GNU Collaborative International Dictionary of English

Found 4 definitions

1.       
   Stay , n. [AS. staeg, akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. stag; cf. OF. estai, F. étai, of Teutonic origin.] (Naut.) A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel's side are called backstays. See Illust. of Ship.
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   In stays, or Hove in stays (Naut.), in the act or situation of staying, or going about from one tack to another. R. H. Dana, Jr. -- Stay holes (Naut.), openings in the edge of a staysail through which the hanks pass which join it to the stay. -- Stay tackle (Naut.), a tackle attached to a stay and used for hoisting or lowering heavy articles over the side. -- To miss stays (Naut.), to fail in the attempt to go about. Totten. -- Triatic stay (Naut.), a rope secured at the ends to the heads of the foremast and mainmast with thimbles spliced to its bight into which the stay tackles hook.
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2.       
   Stay , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stayed  or Staid ; p. pr. & vb. n. Staying.] [OF. estayer, F. étayer to prop, fr. OF. estai, F. étai, a prop, probably fr. OD. stade, staeye, a prop, akin to E. stead; or cf. stay a rope to support a mast. Cf. Staid, a., Stay, v. i.]
    To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support.
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   Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side.
   Ex. xvii. 12.
   
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   Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found
   To stay thy vines.
   Dryden.
   
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   To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
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   He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute.
   Sir W. Scott.
   
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   To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully.
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   She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
   Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes.
   Shak.
   
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   To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold.
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   Him backward overthrew and down him stayed
   With their rude hands and grisly grapplement.
   Spenser.
   
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   All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false.
   Hooker.
   
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   To hinder; to delay; to detain; to keep back.
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   Your ships are stayed at Venice.
   Shak.
   
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   This business staid me in London almost a week.
   Evelyn.
   
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   I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new.
   Locke.
   
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   To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. “I stay dinner there.”
   Shak.
   
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   To cause to cease; to put an end to.
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   Stay your strife.
   Shak.
   
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   For flattering planets seemed to say
   This child should ills of ages stay.
   Emerson.
   
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   (Engin.) To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler.
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   (Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind.
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   To stay a mast (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and backstays.
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3.       
   Stay , v. i. [√163. See Stay to hold up, prop.]
   To remain; to continue in a place; to abide fixed for a space of time; to stop; to stand still.
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   She would command the hasty sun to stay.
   Spenser.
   
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   Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first.
   Dryden.
   
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   I stay a little longer, as one stays
   To cover up the embers that still burn.
   Longfellow.
   
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   To continue in a state.
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   The flames augment, and stay
   At their full height, then languish to decay.
   Dryden.
   
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   To wait; to attend; to forbear to act.
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   I 'll tell thee all my whole device
   When I am in my coach, which stays for us.
   Shak.
   
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   The father can not stay any longer for the fortune.
   Locke.
   
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   To dwell; to tarry; to linger.
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   I must stay a little on one action.
   Dryden.
   
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   To rest; to depend; to rely; to stand; to insist.
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   I stay here on my bond.
   Shak.
   
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   Ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon.
   Isa. xxx. 12.
   
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   To come to an end; to cease; as, that day the storm stayed. [Archaic]
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   Here my commission stays.
   Shak.
   
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   To hold out in a race or other contest; as, a horse stays well. [Colloq.]
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   (Naut.) To change tack, as a ship.
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4.       
   Stay, n. [Cf. OF. estai, F. étai support, and E. stay a rope to support a mast.]
   That which serves as a prop; a support. “My only strength and stay.”
   Milton.
   
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   Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.
   Addison.
   
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   Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
   Coleridge.
   
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   pl. A corset stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women, and rarely by men.
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   How the strait stays the slender waist constrain.
   Gay.
   
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   Continuance in a place; abode for a space of time; sojourn; as, you make a short stay in this city.
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   Make haste, and leave thy business and thy care;
   No mortal interest can be worth thy stay.
   Dryden.
   
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   Embrace the hero and his stay implore.
   Waller.
   
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   Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop.
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   Made of sphere metal, never to decay
   Until his revolution was at stay.
   Milton.
   
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   Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay.
   Hayward.
   
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   Hindrance; let; check. [Obs.]
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   They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false.
   Robynson (More's Utopia).
   
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   Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety. [Obs.] “Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays.”
   Herbert.
   
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   The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
   Bacon.
   
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   With prudent stay he long deferred
   The rough contention.
   Philips.
   
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   (Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together, or stiffen them.
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   Stay bolt (Mech.), a bolt or short rod, connecting opposite plates, so as to prevent them from being bulged out when acted upon by a pressure which tends to force them apart, as in the leg of a steam boiler. -- Stay busk, a stiff piece of wood, steel, or whalebone, for the front support of a woman's stays. Cf. Busk. -- Stay rod, a rod which acts as a stay, particularly in a steam boiler.
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