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Definition of stay noun from the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

stay

noun
 
/steɪ/
 
/steɪ/
Idioms
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  1. a period of staying; a visit
    • I enjoyed my stay in Prague.
    • an overnight stay
    • In recent years the average hospital stay for elderly patients has decreased.
    see also long-stay, short-stay
    Extra Examples
    • It poured throughout their stay.
    • She has extended her stay by three days.
    • We did a lot of walking during our stay.
    Topics Holidaysa2
    Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective
    • lengthy
    • long
    • prolonged
    verb + stay
    • enjoy
    • shorten
    • extend
    preposition
    • during a/​the stay
    • throughout a/​the stay
    phrases
    • the duration of somebody’s stay
    • the length of somebody’s stay
    See full entry
  2. a rope or wire that supports a ship’s mast, a pole, etc. see also mainstay
  3. Word Originnoun sense 1 late Middle English (as a verb): from Anglo-Norman French estai-, stem of Old French ester, from Latin stare ‘to stand’. noun sense 2 Old English stæg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch stag, from a base meaning ‘be firm’.
Idioms
a stay of execution
  1. (law) a delay in following the order of a court
    • to grant a stay of execution
    • There will be no stay of execution and few mourners for this concrete tower block, due to be demolished next month.
    Topics Crime and punishmentc2
See stay in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee stay in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic English
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