Stay

1. n. A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel’s side are called backstays. See Illust. of Ship.
2. v. i. To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support.
3. v. i. To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time.
4. v. i. To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully.
5. v. i. To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold.
6. v. i. To hinde/; to delay; to detain; to keep back.
7. v. i. To remain for the purpose of; to wait for.
8. v. i. To cause to cease; to put an end to.
9. v. i. To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler.
10. v. i. To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind.
11. 1n. 1 A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel’s side are called backstays. See Illust. of Ship.
12. 1v. i. 1 To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support.

The word meanings were obtained from OPTED(The Online Plain Text English Dictionary), which is based on “The Project Gutenberg Etext of Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary” which is in turn based on the 1913 US Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary (See Project Gutenburg), as a text file.