Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Stay \Stay\, n. [Cf. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai support, and E. stay
   a rope to support a mast.]
   1. That which serves as a prop; a support. ``My only strength
      and stay.'' --Milton.

            Trees serve as so many stays for their vines.
                                                  --Addison.

            Lord Liverpool is the single stay of this ministry.
                                                  --Coleridge.

   2. pl. A corset stiffened with whalebone or other material,
      worn by women, and rarely by men.

            How the strait stays the slender waist constrain.
                                                  --Gay.

   3. Continuance in a place; abode for a space of time;
      sojourn; as, you make a short stay in this city.

            Make haste, and leave thy business and thy care; No
            mortal interest can be worth thy stay. --Dryden.

            Embrace the hero and his stay implore. --Waller.

   4. Cessation of motion or progression; stand; stop.

            Made of sphere metal, never to decay Until his
            revolution was at stay.               --Milton.

            Affairs of state seemed rather to stand at a stay.
                                                  --Hayward.

   5. Hindrance; let; check. [Obs.]

            They were able to read good authors without any
            stay, if the book were not false.     --Robynson
                                                  (more's
                                                  Utopia).

   6. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness;
      sobriety. [Obs.] ``Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds
      and stays.'' --Herbert.

            The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
                                                  --Bacon.

            With prudent stay he long deferred The rough
            contention.                           --Philips.

   7. (Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts
      together, or stiffen them.

   {Stay bolt} (Mech.), a bolt or short rod, connecting opposite
      plates, so as to prevent them from being bulged out when
      acted upon by a pressure which tends to force them apart,
      as in the leg of a steam boiler.

   {Stay busk}, a stiff piece of wood, steel, or whalebone, for
      the front support of a woman's stays. Cf. {Busk}.

   {Stay rod}, a rod which acts as a stay, particularly in a
      steam boiler.