different between block vs stay

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /bl?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /bl?k/
• Rhymes: -?k
• Homophone: bloc

Etymology 1

From Middle English blok (“log, stump, solid piece”), from Old French bloc (“log, block”), from Middle Dutch blok (“treetrunk”), from Old Dutch *blok (“log”), from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukk? (“beam, log”), from Proto-Indo-European *b?el?- (“thick plank, beam, pile, prop”). Cognate with Old Frisian blok, Old Saxon blok, Old High German bloh, bloc (“block”), Old English bolca (“gangway of a ship, plank”), Old Norse b?lkr (“divider, partition”). More at balk. See also bloc.

Noun

block (plural blocks)

1. A substantial, often approximately cuboid, piece of any substance.

   a block of ice, a block of stone

   1. A chopping block: a cuboid base for cutting or beheading.

      Anne Boleyn placed her head on the block and awaited her execution.

      • You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives out at the block within a year.

   2. A wig block: a simplified head model upon which wigs are worn.
      • 1851, Herman Melville, Moby Dick, chapter 13

        Next morning, Monday, after disposing of the embalmed head to a barber, for a block, I settled my own and comrade’s bill; using, however, my comrade’s money.

   3. A mould on which hats, bonnets, etc., are shaped.
   4. (printing, dated) A piece of hard wood on which a stereotype or electrotype plate is mounted.
   5. A case or frame housing one or more sheaves (pulleys), used with ropes to increase or redirect force, for example as part of lifting gear or a sailing ship's rigging. See also block and tackle.
   6. A section of split logs used as fuel.
      • 1833, The Gospel Anchor (volume 2, page 371)

        She said, 'I hope I shall not be left to kill myself, but It would be no more sin to kill me, than to put a block on the fire.'

      • 2012, Ron Herrett, Shorty's Story

        Dawn and Shorty would cut this tree into blocks, while Randy and Matt went back for more. Dawn and Shorty made a good team on the crosscut, so when another log arrived, the first was almost completely made into shake wood.

   7. A set of sheets (of paper) joined together at one end, forming a cuboid shape.

      a block of 100 tickets

   8. (falconry) The perch on which a bird of prey is kept.
2. A physical area or extent of something, often rectangular or approximately rectangular.

   a block of text, a block of colour, a block of land

   1. (philately) A joined group of four (or in some cases nine) postage stamps, forming a roughly square shape.
   2. (viticulture) A discrete group of vines in a vineyard, often distinguished from others by variety, clone, canopy training method, irrigation infrastructure, or some combination thereof.
3. A logical extent or region; a grouping or apportionment of like things treated together as a unit.

   a block of data, a block of seven days, a block reservation

   1. (computing) A logical data storage unit containing one or more physical sectors (see cluster).
   2. (programming) A region of code in a program that acts as a single unit, such as a function or loop.
   3. (cryptography) A fixed-length group of bits making up part of a message.
   4. (chemistry) A portion of a macromolecule, comprising many units, that has at least one feature not present in adjacent portions.
   5. (rail transport) A section of a railroad where the block system is used.
   6. (computing) A contiguous range of Unicode code points used to encode characters of a specific type; can be of any size evenly divisible by 16, up to 65,536 (a full plane).

4. A contiguous group of urban lots of property, typically several acres in extent, not crossed by public streets.

   I'm going for a walk around the block.

   1. The distance from one street to another in a city or suburb that is built (approximately) to a grid pattern.

      The place you are looking for is two long blocks east and one short block north.
5. A large, roughly cuboid building.

   a block of flats, an office block, a tower block

   1. A cellblock.
6. Something that prevents something from passing.

   Synonyms: barrier, blockage, obstruction

   There's a block in the pipe that means the water can't get through.

   1. Interference or obstruction of cognitive processes.

      a mental block

      writer's block

   2. (sports) An action to interfere with the movement of an opposing player or of the object of play (ball, puck).
      1. (cricket) A shot played by holding the bat vertically in the path of the ball, so that it loses momentum and drops to the ground.
      2. (cricket) The position of a player or bat when guarding the wicket.
      3. (cricket) A blockhole.
      4. (cricket) The popping crease.
      5. (volleyball) A defensive play by one or more players meant to deflect a spiked ball back to the hitter’s court.

      Synonyms: stuff, roof, wall

   3. (Wiktionary and WMF jargon) A type of temporary or permanent ban which automatically prevents the blocked user from editing pages of a particular wiki.

7. (slang) The human head.

   I'll knock your block off!

8. (Britain) Solitary confinement.
9. (obsolete) A blockhead; a stupid fellow; a dolt.

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:head
• city block

Related terms

• bloc

Derived terms

Descendants

Translations

Verb

block (third-person singular simple present blocks, present participle blocking, simple past and past participle blocked)

1. (transitive) To fill or obstruct (something) so that it is not possible to pass.

   The pipe is blocked.
2. (transitive) To prevent (something or someone) from passing.

   A broken-down car is blocking the traffic.

3. (transitive) To prevent (something from happening or someone from doing something).

   His plan to take over the business was blocked by the boss.

4. (transitive, sports) To impede (an opponent or opponent's play).

   He blocked the basketball player's shot.

   The offensive linemen tried to block the blitz.

5. (transitive, theater) To specify the positions and movements of the actors for (a section of a play).

   It was very difficult to block this scene convincingly.

6. (transitive, cricket) To hit with a block.
7. (intransitive, cricket) To play a block shot.
8. (transitive) To disable communication via telephone, instant messaging, etc. with (someone undesirable).

   I tried to send you a message, but you've blocked me!

9. (Wiktionary and WMF jargon, transitive) To place, on a user of a wiki, a type of temporary or permanent ban which automatically prevents the recipient from editing pages of the wiki.

10. (computing, intransitive) To wait.

    When the condition expression is false, the thread blocks on the condition variable.

11. (transitive) To stretch or mould (a knitted item, a hat, etc.) into the desired shape.

    I blocked the mittens by wetting them and pinning them to a shaped piece of cardboard.

12. (transitive) To shape or sketch out roughly.

    When drawing a scene, first block the main features, and then fill in the detail.

13. (transitive, slang, obsolete) To knock (a person's hat) down over their eyes.

    Synonym: bonnet

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Noun

block

1. Misspelling of bloc.

Manx

Etymology

Borrowed from English block.

Noun

block m (genitive singular bluick)

1. block, log, cake (of soap)

Derived terms

• block-lettyr

Mutation

Spanish

Etymology

From English block. Doublet of bloc and bloque.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?blok/, [?blok]

Noun

block m (plural blocks)

1. (Guatemala) cement block

   Synonym: bloque de cemento

Swedish

Etymology

From Middle Low German block, from Old Saxon blok, from Proto-West Germanic *blokk, from Proto-Germanic *blukk?.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?bl?k/

Noun

block n

1. a block, a boulder, a cuboid (of ice, wood, rock)
2. a block, a pad, a notebook
3. a block, a pulley
4. a block, a piece of data storage
5. a bloc (of voters or countries)

Declension

Related terms

• anteckningsblock
• blädderblock
• blockad
• blockbaserad
• blockera
• blockstorlek
• diskblock
• flyttblock
• isblock
• skrivblock
• stenblock

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: st?, IPA^(key): /ste?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Etymology 1

From Middle English steyen, staien, from Old French estayer, estaier (“to fix, prop up, support, stay”), from estaye, estaie (“a prop, stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade (“a prop, stay, help, aid”) (compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Frankish *stad (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh?tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæ? ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English stede, stæde (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady.

Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin st?re (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds.

An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish *staka (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic *stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick.

Verb

stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed or (obsolete) staid)

1. (transitive) To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
   • c. 1592,, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act III, Scene 7,^[1]

     Lord Mayor of London. See, where he stands between two clergymen!

     Duke of Buckingham. Two props of virtue for a Christian prince,

     To stay him from the fall of vanity:

   • 1611 King James Version of the Bible, Exodus 17.12,^[2]

     But Moses hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

   • 1677, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat Servant-Maid, London: T. Passinger, “Directions for Writing the most Vsual and Legible Hands for Women”, p. 17,^[3]

     Draw in your right elbow, turn your hand outward and bear it lightly, gripe not the pen too hard, with your left hand stay the paper.

   • 1725, John Dryden (translator), Virgil’s Husbandry, or an Essay on the Georgics, London, Book 2, p. 37,^[4]

     Sallows and Reeds, on Banks of Rivers born,

     Remain to cut; for Vineyards useful found,

     To stay thy Vines and fence thy fruitful Ground.

2. (transitive) To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
   • 1826, Walter Scott, Woodstock, Chapter 20,^[5]

     […] he has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, as fast as Phoebe could cut it, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute […]

3. (transitive) To stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew, Act IV, Scene 2,^[6]

     Your ships are stay’d at Venice.

   • 1671, John Evelyn, Diary, entry dated 14 November, 1671, in The Diary of John Evelyn, London: Macmillan, 1906, Volume 2, p. 337,^[7]

     This business staid me in London almost a week […]

   • 1690, John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, London: Thomas Basset, Book 3, Chapter 5, p. 207,^[8]

     […] I was willing to stay my Reader on an Argument, that appears to me new […]

   • 1859, Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, Book 1, Chapter 6,^[9]

     The task of recalling him from the vagrancy into which he always sank when he had spoken, was like recalling some very weak person from a swoon, or endeavouring, in the hope of some disclosure, to stay the spirit of a fast-dying man.

   • 1925, Virginia Woolf, Mrs. Dalloway, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1985, p. 44,^[10]

     […] she filled the room she entered, and felt often as she stood hesitating one moment on the threshold of her drawing-room, an exquisite suspense, such as might stay a diver before plunging while the sea darkens and brightens beneath him […]

   • 2010, Howard Jacobson, The Finkler Question, New York: Bloomsbury, Chapter 9,

     She rose to leave but Libor stayed her.

4. (transitive) To restrain; withhold; check; stop.
   • 1597, Richard Hooker, Of the Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity, Book 5, in The Works of Mr. Richard Hooker, London: Andrew Crook, 1666, p. ,^[11]

     […] all that may but with any the least shew of possibility stay their mindes from thinking that true, which they heartily wish were false, but cannot think it so […]

   • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, 1 Samuel 24.7,^[12]

     So David stayed his servants with these words, and suffered them not to rise against Saul.

   • 1852, Charlotte Brontë, letter cited in Elizabeth Gaskell, The Life of Charlotte Brontë, 1857, Volume 2, Chapter 10,^[13]

     […] you must follow the impulse of your own inspiration. If THAT commands the slaying of the victim, no bystander has a right to put out his hand to stay the sacrificial knife: but I hold you a stern priestess in these matters.

5. (transitive) To cause to cease; to put an end to.
   • c. 1593, William Shakespeare, Titus Andronicus, Act III, Scene 1,^[14]

     Now stay your strife […]

   • 1847, Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Threnody” in Poems, Boston: James Munroe, p. 242,^[15]

     For flattering planets seemed to say

     This child should ills of ages stay,

6. (transitive) To put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back.
   • 1935, Pearl S. Buck, A House Divided, London: Methuen, Part 1, p. 137,^[16]

     Without one word to deny himself, Yuan let himself be bound, his hands behind his back, and no one could stay the matter.

   • 2001, Richard Flanagan, Gould’s Book of Fish, New York: Grove, “The Leatherjacket,” pp. 187-188,^[17]

     As I curled up like a dying fish beneath his flailing boots, I managed to stay his assault long enough to tell him that I had only ever seen myself as his most loyal servant […]

7. (transitive) To hold the attention of. (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)
8. (transitive, obsolete) To bear up under; to endure; to hold out against; to resist.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act I, Scene 1,^[18]

     She will not stay the siege of loving terms,

     Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes,

9. (transitive, obsolete) To wait for; await.
   • c. 1594, William Shakespeare, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act II, Scene 2,^[19]

     My father stays my coming;

   • c. 1599, William Shakespeare, As You Like It, Act III, Scene 2,^[20]

     Let me stay the growth of his beard,

10. (transitive, obsolete) To remain for the purpose of; to stay to take part in or be present at (a meal, ceremony etc.).
    • c. 1592, William Shakespeare, Richard III, Act III, Scene 2,^[21]

      I stay dinner there.

    • 1791, Elizabeth Inchbald, A Simple Story, Oxford 2009, p. 177:

      Some of the company staid supper, which prevented the embarrassment that must unavoidably have arisen, had the family been by themselves.

    • 1818, Jane Austen, Persuasion, Chapter 7,^[22]

      How glad they had been to hear papa invite him to stay dinner, how sorry when he said it was quite out of his power […]

11. (intransitive, obsolete) To rest; depend; rely.
    • 1611, King James Version of the Bible, Isaiah 30.12,^[23]

      Because ye despise this word, and trust in oppression and perverseness, and stay thereon:

    • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act IV, Scene 2,^[24]

      I stay here on my bond.

12. (intransitive, obsolete) To stop; come to a stand or standstill.
13. (intransitive, archaic) To come to an end; cease.

    That day the storm stayed.

    • c. 1590, William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part 2, Act II, Scene 4,^[25]

      Here my commission stays,

14. (intransitive, archaic) To dwell; linger; tarry; wait.
    • 1700 John Dryden, Fables Ancient and Modern, London: Jacob Tonson, dedicatory epistle,^[26]

      Yet not to be wholly silent of all your Charities I must stay a little on one Action, which preferr’d the Relief of Others, to the Consideration of your Self.

15. (intransitive, dated) To make a stand; to stand firm.
16. (intransitive) To hold out, as in a race or contest; last or persevere to the end.

    That horse stays well.

17. (intransitive) To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide.
    • 1590 Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, London: William Ponsonbie, Book 1, Canto 10, p. 140,^[27]

      She would commaund the hasty Sunne to stay,

      Or backward turne his course from heuen's hight,

    • 1681, John Dryden, The Spanish Friar, London: Richard Tonson and Jacob Tonson, Act IV, p. 60,^[28]

      Stay, I command you; stay and hear me first,

    • 1874 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, “Three Friends of Mine,” IV, in The Masque of Pandora and Other Poems, Boston: James R. Osgood, 1875, p. 353,^[29]

      I stay a little longer, as one stays / To cover up the embers that still burn.
18. (intransitive, obsolete) To wait; rest in patience or expectation.
    • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, The Merchant of Venice, Act III, Scene 4,^[30]

      I’ll tell thee all my whole device / When I am in my coach, which stays for us.

    • 1693 John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: A. & J. Churchill, p. 260,^[31]

      The Father cannot stay any longer for the Portion, nor the Mother for a new Sett of Babies to play with […]

19. (intransitive, obsolete, used with on or upon) To wait as an attendant; give ceremonious or submissive attendance.
    • c. 1604, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure, Act IV, Scene 1,^[32]

      I have a servant comes with me along,

      That stays upon me […]

    • c. 1605, William Shakespeare, Macbeth, Act I, Scene 3,^[33]

      Worthy Macbeth, we stay upon your leisure.

20. (intransitive, copulative) To continue to have a particular quality.
    • 1700, John Dryden (translator), Fables Ancient and Modern, “MELEAGER AND ATALANTA, Out of the Eighth Book OF OVID’S Metamorphosis,” p. 118,^[34]

      For as the Flames augment, and as they stay / At their full Height, then languish to decay, / They rise, and sink by Fits […]

    • 1868, Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, Part 2, Chapter 30,^[35]

      The evergreen arch wouldn’t stay firm after she got it up, but wiggled and threatened to tumble down on her head when the hanging baskets were filled.

    • 1943, Graham Greene, The Ministry of Fear, London: Heinemann, 1960, Book 3, Chapter 2, p. 210,^[36]

      The three men in the room stayed motionless, holding their breaths.
21. (intransitive, Scotland, South Africa, India, Southern US, African-American Vernacular, colloquial) To live; reside

    Hey, where do you stay at?

Synonyms

• (prop; support; sustain): bear, prop up, uphold
• (stop; detain; hinder): See also Thesaurus:hinder
• (restrain; withhold; check): curb; repress, stifle; See also Thesaurus:curb
• (cause to cease): cancel, cease, discontinue, halt, stop, terminate; See also Thesaurus:end
• (put off; defer; postpone): See also Thesaurus:procrastinate
• (bear up under): endure, resist; See also Thesaurus:persevere
• (wait for): await, wait for, wait on; See also Thesaurus:wait for
• (rest; depend; rely): See also Thesaurus:rely
• (come to a stand or standstill): blin, brake, desist, halt, stop; See also Thesaurus:stop
• (come to an end): cease; See also Thesaurus:desist or Thesaurus:end
• (dwell; linger; tarry; wait): See also Thesaurus:tarry
• (make a stand): contend, break a lance, stand firm, take a stand
• (last or persevere to the end): See also Thesaurus:persist
• (remain in a particular place): abide, sojourn; See also Thesaurus:sojourn
• (rest in patience or expectation): wait; See also Thesaurus:wait
• (wait as an attendant): attend, bestand, serve; See also Thesaurus:serve
• (continue to have a particular quality): continue, keep, remain; See also Thesaurus:remain
• (live; reside): See also Thesaurus:reside

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• abide
• belive
• continue
• dwell
• live
• remain
• reside
• tarry

Noun

stay (plural stays)

1. Continuance or a period of time spent in a place; abode for an indefinite time; sojourn.

   I hope you enjoyed your stay in Hawaii.

2. A postponement, especially of an execution or other punishment.

   The governor granted a stay of execution.

3. (archaic) A stop; a halt; a break or cessation of action, motion, or progress.

   stand at a stay

   • 1630, John Hayward, The Life and Raigne of King Edward VI

     Affaires of state […] seemed rather to stand at a stay.

4. A fixed state; fixedness; stability; permanence.
5. (nautical) A station or fixed anchorage for vessels.
6. Restraint of passion; prudence; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
   • 1633, George Herbert, The Church Porch

     Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays.

   • The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.

   • 1705, John Philips, Blenheim

     With prudent stay he long deferred / The rough contention.

7. (obsolete) Hindrance; let; check.
   • 1551, Ralph Robinson (sometimes spelt Raphe Robynson) (translator), Utopia (originally written by Sir Thomas More)

     They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book were not false.

Translations

Derived terms

• gay for the stay
• staycation

References

Etymology 2

From Middle English stay, from Old French estaye, estaie (“a prop, a stay”), from Middle Dutch staeye (“a prop, stay”), a contracted form of staede, stade ("a prop, stay, help, aid"; compare Middle Dutch staeyen, staeden (“to make firm, stay, support, hold still, stabilise”)), from Old Dutch *stad (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh?- (“to stand”). See above.

Noun

stay (plural stays)

1. A prop; a support.
   • The trees themselves serve, at the same time, as so many stays for their Vines

   • April 27, 1823, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Table Talk

     Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
2. A piece of stiff material, such as plastic or whalebone, used to stiffen a piece of clothing.

   Where are the stays for my collar?

3. (in the plural) A corset.
   • 1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White:

     Her figure was tall, yet not too tall; comely and well-developed, yet not fat; her head set on her shoulders with an easy, pliant firmness; her waist, perfection in the eyes of a man, for it occupied its natural place, it filled out its natural circle, it was visibly and delightfully undeformed by stays.

   • When Jenny's stays are newly laced.

4. (archaic) A fastening for a garment; a hook; a clasp; anything to hang another thing on.

Derived terms

• staybolt

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English stay, from Old English stæ? (“stay, a rope supporting a mast”), from Proto-Germanic *stag? (“stay, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *stek-, *st?k- (“stand, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *steh?- (“to stand”). Cognate with Dutch stag (“stay”), German Stag (“stay”), Swedish stag (“stay”), Icelandic stag (“stay”).

Noun

stay (plural stays)

1. (nautical) A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and leading from one masthead down to some other, or other part of the vessel.
2. A guy, rope, or wire supporting or stabilizing a platform, such as a bridge, a pole, such as a tentpole, the mast of a derrick, or other structural element.

   The engineer insisted on using stays for the scaffolding.

3. The transverse piece in a chain-cable link.

Synonyms

• mastrope

Hyponyms

• (rope supporting a mast): backstay, forestay, mainstay, triatic stay

Derived terms

Translations

References

Verb

stay (third-person singular simple present stays, present participle staying, simple past and past participle stayed)

1. To brace or support with a stay or stays

   stay a mast

2. (transitive, nautical) To incline forward, aft, or to one side by means of stays.
3. (transitive, nautical) To tack; put on the other tack.

   to stay ship

4. (intransitive, nautical) To change; tack; go about; be in stays, as a ship.

Etymology 4

From Middle English *ste?e, from Old English *st??e, an apocopated variant of st??el (“steep, abrupt”), from Proto-Germanic *staigilaz (“climbing, ascending, sloping, steep”), see sty.

Alternative forms

• stey, stee, steigh, sti

Adjective

stay (comparative stayer or more stay, superlative stayest or most stay)

1. (Britain dialectal) Steep; ascending.
   • 1908, Publications of the Scottish History Society - Volume 53 - Page 121:

     The Castle of Edr. is naturally a great strenth situate upon the top of a high Rock perpendicular on all sides, except on the entry from the burgh, which is a stay ascent and is well fortified with strong Walls, three gates each one within another, with Drawbridges, and all necessary fortifications.

2. (Britain dialectal) (of a roof) Steeply pitched.
3. (Britain dialectal) Difficult to negotiate; not easy to access; sheer.
4. (Britain dialectal) Stiff; upright; unbending; reserved; haughty; proud.

Adverb

stay (comparative stayer or more stay, superlative stayest or most stay)

1. (Britain dialectal) Steeply.

Further reading

• stay at OneLook Dictionary Search
• stay in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• Yats, tays, yats

Middle English

Alternative forms

• staye, stey

Etymology

From Old English stæ? (“stay, a rope supporting a mast”), from Proto-Germanic *stag? (“stay, rope”), from Proto-Indo-European *stek-, *st?k- (“stand, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European *st?- (“to stand”).

Noun

stay (plural stayes)

1. (nautical) A stay (rope).

Declension

Descendants

• Scots: stay
• English: stay