Word: stay Part of Speech: verb Etymology: From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier (“to fix, prop up, support, stay”), from estaye, estaie (“a prop, stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade (“a prop, stay, help, aid”) (compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Proto-West Germanic *stadi (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English stede (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady. Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin stāre (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds. An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish *stakā, *stakō (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick. Pronunciation: /steɪ/, /ste/, /stei/ 1. To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide. Labels: intransitive Example: We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour. Example: She would commaund the hasty Sunne to stay, Or backward turne his course from heuen's hight, 2. To continue to have a particular quality. Labels: copulative, intransitive Example: Wear gloves so your hands stay warm. Example: Promise me you'll always stay/remain my little prince. 3. To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady. Labels: transitive Example: Lord Mayor of London. See, where he stands between two clergymen! Duke of Buckingham. Two props of virtue for a Christian prince, To stay him from the fall of vanity: Example: But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. 4. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time. Labels: transitive Example: […] he has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, as fast as Phoebe could cut it, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute […] 5. To stop or delay something. Labels: transitive Example: Your ships are stay’d at Venice. Example: 1671, John Evelyn, Diary, entry dated 14 November, 1671, in The Diary of John Evelyn, London: Macmillan, 1906, Volume 2, p. 337, This business staid me in London almost a week […] 6. To stop or delay something. Labels: transitive Example: 1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 5, in The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, London: Andrew Crook, 1666, p. , […] all that may but with any the least shew of possibility stay their mindes from thinking that true, which they heartily wish were false, but cannot think it so […] Example: So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul. 7. To stop or delay something. Labels: transitive Example: Now stay your strife […] Example: For flattering planets seemed to say This child should ills of ages stay, 8. To stop or delay something. Labels: transitive Example: The governor stayed the execution until the appeal could be heard. Example: Without one word to deny himself, Yuan let himself be bound, his hands behind his back, and no one could stay the matter. 9. To hold the attention of. Labels: transitive 10. To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist. Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes, 11. To wait for; await. Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: My father stays my coming; Example: Let me stay the growth of his beard, 12. To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.). Labels: obsolete, transitive Example: I stay dinner there. Example: Some of the company staid supper, which prevented the embarrassment that must unavoidably have arisen, had the family been by themselves. 13. To rest; depend; rely. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon: Example: I stay here on my bond. 14. To stop; come to a stand or standstill. Labels: intransitive, obsolete 15. To come to an end; cease. Labels: archaic, intransitive Example: That day the storm stayed. Example: Here my commission stays, 16. To dwell; linger; tarry; wait. Labels: archaic, intransitive Example: Yet not to be wholly silent of all your Charities I must stay a little on one Action, which preferr’d the Relief of Others, to the Consideration of your Self. 17. To make a stand; to stand firm. Labels: dated, intransitive 18. To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end; to show staying power. Labels: intransitive Example: That horse stays well. 19. To wait; rest in patience or expectation. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: I’ll tell thee all my whole device / When I am in my coach, which stays for us. Example: The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion, nor the Mother for a new Sett of Babies to play with […] 20. To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance. Labels: intransitive, obsolete Example: I have a servant comes with me along, That stays upon me […] Example: Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure. 21. To live; reside. Labels: India, Scotland, Singapore, South-Africa, Southern-US, colloquial, intransitive Example: Hey, where do you stay at?