v. [UP- 4.]

1

  1.  trans. To sustain by material support; to prop up.

2

1590.  Spenser, F. Q., III. xii. 21. Those two villeins, which her steps vpstayd. Ibid. (1596), IV. i. 37. They reared him on horsebacke, and vpstayd.

3

1642.  H. More, Song of Soul, I. II. xxvii. An uggly cloven foot this monster doth upstay.

4

1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 195. The tenth on bended knee His massie Spear upstaid.

5

1793.  Wordsw., Descriptive Sk., 252. Bare steeps, where Desolation stalks,… by a blasted yew upstay’d. Ibid. (1814), Excurs., VII. 678. The Child … by some friendly finger’s help upstayed.

6

1873.  R. Bridges, Elegy on Lady, Poems (1912), 239. Each on high a torch upstaying.

7

  2.  fig. To sustain, support.

8

1600.  Fairfax, Tasso, XVII. xliii. For by the sword, the scepter is vpstaid.

9

1619.  Drayton, Legends, iv. 338. That Atlas, which the gouernement vpstay’d.

10

1820.  Wordsw., River Duddon, xxviii. 11. Glad meetings, tender partings, that upstay The drooping mind of absence.

11

1851.  Clough, Relig. Poems, vii. 10. A hand that is not ours upstays our steps.

12

1883.  R. W. Dixon, Mano, I. i. 2. If God … still with life upstay The hand that writes.

13