English edit

Etymology edit

un- +‎ stayed

Adjective edit

unstayed (not comparable)

  1. Not stayed or held back.
    • 1903, Ambrose Bierce, Shapes of Clay[1]:
      In vain: your turbulence is unallayed, My flame unquenched; your rioting unstayed; My life so wretched from your strife to save it That death were welcome did I dare to brave it.
    • 1908, Sophie Jewett, The Pearl[2]:
      No niggard churl our High Chieftain, But lavishly His gifts are made, Like streams from a moat that flow amain, Or rushing waves that rise unstayed.
  2. Not wearing stays.
    • 1921, Frederick O'Brien, Mystic Isles of the South Seas.[3]:
      A little while later, when I came to the dining-room for the first breakfast, I met Lovaina in a blue-figured aahu of muslin and lace, a close-fitting, sweeping nightgown, the single garment that Tahitians wear all day and take off at night, a tunic, or Mother Hubbard, which reveals their figures without disguise, unstayed, unpetticoated.
  3. (nautical) Without stays.
    Wingsails are typically mounted on an unstayed spar.

Anagrams edit