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Verb: stay  stey
  1. Be in the same place or state for an extended period of time
    "stay alone";
    - remain, rest
     
  2. Remain visiting, living in or positioned at (a certain place) rather than moving
    "We are staying in Detroit; we are not moving to Cincinnati"; "Stay put in the corner here!";
    - stick, stick around, stay put
     
  3. Dwell
    "stay a bit longer--the day is still young"; "You can stay with me while you are in town";
    - bide [archaic], abide [archaic]
     
  4. Be in the same place, position, or situation for longer
    "After graduation, she stayed on in Cambridge as a student adviser"; "Stay with me, please";
    - stay on, continue, remain
     
  5. Remain behind
    "I had to stay at home and watch the children"
     
  6. Stop or halt
    "Please stay the bloodshed!";
    - detain, delay
     
  7. Be in an unchanged state for a long time; last a long time
    "The smell stayed in the room";
    - persist, remain
     
  8. Hang on during a trial of endurance
    - last out, ride out, outride
     
  9. Stop a judicial process
    "The judge stayed the execution order"
     
  10. Fasten with stays
     
  11. Overcome or allay
    - quell, appease
Noun: stay  stey
  1. Continuing or remaining in a place or state
    "they had a nice stay in Paris"; "a lengthy hospital stay"; "a four-month stay in bankruptcy court"
     
  2. The state of inactivity following an interruption
    "the momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow";
    - arrest, check, halt, hitch, stop, stoppage
     
  3. (law) a judicial order forbidding some action until an event occurs or the order is lifted
    "the Supreme Court has the power to stay an injunction pending an appeal to the whole Court"
     
  4. A thin strip of metal or bone that is used to stiffen a garment (e.g. a corset)
     
  5. (nautical) brace consisting of a heavy rope or wire cable used as a support for a mast or spar

Derived forms: staying, stays, stayed

Type of: act, be, block, brace, bracing, check, conform to, decree, deed, delay, edict, fasten, fiat, fill, fit, fix, fulfil [Brit, Cdn], fulfill [N. Amer], halt, human action, human activity, inaction, inactiveness, inactivity, kibosh [informal], kybosh [informal], meet, order, rescript, retard, satisfy, secure, slip, stay in place, stop, strip

Antonym: depart

Encyclopedia: Stay, Kentucky