stays
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stay 1
(stā)v. stayed, stay·ing, stays
v.intr.
1.
a. To continue to be in a place or condition: stay home; stay calm.
b. To remain or sojourn as a guest or lodger: stayed at a motel.
c. To linger or wait in order to do or experience something: We stayed to watch the final minutes of the game.
2.
a. To continue or persist in an action or activity: stayed with the original plan; stayed in college.
b. To keep up in a race or contest: tried to stay with the lead runner.
3. Games To meet a bet in poker without raising it.
4. Archaic To stop moving or stop doing something.
v.tr.
1. To remain during: stayed the week with my parents; stayed the duration of the game.
2.
a. To stop or restrain; check: Doubt stayed his hand.
b. To suspend by legal order the implementation of (a planned action), especially pending further proceedings: stay a prisoner's execution.
3. To satisfy or appease temporarily: stayed his anger.
4. Archaic To wait for; await: "I will not stay thy questions. Let me go; / Or if thou follow me, do not believe / But I shall do thee mischief in the wood" (Shakespeare).
n.
Phrasal Verb: 1. A brief period of residence or visiting.
2. Law
a. The order by which a planned action is stayed.
b. The consequence of such an order.
3. Archaic
a. The act of halting; check.
b. The act of coming to a halt.
stay up
Idioms: To remain awake past one's usual bedtime; not go to bed.
stay put
To remain in a fixed or established position.
stay the course
To hold out or persevere to the end of a race or challenge.
stay with (one)
To remain in one's memory; not be forgotten: That kind of compliment stays with you for years.
[Middle English steien, from Old French ester, esteir, from Latin stāre; see stā- in Indo-European roots.]
Synonyms: stay1, linger, remain, tarry1, wait
These verbs mean to continue to be in a given place: stayed in bed until noon; lingered at the mall for an entire afternoon; remained on the subway until the very last stop; tarried in the hallway until he was late for class; waited for the movie credits to end before she left the theater.
These verbs mean to continue to be in a given place: stayed in bed until noon; lingered at the mall for an entire afternoon; remained on the subway until the very last stop; tarried in the hallway until he was late for class; waited for the movie credits to end before she left the theater.
stay 2
(stā)tr.v. stayed, stay·ing, stays
To brace, support, or prop up: The tower is stayed with cables.
n.
1. A support or brace.
2. A strip of bone, plastic, or metal, used to stiffen a garment or part, such as a corset or shirt collar.
3. stays A corset.
[Middle English staien, from Old French estaiier, from estaie, a support, of Germanic origin.]
stay 3
(stā)n.
1. Nautical A heavy rope or cable, usually of wire, used as a brace or support for a mast or spar.
2. A rope used to steady, guide, or brace.
tr. & intr.v. stayed, stay·ing, stays Nautical
To put (a ship) on the opposite tack or to come about.
[Middle English, from Old English stæg.]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
stays
(steɪz)pl n
(Clothing & Fashion) rare corsets with bones in them
stays
(steɪz)pl n
1. (Nautical Terms) a position of a sailing vessel relative to the wind so that the sails are luffing or aback. Compare irons2
2. (Nautical Terms) miss stays refuse stays (of a sailing vessel) to fail to come about
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
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| Noun | 1. |  stays - a woman's close-fitting foundation garmentfoundation garment, foundation - a woman's undergarment worn to give shape to the contours of the body panty girdle - a woman's undergarment that combines a girdle and panties |
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