stay'd

Verb

stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed or (obsolete) staid)

1. (intransitive) To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
   • We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.

   Synonyms:

   abide

2. (copulative, intransitive) To continue to have a particular quality.
   • Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.

   Synonyms:

   continue

3. (transitive) To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
   • 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:c. 1593 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...

   Synonyms:

   bear, prop up, uphold

4. (transitive) To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
   • […] 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 […]1826, [Walter Scott], chapter XX, in Woodstock; Or, The Cavalier. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London...
5. (transitive) To stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
   • Your ships are stay’d at Venice.c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward]...
6. (transitive) To restrain; withhold; check; stop.
   • […] 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 […]1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 5, in The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, London: Andrew Crook, 1666, p.

   Synonyms:

   curb

See all 46 meanings of stay