Definition of stay

"stay" in the noun sense

1. stay

continuing or remaining in a place or state

"they had a nice stay in Paris"

"a lengthy hospital stay"

"a four-month stay in bankruptcy court"

2. arrest, check, halt, hitch, stay, stop, stoppage

the state of inactivity following an interruption

"the negotiations were in arrest"

"held them in check"

"during the halt he got some lunch"

"the momentary stay enabled him to escape the blow"

"he spent the entire stop in his seat"

3. stay

a judicial order forbidding some action until an event occurs or the order is lifted

"the Supreme Court has the power to stay an injunction pending an appeal to the whole Court"

4. stay

a thin strip of metal or bone that is used to stiffen a garment (e.g. a corset)

5. stay

nautical) brace consisting of a heavy rope or wire cable used as a support for a mast or spar

"stay" in the verb sense

1. stay, remain, rest

stay the same remain in a certain state

"The dress remained wet after repeated attempts to dry it"

"rest assured"

"stay alone"

"He remained unmoved by her tears"

"The bad weather continued for another week"

2. stay, stick, stick around, stay put

stay put (in a certain place we are not moving to Cincinnati"

"We are staying in Detroit

"Stay put in the corner here!"

"Stick around and you will learn something!"

3. bide, abide, stay

dwell

"You can stay with me while you are in town"

"stay a bit longer

4. stay, stay on, continue, remain

continue in a place, position, or situation

"After graduation, she stayed on in Cambridge as a student adviser"

"Stay with me, please"

"despite student protests, he remained Dean for another year"

"She continued as deputy mayor for another year"

5. stay

remain behind

"I had to stay at home and watch the children"

6. stay, detain, delay

stop or halt

"Please stay the bloodshed!"

7. persist, remain, stay

stay behind

"The smell stayed in the room"

"The hostility remained long after they made up"

8. last out, stay, ride out, outride

hang on during a trial of endurance

"ride out the storm"

9. stay

stop a judicial process

"The judge stayed the execution order"

10. stay

fasten with stays

11. quell, stay, appease

overcome or allay

"quell my hunger"

Source: WordNet® (An amazing lexical database of English)

Princeton University "About WordNet®."
WordNet®. Princeton University. 2010.


View WordNet® License

Quotations for stay

Echoes we: listen!
We cannot stay,
As dewdrops glisten,
Then fade away. [ Shelley ]

He that can stay obtains. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Money calls, but does not stay:
It is round and rolls away. [ Proverb ]

Talk of camps but stay at home. [ Proverb ]

If any thing stay, let work stay. [ Proverb ]

Stay a little, and news will find you. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Time's waters will not ebb nor stay;
Power cannot change them, but Love may;
What cannot be, Love counts it done. [ Keble ]

Death is sure
To those that stay and those that roam. [ Alfred Tennyson ]

God shall be my hope,
My stay, my guide and lantern to my feet. [ William Shakespeare ]

In idle wishes fools supinely stay;
Be there a will, then wisdom finds a way. [ William Shakespeare ]

Stay awhile that we may make an end the sooner. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Stay till you have sheep before you shear them. [ Proverb ]

What surety of the world, what hope, what stay.
When this was now a king, and now is clay! [ William Shakespeare ]

I would not live alway; I ask not to stay
Where storm after storm rises dark over the way. [ William A. Muhlenberg ]

Bees work for man, and yet they never bruise
Their Master's flower, but leave it having done,
As fair as ever and as fit to use;
So both the flower doth stay and honey run. [ Herbert ]

Stay is a charming word in a friend's vocabulary. [ A. Bronson Alcott ]

Some men are born to feast, and not to fight;
Whose sluggish minds, e'en in fair honor's field.
Still on their dinner turn -
Let such pot-boiling varlets stay at home,
And wield a flesh-hook rather than a sword. [ Joanna Baillie ]

She will stay at home perhaps if her leg be broke. [ Proverb ]

Deceit is in haste, but honesty can stay a fair leisure. [ Proverb ]

Nay, stay, quoth Stringer, when his neck was in the halter. [ Proverb ]

He that is fed at another's hand may stay long ere he be full. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

She was so hungry she could not stay for the parson to say grace. [ Proverb ]

Stay at home in your mind, - don't recite other people's opinions. [ Ralph Waldo Emerson ]

Like Wood's dog, he will neither go to the church nor stay at home. [ Proverb ]

Stay till the lane messenger come, if you will know the truth of the thing. [ English Proverb, collected by George Herbert ]

Fortune's wings are made of Time's feathers, which stay not whilst one may measure them. [ Lilly ]

They had finished her own crown in glory, and she couldn't stay away from the coronation. [ Gray ]

The sands are number'd, that make up my life; Here must I stay, and here my life must end. [ William Shakespeare ]

It is wiser to run away when there is no remedy, than to stay and die in the field foolishly. [ Proverb ]

To invite a guest is to take the responsibility of his happiness during his stay under our roof. [ Brillat-Savarin ]

Sir Amyas Pawlet, when he saw too much haste made in any matter, was wont to say, Stay awhile, that we may make an end the sooner. [ Bacon ]

You may keep your beauty and your health, unless you destroy them yourself, or discourage them to stay with you, by using them ill. [ Sir W. Temple ]

I knew a wise man who had it for a by-word when he saw men hasten to a conclusion: Stay a little, that we may make an end the sooner. [ Bacon ]

Remorseless time! fierce spirit of the glass and scythe. What power can stay him in his silent course, or melt his iron heart with pity! [ George D. Prentice ]

Wickedness may well be compared to a bottomless pit, into which it is easier to keep one's self from falling, then, being fallen, to give one's self any stay from falling infinitely. [ Sir P. Sidney ]

We are born for a higher destiny than earth; there is a realm where the rainbow never fades, where the stars will be spread before us like islands that slumber on the ocean, and where the beings that pass before us like shadows will stay in our presence forever. [ Bulwer-Lytton ]

The devil does not stay long where music is performed. Music is the best balsam for a distressed heart; it refreshes and quickens the soul. Music is a governess which makes people milder, meeker, more modest and discreet. Yes, my friends, music is a beautiful, glorious gift of God, and next to theology, I give it the highest place and the highest honor. [ Martin Luther ]

stay in Scrabble®

The word stay is playable in Scrabble®, no blanks required.

Scrabble® Letter Score: 7

Highest Scoring Scrabble® Play In The Letters stay:

STAY
(33)
 

All Scrabble® Plays For The Word stay

STAY
(33)
STAY
(24)
STAY
(22)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(16)
STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
(9)
STAY
(9)
STAY
(9)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(7)

The 124 Highest Scoring Scrabble® Plays For Words Using The Letters In stay

STAY
(33)
STAY
(24)
STAY
(22)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(21)
STAY
(21)
AYS
(18)
STY
(18)
SAY
(18)
SAY
(18)
STY
(18)
AYS
(18)
STY
(18)
SAY
(18)
AYS
(18)
STAY
(16)
STAY
(15)
AY
(15)
AY
(15)
YA
(15)
YA
(15)
STAY
(14)
STAY
(14)
STAY
(14)
STAY
(14)
STY
(14)
SAY
(14)
AYS
(14)
AY
(13)
YA
(13)
SAY
(12)
SAY
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STY
(12)
STY
(12)
AYS
(12)
STY
(12)
STAY
(12)
SAY
(12)
AYS
(12)
AYS
(12)
SAY
(11)
STY
(11)
STAY
(11)
AY
(10)
AY
(10)
AYS
(10)
SAY
(10)
STY
(10)
YA
(10)
YA
(10)
SAT
(9)
STAY
(9)
STAY
(9)
STAY
(9)
SAT
(9)
AY
(9)
STAY
(9)
YA
(9)
SAT
(9)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(8)
STY
(8)
STY
(8)
STAY
(8)
AYS
(8)
AYS
(8)
AYS
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SAY
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SAY
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SAY
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AY
(7)
STAY
(7)
STY
(7)
SAY
(7)
AYS
(7)
AYS
(7)
STY
(7)
YA
(7)
AS
(6)
YA
(6)
STY
(6)
SAT
(6)
AT
(6)
AT
(6)
SAT
(6)
TA
(6)
AYS
(6)
TA
(6)
SAY
(6)
AY
(6)
AS
(6)
SAT
(6)
YA
(5)
AY
(5)
SAT
(5)
SAT
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SAT
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SAT
(5)
TA
(4)
AS
(4)
AS
(4)
SAT
(4)
SAT
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TA
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TA
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TA
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AT
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AT
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AS
(4)
AS
(4)
AT
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AT
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SAT
(4)
TA
(3)
SAT
(3)
AT
(3)
AS
(3)
TA
(3)
AS
(3)
AT
(3)
AT
(2)
TA
(2)
AS
(2)

stay in Words With Friends™

The word stay is playable in Words With Friends™, no blanks required.

Words With Friends™ Letter Score: 6

Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Play In The Letters stay:

STAY
(36)
 

All Words With Friends™ Plays For The Word stay

STAY
(36)
STAY
(24)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(14)
STAY
(14)
STAY
(12)
STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
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STAY
(8)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(8)
STAY
(7)
STAY
(7)
STAY
(7)
STAY
(6)

The 131 Highest Scoring Words With Friends™ Plays Using The Letters In stay

STAY
(36)
STAY
(24)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
STAY
(18)
AYS
(15)
SAY
(15)
SAY
(15)
AYS
(15)
SAY
(15)
STY
(15)
STY
(15)
STY
(15)
AYS
(15)
STAY
(14)
STAY
(14)
STY
(13)
SAY
(13)
STAY
(12)
STAY
(12)
STAY
(12)
STAY
(12)
STAY
(12)
YA
(12)
YA
(12)
AY
(12)
AY
(12)
AYS
(11)
SAY
(11)
STY
(11)
STAY
(10)
YA
(10)
AY
(10)
SAY
(10)
STY
(10)
SAY
(10)
SAY
(10)
STY
(10)
STY
(10)
STAY
(10)
STAY
(10)
AYS
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AYS
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AYS
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STY
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SAT
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STAY
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AYS
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SAT
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SAY
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SAT
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AY
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AY
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STY
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YA
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AT
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AS
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Word Growth involving stay

Shorter words in stay

ay

ta

Longer words containing stay

backstay backstays

forestay forestays

jackstay jackstays

mainstay mainstays

outstay outstayed

outstay outstaying

outstay outstays

overstay overstayed

overstay overstayer overstayers

overstay overstaying

overstay overstays

sandstay sandstays

stayed outstayed

stayed overstayed

stayed unstayed

stayer overstayer overstayers

stayer stayers overstayers

staying outstaying

staying overstaying

staymouse

stays backstays

stays forestays

stays jackstays

stays mainstays

stays outstays

stays overstays

stays sandstays

stays staysail staysails