Verb

(en verb)

(nautical) To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.

stay a mast

(nautical) To tack; put on the other tack.

to stay ship

(nautical) To change; tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship.

Verb

(en verb)

To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.

To stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

Your ships are stay'd at Venice.

* (John Evelyn) (1620-1706)

This business staid me in London almost a week.

* (John Locke) (1632-1705)

I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new.

* (Bible), (w) xvii. 12

Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

Sallows and reedsfor vineyards useful found / To stay thy vines.

To restrain; withhold; check; stop.

* (Richard Hooker) (1554-1600)

all that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false

To put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back.

To hold the attention of.

To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

She will not stay the siege of loving terms, / Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes.

To wait for; await.

To rest; depend; rely.

* (w) 30:12, (w)

Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

I stay here on my bond.

To stop; come to a stand or standstill.

To come to an end; cease.

That day the storm stayed .

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

Here my commission stays .

To dwell; linger; tarry; wait.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

I must stay a little on one action.

To make a stand; stand.

To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end.

That horse stays well.

To remain in a particular place, especially for an indefinite time; sojourn; abide.

* (Edmund Spenser) (c.1552–1599)

She would command the hasty sun to stay .

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

Stay , I command you; stay and hear me first.

* (Henry Wadsworth Longfellow) (1807-1882)

I stay a little longer, as one stays / To cover up the embers that still burn.

* , chapter=5

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=“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.}}

To wait; rest in patience or expectation.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

I'll tell thee all my whole device / When I am in my coach, which stays for us.

* (John Locke) (1632-1705)

The father cannot stay any longer for the fortune.

To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.

To continue to have a particular quality.

* (John Dryden) (1631-1700)

The flames augment, and stay / At their full height, then languish to decay.

* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)

, volume=189, issue=2, page=27, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly) , title= The tao of tech , passage=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",

To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.

* Sir (Walter Scott) (1771-1832)

He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute.

(obsolete) To remain for the purpose of; to wait for.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

I stay dinner there.

To cause to cease; to put an end to.

* (William Shakespeare) (c.1564–1616)

Stay your strife.

* (Ralph Waldo Emerson) (1803-1882)

For flattering planets seemed to say / This child should ills of ages stay .

To fasten or secure with stays.

to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler