Stay , n. [Cf. OF. estai, F. étai support, and E. stay a rope
to support a mast.]
1.
That which serves as a prop; a support. "My only strength and stay." Milton.
Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.
Addison.
Lord Liverpool is
the single stay of this ministry.
Coleridge. 2. pl. A corset stiffened with whalebone or other material, worn by women, and
rarely by men.
How the strait stays the slender waist constrain.
Gay. 3. Continuance in a place; abode for a space of time; sojourn; as, you make a short stay in this city.
Make haste, and leave thy
business and thy care;
No mortal interest can be worth thy
stay.
Dryden.
Embrace the hero and his
stay implore.
Waller. 4. Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop.
Made of sphere metal, never to decay
Until his revolution was at stay.
Milton.
Affairs of state
seemed rather to stand at a stay.
Hayward. 5. Hindrance; let; check. [Obs.]
They were able to read
good authors without any stay, if the book were not false.
Robynson (more's Utopia). 6. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety. [Obs.] "Not
grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays." Herbert.
The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
Bacon. With prudent stay he long deferred
The rough contention.
Philips.
7. (Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together, or stiffen them.
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.
Stay (?), v. i. [√163. See Stay to hold up, prop.]
1. To
remain; to continue in a
place; to abide fixed for a space of time; to stop; to stand still.
She would command the hasty sun to
stay.
Spenser.
Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first.
Dryden.
I stay a little longer, as one stays
To cover up the
embers that still burn.
Longfellow.
2. To continue in a
state.
The flames augment, and stay
At their full
height, then languish to decay.
Dryden.
3. To wait; to attend; to forbear to act.
I'll tell thee all
my whole device
When I am in my coach, which stays for us.
Shak. The father can not stay any longer for the fortune.
Locke. 4. To dwell; to tarry; to linger.
I
must stay a little on one action.
Dryden. 5. To rest; to depend; to rely; to stand; to insist.
I
stay here on my bond.
Shak. Ye despise this word, and trust in
oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon.
Isa. xxx. 12. 6. To
come to an end; to cease;
as, that day
the storm stayed. [Archaic]
Here my commission stays.
Shak. 7. To hold out in a race or other contest; as, a horse
stays well. [Colloq.]
8. (Naut.) To change tack; as a ship.
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.]
1. To stop
from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support.
Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and
the other on the other
side.
Ex. xvii.
12. Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found
To stay thy vines.
Dryden. 2. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
He has devoured a whole loaf
of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute.
Sir W. Scott. 3. To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully.
She will not
stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing
eyes.
Shak. 4. To hold from
proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold.
Him
backward overthrew and down him stayed
With their rude hands grisly grapplement.
Spenser.
All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartly wish were false.
Hooker. 5. To hinde&?;; to delay; to detain; to keep back.
Your ships are
stayed at
Venice.
Shak. This business staid me in
London almost a week.
Evelyn. I was willing to stay my reader on
an argument that appeared to me new.
Locke. 6. To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. "I stay dinner there." Shak.
7. To cause to cease; to put
an end to.
Stay your strife.
Shak.
For flattering planets seemed to
say
This child should ills of ages stay.
Emerson. 8. (Engin.) To fasten or
secure with stays; as, to stay a flat
sheet in a steam boiler.
9. (Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of
the vessel shall be presented to the wind.
To stay a mast
(Naut.), to incline
it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and
backstays.
Stay (?), n. [AS. stæg, 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.
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.
Hear it pronounced