Also 6 staigh(e, stey(e, 6–7 staie, staye, 8 pl. steas. [Prob. f. STAY v.2; but in sense 1 perh. in part ad. OF. estaye fem. (mod.F. étai masc.), vbl. noun f. estayer STAY v.2
The early mod. Flemish staede, staeye, ‘fulcrum, sustentaculum, columen’ (only in Kilian), which is usually given as the source of the Fr. words, is prob. ad. OF. estaye, the spelling staede being due to false etymology.]
1. Something that supports or steadies something else; esp. an appliance for holding up or securing in position some part of a structure; a prop, pedestal, buttress, bracket, or the like. † Also (rarely), something to lay hold upon.
c. 1515. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), I. 484. Glewe nayles broddes and Stayes.
c. 1535. in Gutch, Coll. Cur., I. 205. Item for two stays for the vane of the said griffin.
1541. R. Copland, Guydon’s Quest. Cyrurg., O j. Take a lytell candell of waxe and gyue it a lytel stey belowe that it may holde ryght upon the flesshe.
1544. Betham, Precepts War, I. cxiv. F vj b. Longe berdes and longe heere,… in battayle be troublesome…. For they be good stayes, to holde a man hard and fast. Wherfore it shalbe good to clap them shorte.
1573. Baret, Alv., B. 1004. A Bragget or staie cut out of stone or timber in building to beare vp the sommer or other part,… mutulus.
1576. Gascoigne, Philomene, Wks. 1910, II. 204. At last: my staffe (which was mine onely stay) Did slippe.
1602. Churchw. Acc. Pittington (Surtees), 51. Item given to John Scotte for settinge a stay to the Steple.
c. 1610. Women Saints, 115. Withoute pillow or any like supporting staye.
1617. Moryson, Itin., III. 166. Their said shirt bands … hung upon their shoulders, notwithstanding they had staies to beare them up.
a. 1618. Rates of Merchandizes, E 4. Deskes or staies for bookes the dozen, ij. s.
1658. A. Fox, Würtz’ Surg., II. xxv. 164. Let not his Heel [in leg fracture] be without a stay and rest.
1680. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., xi. 201. So that a Tool held steddy on any part of the Stay … will describe and cut a Screw.
c. 1680. Beveridge, Serm. (1729), II. 49. An anchor that is fixed in firm ground, is reckon’d a sure stay for the ship in all weathers.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., VI. ii. 360. A Part of the Cerebell is on each side fenced with the Os petrosum; so that by this double Stay, its whole Mass is firmly contained within the Skull.
1827. Faraday, Chem. Manip., xiv. (1842), 309. It will be proper to introduce a stay or two, pieces of black lead tube, for instance, as supporters to the lute.
1834–6. Barlow, in Encycl. Metrop. (1845), VIII. 105/2. Face wheels … have sometimes stays or braces proceeding from the back of the rim to some distance along the shaft.
1836. Thirlwall, Greece, xvi. II. 361. The scarcity became such that they were driven to boil and eat the leathern stays of their bedding.
1842. Gwilt, Archit., Gloss., Stay, a piece performing the office of a brace, to prevent the swerving of the piece to which it is applied.
1886. C. E. Pascoe, London of To-day, xxxiv. (ed. 3), 310. A tree … propped up by iron stays.
b. fig. A thing or a person who affords support; an object of reliance.
Exceedingly common in the second half of the 16th century. In modern use the word, though not uncommon even colloquially, has often a suggestion of archaism.
a. 1542. Wyatt, Ps. cxxx. 24. Thi holly word off eterne excellence thi mercys promesse … have bene my stay my piller & pretence.
1553. Respublica, 457. What marvaile then yf I, wanting a perfecte staigh From mooste flourishing welth bee falen in decaye?
1560. Bible (Geneva), 2 Sam. xxii. 19. The Lord was my stay. Ibid., Isa. iii. 1. For lo, the Lord God of hostes wil take away from Ierusalem and from Iudah the stay and the strength: euen all the stay of bread, and all the stay of water.
1563. Homilies, II. xviii. Matrimony, X xxxiv. For there is no stronger defence and staye in all our lyfe, then is prayer.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 27. Commons and moores which were woont to be the onely staie of the poore.
1641. J. Jackson, True Evang. T., III. 190. Surely that is a very aery soule, whose chiefe rest and stay is not his Religion.
1719. De Foe, Crusoe (1840), II. i. 7. She was … the stay of all my affairs.
1802. Wordsw., Resolution & Indep., 139. ‘God,’ said I, ‘be my help and stay secure.’
1821. Scott, Kenilw., viii. His daughter, who should be the stay of his age.
1836. T. Kelly, Hymn, ‘Speed thy Servants,’ ii. As their stay thy promise taking.
1849. C. Brontë, Shirley, xii. She was still such a stay, such a counsellor.
1861. Reade, Cloister & H., iv. (1896), 21. From that hour Gerard was looked upon as the stay of the family.
1884. Congregational Year Bk., 70. Make a legal statute the stay of religion, and you repeal religion.
1885. ‘Mrs. Alexander,’ At Bay, vii. His finery, however, was no stay to his self-esteem, for his … face had an uneasy, crestfallen expression.
1909. Expositor, Jan., 55. The Temple was in his experience the centre and stay of Hebrew worship.
c. In abstract sense: Support. Also, † reliance. † To make stay upon: to rely on.
c. 1530. Cox, Rhet. (1899), 77. That what maketh for the accuser, euermore the contrary is sure staye for the defender.
1542. Udall, Erasm. Apoph., Erasm. Pref. Wee putte not our whole trust and staigh in thynges external.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 44 b. Let him walke … wyth the staye of other.
1593. Churchyard, Shore’s Wife, liv. When weake Shore’s wife had lost her staffe of stay.
1615. Chapman, Odyss., IV. 171. She tooke her State-chaire; and a foot-stooles stay Had for her feete.
1618. in Foster, Eng. Factories India (1906), 7. I am very glad of your stay and allowance.
1648. W. Mountagu, in Buccleuch MSS. (Hist. MSS. Comm.), I. 309. The sad news of my mother’s death is to me a very great affliction, that had so great a stay by her.
1651. C. Cartwright, Cert. Relig., II. 44. The Popes not erring was but an opinion of policy, and not of Theologie; to give stay to the Laity.
1682. Bunyan, Holy War (1905), 324. But for that you must wholly and solely have recourse to, and make stay upon his Doctrine, that is your teacher after the first order.
1866. Seeley, Ecce Homo, ii. (ed. 8), 11. We see the good man … deprived of the stay of all precedent or example.
2. spec. a. A support for a climbing plant. ? Obs.
1577. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 33. This amongest all other Pulse groweth in height without any stay.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XVII. xxiii. I. 538. If a Vine bee to climbe trees that are of any great height, there would bee staies and appuies set to it, whereupon it may take hold.
a. 1682. Sir T. Browne, Tracts, i. (1683), 33. In many places out of Italy Vines do grow without any stay or support.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Past., III. 16. When I … Cut Micon’s tender Vines, and stole the Stays.
1705. Addison, Italy, Brescia, 60. The Trees themselves serve, at the same time, as so many Stays for their Vines.
† b. The arm or back of a chair. Obs.
1560. Bible (Geneva), 1 Kings x. 19. There were stayes on ether side on the place of the throne.
1656. W. Du Gard, trans. Comenius’ Gate Lat. Unl., § 470. 135. For the more commodious sitting are stools and chairs, with staies [cum fulcris].
† c. = stay-bar (see 5 b (b)). Obs.
1669. in Willis & Clark, Cambridge (1886), II. 558. There shalbe … iron Stayes for all the said casements.
† d. One of the strings holding up the brim of a shovel-hat. Also a cap-string passing under the chin. Obs.
With regard to the sense in quot. 1601 cf. Cooper 1565: ‘Spira,… a bande or lace aboute a cappe, or hatte.’
1601. Holland, Pliny, XXXIII. iii. II. 462. But say that women may be allowed to weare as much gold as they will,… in carkanets about their necks, in earings pendant at their ears, in staies, wreaths, & chinbands [L. collo, auribus, spiris].
1720. Swift, Right of Preced. betw. Physicians & Civilians, 21. I know no Reason … that a White Wig should lower to hoary Hair, or a brush’d Beaver strike to a Carolina-Hat with Stays.
1775. R. Chandler, Trav. Greece (1825), II. 156. The head-dress is a skull-cap, red or green, with pearls; a stay under the chin.
e. Weaving. = THRUM sb.2 1.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 381. Then, Weavers, stretch your Stays upon the Weft [orig. licia telæ addere].
f. A transverse piece in a link of a chain.
1831. J. Holland, Manuf. Metal, I. 185. Any advantage supposed to be derived from stays or bars inserted in the direction of the shorter axis of the link.
1859. F. A. Griffiths, Artil. Man. (1862), 310. The stay across the link of a chain increases its strength about one-sixth.
† g. A maulstick. Obs.
1672. [see MAULSTICK].
h. In various applications: see quots.
1841. W. Templeton, Locomot. Engine, 13. The stays … are generally of 3/4ths round copper,… being for the purpose of rendering the flat surfaces of the fire box capable of withstanding the force of the steam.
1850. Engl. & For. Mining Gloss. (ed. 2), 44. Stays, pieces of wood to secure the pumps in the engine-shaft.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Stay of a steamer, an iron bar between the two knees which secure the paddle-beams.
1871. Wigram, Change-Ringing, 2. From the top of the stock there rises a strong, upright piece of wood, or sometimes of iron, called the ‘stay’; and immediately below the bell’s mouth, fixed to the frame, is the ‘slider’ or sliding-rest … by which the stay is caught when the bell is thrown mouth uppermost.
1875. Knight, Dict. Mech., 2317. Stay (steam), a. a rod, bar, bolt, or gusset in a boiler, to hold two parts together against the pressure of steam…. b. sling-rods (sling-stays) connecting the locomotive boiler to its frame. c. Rods beneath the boiler supporting the inside bearings of the crank-axle of an English locomotive.
i. ? A gate-post. ? dial.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., ii. I leaned back on the stay of the gate.
3. pl. (Also a pair of stays.) A laced underbodice, stiffened by the insertion of strips of whalebone (sometimes of metal or wood) worn by women (sometimes by men) to give shape and support to the figure: = CORSET 2.
The use of the plural is due to the fact that stays were originally (as they still are usually) made in two pieces laced together.
1608. Middleton, Trick to Catch Old One, I. i. 50. Stay (a thing few women can do … therefore they had need wear stays).
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1762/4. A pair of hair-coloured Sattin Stays.
1697. Vanbrugh, Prov. Wife, II. i. With nothing on but her Stays, and her under scanty quilted Petticoat.
1706–7. Farquhar, Beaux’ Strat., III. i. Come unlace your Steas.
1713. Gay, Poems, Araminta, 18. The rich Stays her Taper Shape confine.
1831. Ann. Reg., Chron., 26 April, 67/1. The Jury … returned a verdict, ‘that the deceased died of apoplexy, produced by her stays being too tightly laced.’
1843. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., I. 231. Her improved appearance in a pair of stays and a gown.
1846. Fairholt, Costume, 267. The men’s custom of sometimes wearing stays.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, iii. Susan … had suddenly become so very upright that she seemed to have put an additional bone in her stays.
1867. J. Hatton, Tallants, iv. His enemies said he wore stays and slept in gloves.
1885. Truth, 28 May, 850/2. The stays … displace the bust, pushing the bosom up almost to the neck.
in figurative context. 1824. Byron, Juan, XV. lxxxv. But Virtue’s self, with all her tightest laces, Has not the natural stays of strict old age.
1826. Scott, Jrnl., 28 Oct. Beauvais is called the Pucelle, yet … she wears no stays—I mean, has no fortifications.
1842. Tennyson, Talking Oak, 60. The slight she-slips of loyal blood,… Strait-laced, but all-too-full in bud For puritanic stays.
b. sing. rare.
1731. Gentl. Mag., I. 289. The stay he has an invincible aversion to, as giving a stiffness that is void of all grace.
1795. Wolcot (P. Pindar), Pindariana, Wks. 1812, IV. 188. Long, very long, was Mistress Dinah’s waist; The stiff stay high before.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, iii. He had tried, in order to give himself a waist, every girth, stay, and waistband then invented.
1871. Figure Training, 97. My figure when unlaced would scarcely betray the fact that I had ever worn a stay.
† c. (See quot.) Obs.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, III. 94/1. In a Womans Gown there are … the Stayes, which is the body of the Gown before the Sleeves are put too, or covered with the outward stuff.
† 4. ? A bag for applying a poultice. Obs.
1685. J. Cooke, Marrow Chirurg., VI. § 2. ix. (ed. 4), 215. As for the Throat, a Saffron-Stay, or a Millipedes sowed up in a Stay, which is reputed excellent.
1728. E. Smith, Compl. Housew. (ed. 2), 249. A Stay to prevent a sore Throat…. Take Rue,… mix it with Honey [etc.] … sew it up in a Linen Stay, and apply it.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. Obvious combinations, as (sense 3) stay-binding, -busk, -cord, -maker, -making, -stitcher, -wearer, -worker.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 460. *Stay Bindings … are of twilled cotton, and may be had in white, grey, drab,… and buff colour.
1858. Simmonds, Dict. Trade, *Stay-busk, a stiff piece of wood, steel, or whalebone for the front support of a woman’s stays.
1882. Caulfeild & Saward, Dict. Needlework, 460. *Stay Cord … is to be had made of cotton and of linen, for the purpose of lacing stays.
1730. Berkeley, Lett., Wks. 1871, IV. 172. One of Mrs. Van Homrigh’s creditors (I think a *stay-maker) was in France.
1791. Boswell, Johnson, an. 1737. At the house of Mr. Norris, a staymaker.
1864. D. Allan, Hist. Sk. Kirriemuir, 15. He also wove cloth for staymakers.
1888. Pall Mall Gaz., 4 June, 10/1. The parties conducted a large *stay-making and ladies’ underclothing business.
1723. Lond. Gaz., No. 6192/9. Elizabeth Beker,… *Stay-stitcher.
1871. Figure Training, 51. As a *stay-wearer of a quarter of a century, you will, perhaps, allow me to [etc.].
1879. St. George’s Hosp. Rep., IX. 141. *Stay-worker.
b. Special comb.: stay-band Sc., an iron rod serving to keep one leaf of a folding door in position; stay-bar, (a) Arch. (see quot. 1836); (b) a bar for keeping a casement window open at a certain angle; (c) = stay-rod; † stay-bobbin, cord used for lacing stays; stay-bolt, a bolt connecting plates of a boiler, to secure them against internal pressure; † stay-braid, a kind of braid used in ornamenting stays (1775 in Ash); stay-end (see quot.); stay-goods, the materials of which stays are made (Ash); stayhold nonce-word, a firm foothold; stay-hook, (see quot. 1860); stay-irons, (a) (see quot. 1833); (b) (see quot. 1876); stay-rod, a rod serving to give support, or to connect two parts of a machine or structure to prevent displacement; stay-slot Sc., a diagonal bar of a hurdle; stay-tube, in a multitubular boiler, each of a number of tubes that are made stronger than the rest, and fitted with nuts so as to serve as stays between the tube-plate and the front of the boiler; stayword rare, a saying or maxim that gives support.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, I. 199. The upper-barn door, of two vertical leaves, requires an iron *stay-band to fasten it with.
1399. MS. Acc. Exch. K. R., 473/11 m. 2. .j. *staybarre .v. transonbarrez.
1503–4. Rec. St. Mary at Hill (1905), 252. Payd for a stay bar of yerryn to stay the Nev pevys [= pews] in to þe vavtt.
1532–3. in E. Law, Hampton Crt. Pal. (1885), 348. Payd to John à Guylders, smythe, for 170 lockketts, 25 staybarres.
1836. Parker, Gloss. Archit. (1850), I. 445. Stay bar: the horizontal iron bar which extends in one piece along the top of the mullions of a traceried window.
1839. Civil Eng. & Arch. Jrnl., II. 361/1. One of the most universally useful of these is a window fastening, or staybar.
1846. [see stay-rod].
1775. Ash, *Stay-bobbin, a kind of bobbin used for stays.
1839. R. S. Robinson, Naut. Steam Eng., 118. Strong *stay bolts, rivetted at each end, secure the flues to each other, and to the sides of the boiler.
1884. Knight, Dict. Mech., Suppl., *Stay end, the end of a back-stay in a carriage. Stay-ends are sold separately as pieces of carriage hardware.
1851. Sir F. Palgrave, Norm. & Eng., I. 619. He was sliding down a precipice seeming to offer some narrow ridge giving *stayhold to his feet.
1743. Boston Gaz., in Alice M. Earle’s Costume Colonial Times (1894), 240. Silver’d *Stayhooks.
1771. Smollett, Humphry Cl., 21 April (1815), 29. She pretended she was cheapening a stay-hook.
1860. Fairholt, Costume (ed. 2), 591. Stay-hook, a small hook stuck in front of the boddice for hanging a watch or etui upon.
1833. Loudon, Encycl. Archit., § 84. Cast-iron casements, made to open with strong hinges, latches and spring *stay-irons (irons to keep the window open).
1876. Voyle & Stevenson, Milit. Dict., 402/1. Stay-irons, in artillery carriages, the iron rods which connect the ends of the axle-bed to the splinter-bar.
1844. H. Stephens, Bk. Farm, II. 542. Two iron *stay-rods pass from the end frames to the shafts as an additional support to the latter.
1846. A. Young, Naut. Dict., 310. Each engine has two of these frames, the whole supported by strong malleable iron stay-bars or stay-rods.
a. 1844. Main, in H. Stephens’ Bk. Farm, II. 70. The 2 *stay-slots are cut with a bend at the bottom, and rather sharply pointed.
1887. Encycl. Brit., XXII. 499/1. (Steam-Engine), There are 127 tubes at each end, 46 of which are *stay-tubes.
1897. Westm. Gaz., 16 June, 10/1. The Prince of Wales naturally finds in the motto of his crest a *stayword.
