資料來源 : 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.