different between hang vs stay

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: h?ng, IPA^(key): /hæ?/
  • (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): (see /æ/ raising) [he??]
• Rhymes: -æ?

Etymology 1

A fusion of Old English h?n (“to hang, be hanging”) [intrans.] and hangian (“to hang, cause to hang”) [trans.]; also probably influenced by Old Norse hengja (“suspend”) and hanga (“be suspended”); all from Proto-Germanic *hanhan? (compare Dutch hangen, Low German hangen and hängen, German hängen, Norwegian Bokmål henge, Norwegian Nynorsk henga), from Proto-Indo-European *?enk- (“to waver, be in suspense”) (compare Gothic ???????????????????? (h?han), Hittite [Term?] (/gang-/, “to hang”), Sanskrit ?????? (?á?kate, “is in doubt, hesitates”), Latin cunctari (“to delay”)).

Verb

hang (third-person singular simple present hangs, present participle hanging, simple past and past participle hung or (legal) hanged)

1. (intransitive) To be or remain suspended.

   • On the dark-green walls hung a series of eight engravings, portraits of early Victorian belles, clad in lace and tarletan ball dresses, clipped from an old Book of Beauty. Mrs. Bunting was very fond of these pictures; she thought they gave the drawing-room a note of elegance and refinement.

2. (intransitive) To float, as if suspended.

3. (intransitive) To veer in one direction.
   • 1979, New South Wales law reports (page 16)

     The jockey claimed that the horse hung towards the outside

4. (intransitive, of a ball in cricket, tennis, etc.) To rebound unexpectedly or unusually slowly, due to backward spin on the ball or imperfections of the ground.
5. (transitive) To hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect.

6. (transitive) To cause (something) to be suspended, as from a hook, hanger, hinges, or the like.

   It is impossible but that offences will come: but woe unto him, through whom they come! It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he cast into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones.

7. (transitive, law) To execute (someone) by suspension from the neck.
8. (intransitive, law) To be executed by suspension by one's neck from a gallows, a tree, or other raised bar, attached by a rope tied into a noose.

9. (transitive, informal) (used in maledictions) To damn.
10. (intransitive, informal) To loiter, hang around, to spend time idly.

11. (transitive) To exhibit (an object) by hanging.
12. (transitive) To apply (wallpaper or drywall to a wall).

13. (transitive) To decorate (something) with hanging objects.

14. (intransitive, figuratively) To remain persistently in one's thoughts.
    • 1895, H. G. Wells, The Time Machine, Ch.X:

      Exploring, I found another short gallery running transversely to the first. This appeared to be devoted to minerals, and the sight of a block of sulphur set my mind running on gunpowder. But I could find no saltpeter; indeed no nitrates of any kind. Doubtless they had deliquesced ages ago. Yet the sulphur hung in my mind and set up a train of thinking.

15. (transitive) To prevent from reaching a decision, especially by refusing to join in a verdict that must be unanimous.

    One obstinate juror can hang a jury.

16. (intransitive, computing) To stop responding to manual input devices such as keyboard and mouse.

17. (transitive, computing) To cause (a program or computer) to stop responding.

18. (transitive, chess) To cause (a piece) to become vulnerable to capture.

19. (intransitive, chess) To be vulnerable to capture.

20. (transitive, baseball, slang) Of a pitcher, to throw a hittable off-speed pitch.
    • 2010, Peter Golenbock, Dynasty: The New York Yankees, 1949-1964, ?ISBN, page 409

      McDougald then singled, and with a 3-2 count on Ellie Howard who was playing first base, Spahn hung a curve ball and Howard hit it over the wire fence in left field for a 4-4 tie.

21. (transitive, figuratively) To attach or cause to stick (a charge or accusation, etc.).
    • 1848, The American Pulpit (volume 3, page 120)

      There were no whisperings, even from his opponents, that he was no better than he ought to be. Because, there was nothing wrong on which to hang a charge. As an eloquent orator, he carried with him the firm support of a good name.

Usage notes

• Formerly, at least until the 16th century, the past tense of the transitive use of hang was hanged (see quote from King James Bible, above). This form is retained for the legal senses “to be executed by suspension from the neck” and “to execute by suspension from the neck” and hung for all other meanings. hung is sometimes also used in the legal senses, but is proscribed in legal or other formal writing (for the applicable senses only). Rarely, hanged is used for non-legal senses as well, which is also proscribed. See also the etymology.

Synonyms

• (be or remain suspended): be suspended, dangle
• (float as if suspended): float, hover
• (execute (someone) by suspension from the neck): lynch, string up; see also Thesaurus:kill by hanging
• (be executed): go to the gallows, swing (informal), take a ride to Tyburn (archaic); see also Thesaurus:die by hanging
• (loiter): hang about, hang around, loiter
• (computing: stop responding): freeze, lock up
• (cause (something) to be suspended): suspend
• (hold or bear in a suspended or inclined manner or position instead of erect): drop, lower
• (to place on a hook): hook, hook up
• (to put a telephone handset back on a hook): hang up
• (exhibit): exhibit, show
• (apply (wallpaper to a wall)): put up
• (decorate (something) with hanging objects): bedeck, deck, decorate
• (computing: cause (a program or computer) to stop responding): freeze, lock up
• (in chess: cause to become vulnerable to capture):
• (in chess: be vulnerable to capture):

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

hang (plural hangs)

1. The way in which something hangs.

   This skirt has a nice hang.

2. (colloquial, figuratively) A grip, understanding.

   He got the hang of it after only two demonstrations.

   • 1911, Alexander MacDonald, The Invisible Island: A Story of the Far North of Queensland (page 105)

     “I don't see the hang of so much talky-talky,” broke in Uncle Sam. “We've heard all that can be said about things, […]

3. (computing) An instance of ceasing to respond to input.

   We sometimes get system hangs.

4. A sharp or steep declivity or slope.
5. A mass of hanging material.
   • 2014, Matthew Jobin, The Nethergrim (volume 1)

     They advanced in a crouch, dropping to their knees every few yards to pass under a hang of rock.

6. (colloquial) The smallest amount of concern or consideration; a damn.

   I don't give a hang.

   They don't seem to care a hang about the consequences.

Derived terms

• get the hang of

Etymology 2

From hang sangwich, Irish colloquial pronunciation of ham sandwich.

Noun

hang (uncountable)

1. (Ireland, informal, derogatory) Cheap processed ham (cured pork), often made specially for sandwiches.

Etymology 3

Noun

hang

1. Alternative spelling of Hang (“musical instrument”)

Anagrams

• Ghan

Afrikaans

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?a?/

Etymology 1

From Dutch hangen, a merger of Middle Dutch hangen and {[m|dum|haen}}.

Verb

hang (present hang, present participle hangende, past participle gehang)

1. (transitive and intransitive) to hang

Etymology 2

From Dutch hang.

Noun

hang (plural hange)

1. slope

Synonyms

• helling

Bahnar

Etymology

From Proto-Central Bahnaric *ha??, from Chamic. Compare Eastern Cham ?? (hang).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ha??/

Noun

hang 

1. bank, shore

Cebuano

Alternative forms

• halang

Adjective

hang

1. hot; pungent; spicy

Danish

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): [?h???]

• Rhymes: -???

Etymology 1

From German Hang, a noun derived from hangen, from Proto-Germanic *hanhan?.

Noun

hang c (singular definite hangen, not used in plural form)

1. inclination or disposition towards something

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the main entry.

Verb

hang

1. past tense of hænge

Dutch

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -??
• IPA^(key): /???/

Noun

hang c (plural hangen, diminutive hangetje n)

1. A support for hanging objects, such as a nail for a picture frame
2. A place to dry or smoke produce
3. A tendency, knack

Related terms

• hangijzer n

Verb

hang

1. first-person singular present indicative of hangen
2. imperative of hangen

Estonian

Etymology

Related to Finnish hanko.

Noun

hang (genitive [please provide], partitive [please provide])

1. fork

Declension

This noun needs an inflection-table template.

Further reading

• hang in Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat

Hungarian

Etymology

From an unattested stem with the suffix -g.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?h???]
• Rhymes: -???

Noun

hang (plural hangok)

1. voice

2. sound

Declension

Derived terms

Further reading

• hang in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN

Irish

Noun

hang f

1. h-prothesized form of ang

Italian

Noun

hang m (invariable)

1. (music) Hang

Malay

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /hä?/

Pronoun

hang (Jawi spelling ???)

1. (dialectal) (object pronoun) The people spoken, or written to, as an object.
2. (dialectal) (subject pronoun) The people spoken to or written to, as a subject.

Synonyms

• awak / ????
• kamu / ?????
• kau / ????
• anda / ?????
• engkau / ??????

Further reading

• “hang” in Pusat Rujukan Persuratan Melayu | Malay Literary Reference Centre, Kuala Lumpur: Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka, 2017.

Mandarin

Romanization

hang

1. Nonstandard spelling of h?ng.
2. Nonstandard spelling of háng.
3. Nonstandard spelling of h?ng.
4. Nonstandard spelling of hàng.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

Norwegian Bokmål

Verb

hang

1. (intransitive) simple past of henge

Norwegian Nynorsk

Verb

hang

1. past of henga

Ternate

Adverb

hang

1. not yet

References

• Rika Hayami-Allen (2001). A Descriptive Study of the Language of Ternate, the Northern Moluccas, Indonesia. University of Pittsburgh.

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *ha?? (“cave”). Possibly related to the word reconstructed as Proto-Mon-Khmer *?aa? (“to open”) by Shorto (2006).

Pronunciation

• (Hà N?i) IPA^(key): [ha????]
• (Hu?) IPA^(key): [ha????]
• (H? Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [ha????]

Noun

(classifier cái) hang • (????, ????, ????, ????, ????)

1. cave

   Synonym: ??ng

2. den

Derived terms

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