Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Nautical A heavy rope or cable, usually of wire, used as a brace or support for a mast or spar.
- noun A rope used to steady, guide, or brace.
- transitive & intransitive verb To put (a ship) on the opposite tack or to come about.
- transitive verb To brace, support, or prop up.
- noun A support or brace.
- noun A strip of bone, plastic, or metal, used to stiffen a garment or part, such as a corset or shirt collar.
- noun A corset.
- intransitive verb To continue to be in a place or condition.
- intransitive verb To remain or sojourn as a guest or lodger.
- intransitive verb To linger or wait in order to do or experience something.
- intransitive verb To continue or persist in an action or activity.
- intransitive verb To keep up in a race or contest.
- intransitive verb Games To meet a bet in poker without raising it.
- intransitive verb Archaic To stop moving or stop doing something.
- intransitive verb To remain during.
- intransitive verb To stop or restrain; check.
- intransitive verb To suspend by legal order the implementation of (a planned action), especially pending further proceedings.
- intransitive verb To satisfy or appease temporarily.
- intransitive verb Archaic To wait for; await.
- noun A brief period of residence or visiting.
- noun The order by which a planned action is stayed.
- noun The consequence of such an order.
- noun The act of halting; check.
- noun The act of coming to a halt.
- idiom (stay put) To remain in a fixed or established position.
- idiom (stay the course) To hold out or persevere to the end of a race or challenge.
- idiom (stay with (one)) To remain in one's memory; not be forgotten.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A prop; a support.
- noun Specifically— In building, a piece performing the office of a brace, to prevent the swerving or lateral deviation of the piece to which it is applied.
- noun In steam-engines: A rod, bar. bolt, or gusset in a boiler, to hold two parts together against the pressure of steam: as, a tube-stay; a water-space stay.
- noun One of the sling-rods connecting a locomotive-boiler to its frame.
- noun A rod, beneath the boiler, supporting the inside bearings of the crank-axle of a locomotive.
- noun In mining, a piece of wood used to secure the pump to an engine-shaft.
- noun In some hollow-castings, a spindle which forms a support for the core.
- noun In anatomy and zoology, technically, a prop or support: as, the bony stay of the operculum of a mail-cheeked fish, or cottoid. This is an enlarged suborbital bone which crosses the cheek and articulates with the præoperculum in the mail-cheeked fishes. See Cottoidea, Scleropariæ.
- noun plural A kind of waistcoat, stiffened with whalebone or other material, now worn chiefly by women and girls to support and give shape to the body, but formerly worn also by men.
- noun A fastening for a garment; hence, a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.
- noun That which holds or restrains; obstacle; check; hindrance; restraint.
- noun A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progression: as, the court granted a stay.
- noun A standstill; a state of rest; entire cessation of motion or progress: used chiefly in the phrase at a stay.
- noun A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
- noun Continuance in a place; abode for an indefinite time; sojourn: as, you make a short stay in the city.
- noun A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
- noun State; fixed condition.
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English, from Old English stæg.]
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English staien, from Old French estaiier, from estaie, a support, of Germanic origin.]
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English steien, from Old French ester, esteir, from Latin stāre; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English *stay, from Old English stæġ ("stay, a rope supporting a mast"), from Proto-Germanic *stagan (“stay, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *stek-, *stāk- (“stand, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *stā- (“to stand”). Cognate with Dutch stag ("stay"), German Stag ("stay"), Swedish stag ("stay"), Icelandic stag ("stay").
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English *steȝe, from Old English *stǣġe, an apocopated variant of Old English stǣġel ("steep, abrupt"), from Proto-Germanic *staigilaz (“climbing, ascending, sloping, steep”), see sty.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English *staye, 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 *stā- (“to stand”). See above.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier ("to fix, prop up, support, stay"), from 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 *stā- (“to stand”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see above). 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.
Support
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Examples
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At the same time they were saying “The policy is to stay the course,” the president was saying “The policy has never been ’stay the course.’”
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I call the Republican position to stay the course ’stay and pray’………counters ‘cut and run’ pretty well, wouldn’t you say?
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I was wishing I could just stay and _stay_ in this room. "
The Bent Twig Dorothy Canfield Fisher 1918
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Cain called Perry "insensitive" for letting the word stay there for so long during an interview with Fox News Sunday.
VIDEO: Sherri Shepherd Attacks Barbara Walters For Using the N-Word on The View 2011
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While Gaga drip-feeds exclusive information on new artwork, single premieres and things fans genuinely want to know, Lott uses the phrase "stay crazy" like an excitable children's TV presenter.
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The president has used the term stay the course over and over and over again.
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Lapidos explores the question and concludes that certain traits help make a word stay in the lexicon.
Slate Magazine Peter Fulham 2011
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Clicking on the senator makes the label stay on between transitions so you can track them across sessions.
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Clicking on the senator makes the label stay on between transitions so you can track them across sessions.
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#IfWinActive iWebBrowser2 Learner Build ID: 2.5 % GuiWinTitle% is the best way versions of the title stay uniform i think we should use that instead what if i decide to this weekend rename it?
AutoHotkey Community 2009
dimã©lion commented on the word stay
someone forgot "assuage (hunger) for a short time".
November 26, 2008