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.
Defn: 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.)
Defn: 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.
STAYED
Stayed, a.