They were able to read good authors without any stay, if the book
were not false.
Robynson (more's Utopia).
6. Restraint of passion; moderation; caution; steadiness; sobriety.
[Obs.] "Not grudging that thy lust hath bounds and stays." Herbert.
The wisdom, stay, and moderation of the king.
Bacon.
With prudent stay he long deferred The rough contention.
Philips.
7. (Engin.) Strictly, a part in tension to hold the parts together, or
stiffen them.
Stay bolt (Mech.), a bolt or short rod, connecting opposite plates, so
as to prevent them from being bulged out when acted upon by a pressure
which tends to force them apart, as in the leg of a steam boiler. --
Stay busk, a stiff piece of wood, steel, or whalebone, for the front
support of a woman's stays. Cf. Busk. -- Stay rod, a rod which acts as
a stay, particularly in a steam boiler.
Stayed (?), a. Staid; fixed; settled; sober; -- now written staid. See
Staid. Bacon. Pope.