Emily Dickinson Lexicon

STAYS, n. [plur.]

1. A boddice; a kind of waistcoat stiffened with whalebone or other thing, worn by females. – Gay.
2. Stays, of a ship. [See Stay.]
3. Station; fixed anchorage. – Sidney.
4. Any support; that which keeps another extended. Weavers, stretch your stays upon the weft. – Dryden.