• Unstay

    Origin

    From - + stay.

    Full definition of unstay

    Verb

    1. (transitive) To undo the establishment of; disestablish; dissolve; divest.
      • 1918, Ford Madox Ford, The English review:He plays with the late Watts-Dunton and gets good fun out of it; he rips open the sham, unstays the imperfect, sonnet ; he tackles all fretters of the great English instrument and worries them all, yet with a fine sanity.
      • 1967, John Nichols, The Gentleman's magazine:"... And true it is that the life of man is in the hands of God; and the state of kingdoms doth also belong to Him, to stay or to unstay them." All men had clearly foreseen that Edward's death would beget the evils of a disputed succession.
    2. (transitive) To expel; expulse; remove; release; rid.
      • 2005, Ivan Doig, English Creek:Staying on a mount that is trying to unstay you is a historic procedure of the livestock business.
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