Also 4–5 stey(e, 5 stye, 5–6 staie, 6 staye. [OE. stæʓ (? neut.) corresp. to Du. stag neut. and fem., staag neut., WFris. staech, LG. stach (16th c.), stag(g (E. Friesland), G. stag neut., ON. stag neut. (Da., Sw., Norw. stag, Icel. stag stay, clothes-line):—OTeut. *stago-, f. Teut. root *stah- : stag- to be firm (in *stahlo- STEEL sb., ON. stagl the rack, Norw. stagle pole):—pre-Teut. *stak- or *stok-. The Teut. word has been adopted in the Rom. langs.: OF. (12th c.) estai (mod.F. étai), Sp., Pg. estay.]
1. Naut. A large rope used to support a mast, and leading from its head down to some other mast or spar, or to some part of the ship.
The stays that lead forward are called fore and aft stays; and those that lead down to the vessel’s sides backstays (see BACKSTAY). The stays have also special names according to the mast to which they are attached: see FORE-STAY, MAINSTAY, MIZEN-STAY.
a. 1100. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 288/26. [De Nave et Partibus eius.] Safo, stæʓ. [Cf. ‘safon, stæþ,’ Suppl. Ælfric’s Gloss, ibid. 182/27; ‘scaphon, funis in prora positus’ (Isidore).]
1296. MS. Acc. Exch. K. R., 5/20 m. 4 b. Capiuntur … ad vsum Galee … octo Copule Cord[orum] Capital[ium] .j. Stay, ij. Schetes, ij. Huppeteyes, j. Boye. Ibid. (1307–8), 14/14. In .ij. hupteghes. vj. couplis de hauedropes et .ij. Steyes … pro masta dicte Bargie … xxviij.s. Ibid. (1336), 19/31 m. 4. In xxx petris cordis de canabo … pro tribus steyes inde faciendis.
1417. in For. Acc. 8 Hen. V., D/2. In v peciis de ropes pro styes j. Couple Bakstyes ij hailers ij vpties.
1420. in For. Acc. 3 Hen. VI., G/2. De j. cathena ferri vocata lichechine ad seruiendum pro le Steye dicte Carrac’.
1485. Naval Acc. Hen. VII. (1896), 40. Sherhokes for the stay … ij. Ibid., 48. For shrowdes … vj, ffor staies … j. Ibid. (1496), 177. The Sieyes for the Mayne maste.
1620. J. Taylor (Water P.), Praise Hempseed, Wks. (1630), III. 66/2. Your mastlines, ropeyarnes, gaskets, and your stayes.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 30. A stay, a halyard, sheats. Ibid. (1627), Sea Gram., v. 19. The vse of those staies are to keepe the Masts from falling aftwards, or too much forwards.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 232. I was near two Months … rigging and fitting my Mast and Sails; for I finish’d them very compleat, making a small Stay, and a Sail, or Foresail to it.
1748. Anson’s Voy., III. v. 341. The mast itself is supported … by the shrowd … and by two stays.
1750. Blanckley, Naval Expos., s.v. Cordage, Stays are Cablelaid, but made with four Strands as Cables are with three, with an Addition of an Heart which goes through the Center of them.
1850. Longf., Build. Ship, 225. Each tall … mast is swung into its place; shrouds and stays holding it firm and fast!
1864. Boutell, Her. Hist. & Pop., xvii. (ed. 3), 261. A Rudder sa., the tiller and stays or.
1877. Bryant, Odyss., V. 313. And, rigging her with cords, and ropes, and stays, Heaved her with levers into the great deep.
b. transf. A guy or rope supporting a flag-staff, or a pole of any kind.
a. 1533. Ld. Berners, Huon, cxiii. 393. They … strake and cut asonder the cordys and stayes so that many tentis fell to the erth.
1642. H. Bond, Boatswain’s Art, 2. 1 Maine Flag-staffe stay. Ibid., 7. 1 Lanniard of the fore Topmast stay. Ibid., 8. 1 Maine Topgallant mast Stay.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2317. Stay, a guy supporting the mast of a derrick, etc.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 202. For this purpose stays and struts are employed. By a stay is meant whatever takes the pull or tension of the forces acting upon the pole.
1884. Act 47 & 48 Vict., c. 76 § 20. A post, pole, standard, stay, strut, or other above ground contrivance for carrying, suspending or supporting a telegraph.
1892. Pall Mall Gaz., 8 Aug., 5/2. At an early hour the wire stays which supported one of the semaphores were cut preparatory to removing the post.
2. Nautical phrases.
a. † At stays (obs.), on, upon (the) stays = ABACKSTAYS. In stays: said of a ship when her head is being turned to windward for the purpose of tacking.
a. 1586. Sidney, Arcadia, I. i. (1912), 11. And now they were alreadie come upon the staies; when [etc.].
c. 1595. Capt. Wyatt, R. Dudley’s Voy. W. Ind. (Hakl. Soc.), 9. Our Generall, to the intent they might with more ease fett us up, caused great draggs to be hanged over borde, oftentimes comminge on the staies, of purpose for them.
a. 1599. J. Locke, in Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 106. And all this while the shippe lay on staies.
1606. Adm. Ct. Exam., 38. 1 Apr., Fell on his stayes and cast about.
1626. Capt. Smith, Accid. Yng. Seamen, 29. Ware yawning, the ships at stayes, at backestayes.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, II. (1704), 253/2. There are so few Sailors to tackle their Ships, that they will be taken upon the Stays.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), s.v. Stay, To bring a Ship upon the Stays or To stay her, is to manage her Tackle and sails so that she cannot make any way forward.
1823. W. Scoresby, Jrnl., 91. With the aid of a few observations taken ‘in stays’ the remaining twelve points were likewise determined.
1797. S. James, Narr. Voy., 31. The ship being put in stays before the sail was half furled, the wind blew the body of the sail with great force flat against the Crosstrees.
1830. Marryat, King’s Own, xvi. As he was in stays, a raking shot entered the cabin windows.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 296. A vessel in the act of tacking is said to be in stays, or to be hove in stays: if she work slowly in tacking, she is said to be slack in stays.
1861. Times, 16 Aug., 10/5. Christabel was sailed the freeest, appearing the liveliest vessel of the two, and was remarkably quick in stays.
b. To miss, lose stays: of a ship, to fail in the attempt to go about.
1758. Ann. Reg., 83. The Invincible … of 74 guns,… missed her stays, and run upon a flat. Ibid. (1770), 166. The pilot-boat … losing her stays, was driven upon Hoyle’s Bank.
1847. Lever, Knt. Gwynne, lxxiv. In a last endeavour to clear the head-lands of Clare, she missed stays.
1873. G. C. Davies, Mount. & Mere, xvi. 142. Hesitating a little in his management of the helm, the yacht missed stays.
c. (At) a long, short stay (stay apeak, stay-peak): see quots.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 16. The anchor is a-stay when, in heaving it, the cable forms an acute angle with the water’s edge. This is called a long stay-peak or a short stay-peak according as the anchor is farther from or nearer to the ship.
1862. Catal. Internat. Exhib., II. XII. 25. Elasticity of form, which enables it to sustain sudden strains or jerks at short stay-peak.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 46. A ship drawn directly over the anchor is apeek; when the fore-stay and cable form a line, it is short stay apeek; when in a line with the main-stay, long stay apeek.
1875. Bedford, Sailor’s Pocket Bk., vi. (ed. 2), 223. In being towed by a vessel, if alongside, contrive to have the rope from as far forward as possible, so as to avoid riding at a short stay.
1882. Nares, Seamanship (ed. 6), 198. Heave in to a short stay (when the amount of cable out is a little more than the depth of water).
3. Comb., stay-block, a block buried in the ground as an attachment for the stay of a telegraph pole; stay-hole (see quot.); stay-light, a riding light (Cent. Dict., 1891); † stay-nail, a nail for securing a stay; stay-peak (see 2 c); stay-rope, = sense 1; stay-tackle (see quot. 1815); stay-wire, a wire forming part of a stay for a telegraph pole. Also STAY-SAIL.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 204. The hole for the *stay-block should be under-cut in the manner shown in fig. 119.
1794. Rigging & Seamanship, I. 89. *Stay-holes. Holes made through staysails, at certain distances along the hoist, through which they are seized to the hanks on the stay.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., Stay-hole.
1296. MS. Acc. Exch. K. R., 5/20 m. 4 b. In vna petra ferri yspannie ad *staynayl faciendum iiij.d.
c. 1515. Cocke Lorell’s B., 12. Some the *stay rope suerly byndes.
1815. Falconer’s Dict. Marine (ed. Burney), *Stay-Tackle, a large tackle, attached by means of a pendant to the main stay. It is used to hoist heavy bodies … in and out of the ship or out of the holds.
1836. Marryat, Pirate, xiii. Their yards and stay-tackles are up, all ready for hoisting out the long-boat.
1876. Preece & Sivewright, Telegraphy, 206. The *stay-wires should be at least three inches distant from the line wire nearest to them.
