stay
/steɪ/ verb A1- To remain in a particular place, especially for a definite or short period of time; sojourn; abide. · We stayed in Hawaii for a week. I can only stay for an hour.
- To continue to have a particular quality. · Wear gloves so your hands stay warm.· Promise me you'll always stay/remain my little prince.
- To prop; support; sustain; hold up; steady.
- To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
- To stop; detain; keep back; delay; hinder.
- To restrain; withhold; check; stop.
- To cause to cease; to put an end to.
- To put off; defer; postpone; delay; keep back. · The governor stayed the execution until the appeal could be heard.
Plural stay · He/she/it stays · Past stayed · Past participle stayed · -ing form staying
Verb forms
- Base form
- stay
- He/she/it
- stays
- Past
- stayed
- Past participle
- stayed
- -ing form
- staying
Phrasal verbs and expressions
- stay away To avoid or not go anywhere near someone or something.
- stay back To remain (at work, school, organisation, country, etc.) ...
- stay in Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stay, in.
- stay on Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stay, on.
- stay out To spend time away from one's home.
- stay over To stay overnight in a place other than one's home; to sl...
- stay up Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see stay, up.
From the library
A THIEF hired a room in a tavern and stayed a while in the hope of stealing something which should enable him to pay his reckoning.
On seeing the rapid disappearance of the Frogs, one of the Hares cried out to his companions: “Stay, my friends, do not do as you intended; for you now see that there are creatures who are still more timid than ourselves.”
why should you thus, of your own accord, incur destruction and trust yourself in the house of your enemy?” The Stag replied: “Only allow me, friend, to stay where I am, and I will undertake to find some favourable opportunity of effecting my escape.” At the approach of the evening the herdsman came to feed his cattle, but did not see the Stag; and even the farm-bailiff with several laborers passed through the shed and failed to notice him.
He gave his own goats just sufficient food to keep them alive, but fed the strangers more abundantly in the hope of enticing them to stay with him and of making them his own.
Other matches
- stay Continuance or a period of time spent in a place B1
- stay To brace or support with a stay or stays C2
- stay A prop C2
- stay A strong rope or wire supporting a mast, and le... C2
- stay Aspect marker indicating frequency or permanence. C2
- stay away To avoid or not go anywhere near someone or som...
- stay back To remain
- stay in Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: ...
Learn stay in real texts
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