Other forms: stayed, staying, stays
To stay is to not go. You stay in bed on a cold morning, stay at the table after everyone else has left, stay in a hotel for three nights.
Stay also works like a small equals sign: whatever follows is what you keep on being. Stay calm, stay awake, stay out of trouble, stay in touch. As a noun it is the time you spend somewhere — a short stay in hospital, a two-week stay with cousins. Courts use it for an order that puts a process on hold, and a stay of execution is the phrase you meet first. Keep stay and live apart: you stay somewhere for a while, you live somewhere for good.
1verbstayTo keep being where you are instead of leaving.~24%
“Stay here while I go and find the keys.”
2verbliveTo live somewhere for a short time as a guest or a visitor.~2%
“We stayed at a small hotel above the harbour.”
3verbstateTo keep on being in a state or a condition.~6%
“Try to stay calm until the ambulance gets here.”
synonyms: keep
4nounperiodA period of time spent in one place.~37%
“It was a short stay, three nights and a long drive home.”
5nouncourtA court order that stops or delays a legal process.~31%
“His lawyers won a stay while the new evidence was checked.”
Shares are an estimate: a language model read 19 sentences found in the wild and placed 16 of them on a sense (3 were unclear) — a count of our sample, not a measurement of English.
Also accepted in games: remain
Stay came through Middle English steyen from Old French estayer, to prop something up, which the French had taken from Middle Dutch staeye, a prop. Behind that stands Proto-Germanic stadiz, a standing or a place, and Proto-Indo-European steh2tis, standing. The oldest meaning is the piece of wood that holds a thing steady, and that is still what staying is: you hold your place instead of moving.
Proto-Indo-European
*steh₂-
Proto-Indo-European
*stéh₂tis — standing
Proto-Germanic
*stadiz — a standing, place
Proto-West Germanic
*stadi — a site, place, location, standing
Middle Dutch
staeye — a prop, stay
Old French
estayer
Middle English
steyen
English, today
stay
Built from
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 stede (“a place, spot, locality, fixed position, station, site, standing, status, position of a moving body, stopping, standing still, stability, fixity, firmness, steadfastness”), Swedish stödja (“to prop, support, brace, hold up, bolster”), Icelandic stöðug (“continuous, stable”). More at stead, steady. Sense of "remain, continue" may be due to later influence from Old French ester, esteir (“to stand, be, continue, remain”), from Latin stāre (“stand”), from the same Proto-Indo-European root above; however, derivation from this root is untenable based on linguistic and historical grounds. An alternative etymology derives Old French estaye, estaie, from Frankish stakā, stakō (“stake, post”), from Proto-Germanic stakô (“stake, bar, stick, pole”), from Proto-Indo-European (s)teg- (“rod, pole, stick”), making it cognate with Old English staca (“pin, stake”), Old English stician (“to stick, be placed, lie, remain fixed”). Cognate with Albanian shtagë (“a long stick, a pole”). More at stake, stick.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA