stays

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stay1

▶verb

• 1 remain in the same place.

  ■ (stay on) continue to study, work, or be somewhere after others have left.

  ■ (stay over) stay for the night at someone's home or a hotel.

  ■ (stay up) not go to bed.

• 2 remain in a specified state or position.

  ■ (stay with) continue, persevere, or keep up with (an activity or person).

• 3 live somewhere temporarily as a visitor or guest.

  ■ Scottish & S. African live permanently.

• 4 stop, delay, or prevent, in particular suspend or postpone (judicial proceedings) or refrain from pressing (charges).

  ■ assuage (hunger) for a short time.

• 5 literary support or prop up.

▶noun

• 1 a period of staying somewhere.

• 2 a curb or check, especially a suspension or postponement of judicial proceedings.

• 3 a device used as a brace or support.

• 4 (stays) historical a corset made of two pieces laced together and stiffened by strips of whalebone.

– phrases
stay the course (or distance) keep going to the end of a race or contest.

■ pursue a difficult task or activity to the end.

a stay of execution a delay in carrying out a court order.
stay put remain somewhere without moving.

– derivatives
stayer noun.

– origin ME: from Anglo-Norman Fr. estai-, stem of OFr. ester, from L. stare ‘to stand’; in the sense ‘support’, partly from OFr. estaye (n.), estayer (v.), of Gmc origin.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
stay2

▶noun

• 1 a large rope, wire, or rod used to support a ship's mast.

• 2 a guy or rope supporting a flagstaff or other upright pole.

• 3 a supporting wire or cable on an aircraft.

▶verb secure or steady by means of a stay.

– phrases
be in stays (of a sailing ship) be head to the wind while tacking.
miss stays (of a sailing ship) fail in an attempt to go about from one tack to another.

– origin OE stæg, of Gmc origin, from a base meaning ‘be firm’.