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Still vs Stay - What's the difference?

still | stay |

In obsolete terms the difference between still and stay

is that still is to trickle, drip while stay is hindrance; let; check.

As adjectives the difference between still and stay

is that still is not moving; calm while stay is steep; ascending.

As adverbs the difference between still and stay

is that still is up to a time, as in the preceding time while stay is steeply.

As nouns the difference between still and stay

is that still is a period of calm or silence while stay is a strong rope supporting a mast, and leading from the head of one mast down to some other, or other part of the vessel.

As verbs the difference between still and stay

is that still is to calm down, to quiet while stay is to incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.

still

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) . Related to (l).

Alternative forms

* (l) * (l), (l), (l) (obsolete)

Adjective

(en-adj)
  • Not moving; calm.
  • Still waters run deep.
  • Not effervescing; not sparkling.
  • still''' water; '''still wines
  • Uttering no sound; silent.
  • * Addison
  • The sea that roared at thy command, / At thy command was still .
  • (not comparable) Having the same stated quality continuously from a past time
  • * {{quote-news, 2007, January 3, Gerry Geronimo, Unwanted weed starts to sprout from a wayward ponencia, Manila Standard citation
  • , passage=To follow the still President’s marching orders, all that Secretary Ronnie Puno has to do is to follow the road map laid out by Justice Azcuna in his “separate” opinion. }}
  • Comparatively quiet or silent; soft; gentle; low.
  • * Bible, 1 Kings xix. 12
  • a still small voice
  • (obsolete) Constant; continual.
  • * Shakespeare
  • By still practice learn to know thy meaning.
    Synonyms
    * (not moving) fixed, stationary, unmoving * See also
    Derived terms
    * stillness

    Adverb

    (-)
  • (aspect) Up to a time, as in the preceding time.
  • * Francis Bacon
  • It hath been anciently reported, and is still received.
  • * , chapter=15
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
  • *
  • Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
  • * {{quote-magazine, title=A better waterworks, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838
  • , page=5 (Technology Quarterly), magazine=(The Economist) citation , passage=An artificial kidney these days still means a refrigerator-sized dialysis machine. Such devices mimic the way real kidneys cleanse blood and eject impurities and surplus water as urine.}}
  • (degree) To an even greater degree.
  • ("still" and "taller" can easily swap places here)
  • * Shakespeare
  • The guilt being great, the fear doth still exceed.
  • (conjunctive) Nevertheless.
  • * Moore
  • As sunshine, broken in the rill, / Though turned astray, is sunshine still .
  • (archaic, poetic) Always; invariably; constantly; continuously.
  • * 1609 (William Shakespeare), Troilus and Cressida 5.2.201-202:
  • Lechery, lechery, still wars and lechery; nothing else holds fashion.
  • * Addison
  • The desire of fame betrays an ambitious man into indecencies that lessen his reputation; he is still afraid lest any of his actions should be thrown away in private.
  • * Boyle
  • Chemists would be rich if they could still do in great quantities what they have sometimes done in little.
  • (extensive) .
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Sarah Glaz
  • , title= Ode to Prime Numbers , volume=101, issue=4, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Some poems, echoing the purpose of early poetic treatises on scientific principles, attempt to elucidate the mathematical concepts that underlie prime numbers. Others play with primes’ cultural associations. Still others derive their structure from mathematical patterns involving primes.}}
    Synonyms
    * (up to a time) yet * (to an even greater degree) yet, even * (nevertheless) nonetheless, though, yet

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A period of calm or silence.
  • the still of the night
  • (photography) A non-moving photograph. (The term is generally used only when it is necessary to distinguish from movies.)
  • (slang) A resident of the Falkland Islands.
  • A steep hill or ascent.
  • Etymology 2

    Via (etyl), ultimately from (etyl) stilla

    Noun

    (en noun) (wikipedia still)
  • a device for distilling liquids.
  • (catering) a large water boiler used to make tea and coffee.
  • (catering) the area in a restaurant used to make tea and coffee, separate from the main kitchen.
  • A building where liquors are distilled; a distillery.
  • See also
    * pot still

    Etymology 3

    (etyl) stillan

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • to calm down, to quiet
  • to still the raging sea
  • * Woodward
  • He having a full sway over the water, had power to still and compose it, as well as to move and disturb it.
  • * Shakespeare
  • With his name the mothers still their babies.
  • * Hawthorne
  • toil that would, at least, have stilled an unquiet impulse in me

    Etymology 4

    Aphetic form of distil, or from (etyl) (lena) stillare.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To trickle, drip.
  • * 1590 , Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene , III.ii:
  • any drop of slombring rest / Did chaunce to still into her wearie spright [...].
  • To cause to fall by drops.
  • To expel spirit from by heat, or to evaporate and condense in a refrigeratory; to distill.
  • (Tusser)

    Statistics

    *

    stay

    English

    Etymology 1

    From (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (nautical) A strong rope supporting a mast, and leading from the head of one mast down to some other, or other part of the vessel.
  • 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.
  • (chain-cable) The transverse piece in a link.
  • Synonyms
    *
    Derived terms
    * backstay * bobstay * forestay * jackstay * mainstay * staylace * stayless * staymaker * stayman * staysail * stayship * triatic stay

    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.
  • Etymology 2

    From (etyl) steyen, staien, from (etyl) estayer, . More at (l), (l). Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from (etyl) ester, , from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical groundsWhitney, Century Dictionary and Encyclopedia , stay.. An alternative etymology derives (etyl) estaye, estaie, from Old (etyl) . More at (l), (l).

    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
    Derived terms
    * bestay * forestay * forstay * gainstay * here to stay * offstay * onstay * outstay * overstay * stay-at-home * stay behind * stay-button * stayer * stay hungry * stay on * stay over * stay put * stay the course * stay up * * understay * unstay * unstayed * upstay
    See also
    * abide * belive * continue * dwell * live * remain * reside

    References

    Etymology 3

    From (etyl) *. See above.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A prop; a support.
  • * Milton
  • My only strength and stay .
  • * Addison
  • Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.
  • * Coleridge
  • Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
  • (archaic) A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.
  • That which holds or restrains; obstacle; check; hindrance; restraint.
  • A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.
  • * Milton
  • Made of sphere metal, never to decay / Until his revolution was at stay .
  • * Hayward
  • Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay .
  • (archaic) A standstill; a state of rest; entire cessation of motion or progress.
  • stand at a stay
  • A postponement, especially of an execution or other punishment.
  • The governor granted a stay of execution.
  • A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
  • Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time; sojourn.
  • I hope you enjoyed your stay in Hawaii.
  • (nautical) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
  • Restraint of passion; prudence; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
  • * Herbert
  • Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays .
  • * Francis Bacon
  • The wisdom, stay , and moderation of the king.
  • * Philips
  • With prudent stay he long deferred / The rough contention.
  • A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.
  • Where are the stays for my collar?
  • (obsolete) Hindrance; let; check.
  • * Robynson (More's Utopia)
  • They were able to read good authors without any stay , if the book were not false.
    Derived terms
    * gay for the stay * staycation

    Etymology 4

    From (etyl) , see (l).

    Alternative forms

    * (l), (l), (l), (l)

    Adjective

    (en-adj)
  • Steep; ascending.
  • (of a roof) Steeply pitched.
  • Difficult to negotiate; not easy to access; sheer.
  • Stiff; upright; unbending; reserved; haughty; proud.
  • Adverb

    (en-adv)
  • Steeply.
  • Statistics

    *