(stā) v.i.
1. To cease motion; stop; halt.
2. To continue in a specified place, condition, or state: to stay indoors; to stay healthy.
3. To remain temporarily as a guest, resident, etc.: Where are you staying?
4. To pause; wait; tarry.
5. Colloq. To have endurance; stand up; last.
6. Colloq. To keep pace with a competitor, as in a race.
7. In poker, to remain in a hand by meeting an ante, bet, or raise.
8. Archaic To cease.
9. Archaic To stand firm.
—v.t.
10. To bring to a stop; halt; check.
11. To hinder; delay.
12. To put off; postpone.
13. To satisfy the demands of temporarily; quiet; appease: to stay the pangs of hunger.
14. To remain for the duration of: I will stay the night.
15. To remain till or beyond the end of: with out: to stay out one's welcome.
16. Archaic To quell, as strife.
17. Obs. To wait for. See synonyms under ABIDE, HINDER¹, OBSTRUCT, PERSIST, REPRESS, REST¹, STAND.
—noun
1. The act or time of staying; continuance in a place; sojourn; visit.
2. That which checks or stops; specifically, a suspension of judicial proceedings.
3. Staying power; endurance; persistence.
4. A state of rest; standstill. See synonyms under RESPITE, REST. [<AF estaier, OF ester <L stare stand]
—stay′er noun

(stā) v.t.
1. To be a support to; prop or hold up.
2. To support mentally; comfort; sustain.
3. To cause to depend or rely, as for support: with on or upon.
—noun
1. Anything which props or supports; a prop, buttress, or the like.
2. plural A corset. [<OF estayer]

(stā) Naut. noun
1. A large, strong rope, often of wire, used to support, steady, or fasten a mast or spar.
2. Any rope supporting a mast or funnel; a guy rope.
—in stays In the act of turning about on another tack.
—v.t.
1. To support with a stay or stays, as a mast.
2. To put (a vessel) on the opposite tack.
—v.i.
3. To tack: said of vessels. [OE stœg]