From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:
Stay \Stay\ (st[=a]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Stayed} (st[=a]d) or
{Staid} (st[=a]d); p. pr. & vb. n. {Staying}.] [OF. estayer,
F. ['e]tayer to prop, fr. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai, a prop,
probably fr. OD. stade, staeye, a prop, akin to E. stead; or
cf. stay a rope to support a mast. Cf. {Staid}, a., {Stay},
v. i.]
1. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to
hold up; to support.
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Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the
one side, and the other on the other side. --Ex.
xvii. 12.
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Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found
To stay thy vines. --Dryden.
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2. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to
satisfy in part or for the time.
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He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter,
and it has not staid his stomach for a minute. --Sir
W. Scott.
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3. To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist
successfully.
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She will not stay the siege of loving terms,
Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes. --Shak.
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4. To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to
stop; to hold.
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Him backward overthrew and down him stayed
With their rude hands and grisly grapplement.
--Spenser.
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All that may stay their minds from thinking that
true which they heartily wish were false. --Hooker.
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5. To hinder; to delay; to detain; to keep back.
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Your ships are stayed at Venice. --Shak.
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This business staid me in London almost a week.
--Evelyn.
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I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that
appeared to me new. --Locke.
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6. To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. "I stay dinner
there." --Shak.
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7. To cause to cease; to put an end to.
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Stay your strife. --Shak.
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For flattering planets seemed to say
This child should ills of ages stay. --Emerson.
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8. (Engin.) To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a
flat sheet in a steam boiler.
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9. (Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of
the vessel shall be presented to the wind.
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{To stay a mast} (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to
one side, by the stays and backstays.
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