stay

¹ American  

[stey] / 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  

[stey] / 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  

[stey] / 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

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

Some Tottenham fans missed the goal as they headed for their half-time refreshments but several thousand did not bother to stay until the end.

From BBC ● Sep. 19, 2026

It’s hard to stay with him because you’re constantly reminded that your relationship does not come first for him, and that there are others who can give you things that he cannot.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

“I’m going to stay as focused as possible on kitchen-table issues,” she said during an interview at her Wilsonville office.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

The elder Buffett will stay on the board.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Once they arrive in Manila, the captain tells the passengers to leave their luggage on board and find a place to stay in the city on the off chance the Grant is attacked while docked.

From "At Last She Stood" by Erin Entrada Kelly

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

Before Ms. Parton, most female country singers cultivated staid, reserved images and achieved success with heartbreak ballads.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 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

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 the perfectly cut frock coat and vest of all Kerch merchants—dark, refined, deliberately staid.

From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo

Afraid to enter their own home, Mark and Rita stayed with a friend for another month or so.

From Slate ● Sep. 17, 2026

In recent years, Jacobs had largely stayed away from the public spotlight due to ill-health.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

Demand has stayed strong in 3Q and bookings are strong for 4Q, though there is a little weakness among lower-income consumers, Leskinen says.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Cregger said he knows the "Resident Evil" fan base might not be totally satisfied with the lack of characters or details from the games themselves, but he stayed true to his vision.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

I stayed with them as far as the door to the ward, then made my way slowly back to the barracks.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

Truist’s bottom line is that the weight of the evidence supports staying aligned with the longer-term market uptrend.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 18, 2026

Treasury yield is likely to stabilize near term, staying in the 4.90%-5.10% range, says SEB’s Jussi Hiljanen in a note.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 18, 2026

When they weren’t out competing, staying in the house wasn’t usually an option.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Philippine Olympic Committee president Abraham Tolentino told AFP that while all the country's athletes have secured a bed, some officials and coaches were staying in "different hotels and Airbnb".

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

And I didn’t want to make her regret the gesture by staying out too long.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

Related Words

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