Emily Dickinson Lexicon

STAY, v.t. [pret. and pp. staid, for stayed.]

1. To stop; to hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain. All that may stay the mind from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false. – Hooker. To stay these sudden gusts of passion. – Rowe.
2. To delay; to obstruct; to hinder from proceeding. Your ships are staid at Venice. – Shak. I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me to be new. – Locke.
3. To keep from departure; as, you might have staid me here. – Dryden.
4. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to hold up; to support. Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands. – Exod. xvii. Sallows and reeds for vineyards useful found / To stay thy vines. – Dryden.
5. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; as, to take a luncheon to stay the stomach.