staid

Adjective

Synonyms: sedate

WordNet 3.0

Adjective (1)

characterized by dignity and proprietySynonyms: sedate

Webster's Dictionary (GCIDE)

Staid \Staid\ (st[=a]d), imp. & p. p. of Stay. [1913 Webster]

Staid \Staid\, a. [From Stay to stop.] Sober; grave; steady; sedate; composed; regular; not wild, volatile, flighty, or fanciful. "Sober and staid persons." --Addison. [1913 Webster]

O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue. --Milton. [1913 Webster]

Syn: Sober; grave; steady; steadfast; composed; regular; sedate. [1913 Webster]

Stay \Stay\ (st[=a]), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Stayed (st[=a]d) or Staid (st[=a]d); p. pr. & vb. n. Staying.] [OF. estayer, F. ['e]tayer to prop, fr. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai, a prop, probably fr. OD. stade, staeye, a prop, akin to E. stead; or cf. stay a rope to support a mast. Cf. Staid, a., Stay, v. i.]

1.To stop from motion or falling; to prop; to fix firmly; to hold up; to support. [1913 Webster]

Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side.— Ex. xvii. 12.[1913 Webster]

Sallows and reeds . . . for vineyards useful found To stay thy vines.— Dryden.[1913 Webster]

2.To support from sinking; to sustain with strength; to satisfy in part or for the time. [1913 Webster]

He has devoured a whole loaf of bread and butter, and it has not staid his stomach for a minute.— Sir W. Scott.[1913 Webster]

3.To bear up under; to endure; to support; to resist successfully. [1913 Webster]

She will not stay the siege of loving terms, Nor bide the encounter of assailing eyes.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

4.To hold from proceeding; to withhold; to restrain; to stop; to hold. [1913 Webster]

Him backward overthrew and down him stayed With their rude hands and grisly grapplement.— Spenser.[1913 Webster]

All that may stay their minds from thinking that true which they heartily wish were false.— Hooker.[1913 Webster]

5.To hinder; to delay; to detain; to keep back. [1913 Webster]

Your ships are stayed at Venice.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

This business staid me in London almost a week.— Evelyn.[1913 Webster]

I was willing to stay my reader on an argument that appeared to me new.— Locke.[1913 Webster]

6.To remain for the purpose of; to wait for. "I stay dinner there." --Shak. [1913 Webster]

7.To cause to cease; to put an end to. [1913 Webster]

Stay your strife.— Shak.[1913 Webster]

For flattering planets seemed to say This child should ills of ages stay.— Emerson.[1913 Webster]

8.(Engin.) To fasten or secure with stays; as, to stay a flat sheet in a steam boiler. [1913 Webster]

9.(Naut.) To tack, as a vessel, so that the other side of the vessel shall be presented to the wind. [1913 Webster]

To stay a mast (Naut.), to incline it forward or aft, or to one side, by the stays and backstays. [1913 Webster]