermining people's control of their own attention. 2013-06-21, Oliver Burkeman, “The tao of tech”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 2, page 27
18. (intransitive, Scotland, South Africa, India, Southern US, African-American Vernacular, colloquial) To live; reside
    Hey, where do you stay at?

noun

1. Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time.
   I hope you enjoyed your stay in Hawaii.
2. (law) 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. 1980-06-25, “A.C.L.U. Seeks to Stay Execution of Georgian”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
   An appellate judge temporarily stayed the monitor’s work until a three-judge federal appeals panel can decide whether the stay should be kept in place longer while Apple undertakes a full challenge to the appointment of a monitor. 2014-01-21, Matthew Goldstein, “Apple Wins Temporary Stay on Court Monitor”, in New York Times
3. (archaic) A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.
   stand at a stay
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.
   Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays. 1633, George Herbert, The Church Porch
   With prudent stay he long deferred / The rough contention. 1705, John Philips, Blenheim
7. (obsolete) Hindrance; let; check.

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

1. A prop; a support.
   April 27, 1823, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
   Even when the deceptive mask was torn away, and the broken-hearted parent, beholding the accursed fact, that his darling son, the fancied stay of his declining age, was enlisted against him in his brother's horrible revolt, cursed them both and died, not even then did one compunctuous visiting touch his callous heart. 1831, Peter Leicester, Arthur of Britanny, page 18
2. A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.
   Where are the stays for my collar?
3. (in the plural) A corset.
   Her figure was tall, yet not too tall; comely and well-developed, yet not fat; her head set on her shoulders with an easy, pliant firmness; her waist, perfection in the eyes of a man, for it occupied its natural place, it filled out its natural circle, it was visibly and delightfully undeformed by stays. 1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White
   When Jenny's stays are newly laced.
4. (archaic) A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.

Etymology 3

From Middle English stay, 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 *steh₂- (“to stand”). Cognate with Dutch stag (“stay”), German Stag (“stay”), Swedish stag (“stay”), Icelandic stag (“stay”).

noun

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.
   The engineer insisted on using stays for the scaffolding.
3. The transverse piece in a chain-cable link.

verb

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.

Etymology 4

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

adj

1. (UK dialectal) Steep; ascending.
   The Castle of Edr. is naturally a great strenth situate upon the top of a high Rock perpendicular on all sides, except on the entry from the burgh, which is a stay ascent and is well fortified with strong Walls, three gates each one within another, with Drawbridges, and all necessary fortifications. 1908, Publications of the Scottish History Society, volume 53, page 121
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.

adv

1. (UK dialectal) Steeply.