stay

¹ American  

[stay] / steɪ /

verb (used without object)

stayed, staid, staying

1. to spend some time in a place, in a situation, with a person or group, etc..

   He stayed in the army for ten years.

2. to continue to be as specified, as to condition or state.

   to stay clean.

3. to hold out or endure, as in a contest or task (followed by with orat ).

   Please stay with the project as long as you can.

4. to keep up, as with a competitor (followed bywith ).

5. Poker. to continue in a hand by matching an ante, bet, or raise.

6. to stop or halt.

7. to pause or wait, as for a moment, before proceeding or continuing; linger or tarry.

8. Archaic. to cease or desist.

9. Archaic. to stand firm.

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verb (used with object)

stayed, staid, staying

1. to stop or halt.

2. to hold back, detain, or restrain, as from going further.

3. to suspend or delay (actions, proceedings, etc.).

4. to appease or satisfy temporarily the cravings of (the stomach, appetite, etc.).

5. to remain through or during (a period of time).

   We stayed two days in San Francisco.

6. to remain to the end of; remain beyond (usually followed byout ).

7. Archaic. to await.

noun

1. the act of stopping or being stopped.

2. a stop, halt, or pause; a standstill.

3. a sojourn or temporary residence.

   a week's stay in Miami.

4. Law. a stoppage or arrest of action; suspension of a judicial proceeding.

   The governor granted a stay of execution.

5. Informal. staying power; endurance.

idioms

1. stay the course, to persevere; endure to completion.

stay ² American  

[stay] / steɪ /

noun

1. something used to support or steady a thing; prop; brace.

2. a flat strip of steel, plastic, etc., used especially for stiffening corsets, collars, etc.

3. a long rod running between opposite walls, heads or sides of a furnace, boiler, tank, or the like, to strengthen them against internal pressures.

4. Chiefly British. stays, a corset.

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verb (used with object)

stayed, staying

1. to support, prop, or hold up (sometimes followed byup ).

2. to sustain or strengthen mentally or spiritually.

3. to rest on (something, as a foundation or base) for support.

4. to cause something to become fixed or to rest on (a support, foundation, base, etc.)

stay ³ American  

[stay] / steɪ /

noun

1. any of various strong ropes or wires for steadying masts, funnels, etc.

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verb (used with object)

stayed, staying

1. to support or secure with a stay or stays.

   to stay a mast.

2. to put (a ship) on the other tack.

verb (used without object)

stayed, staying

1. (of a ship) to change to the other tack.

idioms

1. in stays, (of a fore-and-aft-rigged vessel) heading into the wind with sails shaking, as in coming about.

stay ¹ British  

/ steɪ /

verb

1. (intr) to continue or remain in a certain place, position, etc

   to stay outside

2. (copula) to continue to be; remain

   to stay awake

3. to reside temporarily, esp as a guest

   to stay at a hotel

4. (tr) to remain for a specified period

   to stay the weekend

5. (intr) to reside permanently or habitually; live

6. archaic to stop or cause to stop

7. (intr) to wait, pause, or tarry

8. (tr) to delay or hinder

9. (tr)

   1. to discontinue or suspend (a judicial proceeding)

   2. to hold in abeyance or restrain from enforcing (an order, decree, etc)

10. to endure (something testing or difficult, such as a race)

    a horse that stays the course

11. to keep pace (with a competitor in a race, etc)

12. (intr) poker to raise one's stakes enough to stay in a round

13. (tr) to hold back or restrain

    to stay one's anger

14. (tr) to satisfy or appease (an appetite, etc) temporarily

15. archaic (tr) to quell or suppress

16. archaic (intr) to stand firm

17. See put

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noun

1. the act of staying or sojourning in a place or the period during which one stays

2. the act of stopping or restraining or state of being stopped, etc

3. the suspension of a judicial proceeding, etc

   stay of execution

stay ² British  

/ steɪ /

noun

1. anything that supports or steadies, such as a prop or buttress

2. a thin strip of metal, plastic, bone, etc, used to stiffen corsets, etc

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verb

1. (often foll by up) to prop or hold

2. (often foll by up) to comfort or sustain

3. to cause to rely or depend

stay ³ British  

/ steɪ /

noun

1. a rope, cable, or chain, usually one of a set, used for bracing uprights, such as masts, funnels, flagpoles, chimneys, etc; guy See also stays stays

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stay More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing stay

• (stay on one's) right side
• (stay) in touch
• here to stay
• should have stood (stayed) in bed
• stick (stay) with

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Etymology

Origin of stay¹

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English staien, from Anglo-French estaier, Old French ester, from Latin stāre “to stand, stand up, be standing, stand in attendance”; see origin at stand

Origin of stay²

First recorded in 1505–15; apparently same as stay ³ (compare Old French estayer “to hold in place, support”), or perhaps derivative of Middle English steye “rope to steady a mast”; stay ³

Origin of stay³

First recorded before 1150; Middle English stai, stey(e), Old English stæg; cognate with German Stag, Dutch stag, Old Norse stag

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Explanation

To stay is to remain or wait in the same place. When you tell your dog to stay, you expect her to keep sitting until you call her over. You can stay in the short term, like when you stay in your seat even though you're antsy, or in the long term, like when you decide to stay in Missouri after you graduate from college. You can also stay calm or stay out of trouble. Legally, to stay is to delay or suspend proceedings, like when a judge stays a decision. A less-common meaning of stay is "a support," from the Middle French estaie, "wood used as a support."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

stay staid stayed staying

Ukraine’s air force quickly said there was no radiation threat and urged citizens to stay calm.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026

They follow relatively circular paths around the Sun and stay close to the plane in which most of the solar system's planets orbit.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 2, 2026

"That encourages young staff to either stay or to return after a time in Canada, Australia, the UK and the Republic of Ireland," Nagar added.

From BBC ● Nov. 2, 2026

Rodrigo is confident Devon Again can stay true to her vision in spite of all that.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026

And gradually it dawned on all of us that this endearing man was at the Beje to stay.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

A cliché in depictions of flyover country is that people’s staid behavior disguises their bizarre depths.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026

Compared with the staid look of the BBC’s seminal 1995 version of “Pride & Prejudice,” Knightley’s Elizabeth comes off as modernly undone, like your best-looking friend who’s also into thrifting.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026

It would be hard to find a more L.A. scene than the one playing out downtown in the normally staid Felicitas and Gonzalo Mendez United States Courthouse.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026

And under Xi, Zhu's style of open, frank talk by officials has been replaced by a much more staid, closed-off approach.

From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026

He wore impeccable three-piece Brooks Brothers suits, Bostonian loafers, and staid horn-rimmed glasses, and he knew the law.

From "The Milagro Beanfield War" by John Nichols

A measure of inflation stayed near a four-year high, reflecting higher costs companies are incurring to obtain energy and other supplies.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 2, 2026

Coleman Jr stayed on the turf, before eventually being helped from the field by two team members, who carried him so he did not have to put weight on his injured leg.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026

"We last saw him at the end of January 2024, when my sister, mum and I left, and he stayed behind," the 19-year-old said.

From Barron's ● Oct. 31, 2026

She and her son ducked down onto the floor of their car, where they stayed until police responded, she said.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026

Even though he took every single lunch in the library, he stayed on his side, and I stayed on mine.

From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows

Unlike some climbers, Krakauer can wax poetic while staying honest about the stakes.

From Salon ● Nov. 1, 2026

Not only do we carry the horrors of the universe in our pockets, we spend most of our waking hours gazing into that abyss in the name of staying informed.

From Slate ● Nov. 1, 2026

But there’s a twist in her saga that even King didn’t foresee—Carrie has shown real staying power.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 30, 2026

But there are also many older people who prefer staying in their family homes or apartments and need support.

From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026

Maybe he should spend the winter staying put in the Very, Very Far North.

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

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Related Words

• continue
• delay
• hang
• last
• linger
• remain
• reside
• settle
• stand
• stick around
• stop

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