To continue to be in a place or condition: stay home; stay calm.
To remain or sojourn as a guest or lodger: stayed at a motel.
To stop moving; halt.
To wait; pause.
To endure or persist: stayed with the original plan.
To keep up in a race or contest: tried to stay with the lead runner.
Games To meet a bet in poker without raising it.
To stand one's ground; remain firm.
Archaic To cease from a specified activity.
To stop or halt; check.
To postpone; delay.
To delay or stop the effect of (an order, for example) by legal action or mandate: stay a prisoner's execution.
To satisfy or appease temporarily: stayed his anger.
To remain during: stayed the week with my parents; stayed the duration of the game.
To wait for; await: "I will not stay thy questions. Let me go;/Or if thou follow me, do not believe/But I shall do thee mischief in the wood” ( Shakespeare).
The act of halting; check.
The act of coming to a halt.
A brief period of residence or visiting.
A suspension or postponement of a legal action or an execution: granted a stay to the prisoner's execution.
stay put To remain in a fixed or established position.
stay the course To hold out or persevere to the end of a race or challenge.