stay

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To remain in one place and not leave.

   We are staying in Detroit for the weekend.

2. 2
   verb

   To continue to be in a particular state or situation.

   Please stay calm and wait for help.

3. 3
   verb

   To live somewhere for a short time as a guest.

   You can stay with me while you are in town.

4. 4
   noun

   A period of time spent in a place.

   They had a lovely stay in Paris.

5. 5
   verb

   To officially stop a legal process for a time.

   The judge stayed the execution order.

Multiword verbs with stay

• stay off Prepositional verb A1

  to avoid entering, standing on, or walking onto a place

• stay over Phrasal verb A1

  to spend the night somewhere as a guest

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Stay entered English in the late Middle Ages and comes from the same root as stationer, station, and stationary, ultimately Latin statio, “standing.”

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 Proto-West Germanic *stadi (“a site, place, location, standing”), from Proto-Germanic *stadiz (“a standing, place”), from Proto-Indo-European *stéh₂tis (“standing”). Influenced by Old English stæġ ("a stay, rope"; see below). Cognate with Old English…

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary