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

All of Farrell's back three trio have struggled with injuries in the past year, and Friday's win was a glimpse of Ireland's attacking potential if they can stay fit and in form.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

He tried to stay awake between calls by doing push-ups on the floor next to his desk.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

If it’s not a Shade 45 night, then I might stay up a little longer, like maybe 11:30.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026

Germany's carmakers are now trying to shift engineering east, both to stay competitive in the Chinese market as well as to integrate technologies developed there into cars sold abroad.

From Barron's ● Nov. 6, 2026

Mom can’t stay mad after a storm like this.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

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

For some, the Treasury Department’s response only added to the sense of a typically staid market gone disturbingly off kilter.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 21, 2026

The aim was to expand U.S. influence in Europe, promote ideas suppressed behind the Iron Curtain and, more specifically, expose Soviet culture as staid and doctrinaire.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 12, 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

There she sat, staid and taciturn-looking, as usual, in her brown stuff gown, her check apron, white handkerchief, and cap.

From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë

The team dug in, stayed strong and we got our rewards.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

“He held up his end of the deal and stayed out of trouble,” spokesperson Ciaran McEvoy said in an email.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

The Australian actor, on his first Hallmark cruise, called bingo on day four and stayed after for endless selfies.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 4, 2026

Alvarado was underperforming Barr’s 2024 margin by around 20 percentage points — a staggering drop, indicating that a significant number of Republicans had either stayed home or decided to take a chance on Dembo.

From Salon ● Nov. 4, 2026

Her face stayed neutral and detached as she listened, but her eyes did flick to Regan for the tiniest half second.

From "Glitch" by Laura Martin

OpenAI says its new GPT-6 Cyber model addresses the increasingly urgent need to find and fix vulnerabilities while staying within the boundaries that researchers set.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

The two 18-year-olds moved to the city with every intention of staying, even as the industry’s local footprint hollows out.

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026

It’s not easy to find another job, so most workers are staying put.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 5, 2026

Pawboost, a free online platform that helps track down missing pets, said "staying cautious" would help protect owners.

From BBC ● Nov. 4, 2026

Tongues wagged about two celebrities, Dr. Kane and Maggie Fox, staying in the same boardinghouse.

From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock

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Related Words

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

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