The Collaborative International Dictionary
Stay \Stay\ (st[=a]), n. [AS. st[ae]g, akin to D., G., Icel., Sw., & Dan. stag; cf. OF. estai, F. ['e]tai, of Teutonic origin.] (Naut.) A large, strong rope, employed to support a mast, by being extended from the head of one mast down to some other, or to some part of the vessel. Those which lead forward are called fore-and-aft stays; those which lead to the vessel's side are called backstays. See Illust. of Ship.
In stays, or Hove in stays (Naut.), in the act or
situation of staying, or going about from one tack to
another.
--R. H. Dana, Jr.
Stay holes (Naut.), openings in the edge of a staysail through which the hanks pass which join it to the stay.
Stay tackle (Naut.), a tackle attached to a stay and used for hoisting or lowering heavy articles over the side.
To miss stays (Naut.), to fail in the attempt to go about.
--Totten.
Triatic stay (Naut.), a rope secured at the ends to the heads of the foremast and mainmast with thimbles spliced to its bight into which the stay tackles hook.
Miss \Miss\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Missed (m[i^]st); p. pr. & vb. n. Missing.] [AS. missan; akin to D. & G. missen, OHG. missan, Icel. missa, Sw. mista, Dan. miste. [root]100. See Mis-, pref.]
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To fail of hitting, reaching, getting, finding, seeing, hearing, etc.; as, to miss the mark one shoots at; to miss the train by being late; to miss opportunites of getting knowledge; to miss the point or meaning of something said.
When a man misses his great end, happiness, he will acknowledge he judged not right.
--Locke. -
To omit; to fail to have or to do; to get without; to dispense with; -- now seldom applied to persons.
She would never miss, one day, A walk so fine, a sight so gay.
--Prior.We cannot miss him; he does make our fire, Fetch in our wood.
--Shak. -
To discover the absence or omission of; to feel the want of; to mourn the loss of; to want; as, to miss an absent loved one.
--Shak.Neither missed we anything . . . Nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him.
--1 Sam. xxv. 15, 21.What by me thou hast lost, thou least shalt miss.
--Milton.To miss stays. (Naut.) See under Stay.
Usage examples of "to miss stays".
At the same moment he felt an essential change in her motion, a dead sullenness: she was going to miss stays.
There was a paralysing moment as she baulked again, hung as though she was determined once more to miss stays, but this time she had a trifle more momentum, and in the last possible second a fortunate combination of wind and wave pushed her bows round through the vital final degrees of swing.
And by now her bottom was very foul, especially where her copper had been ripped off: this not only caused her to miss stays more often than was agreeable but it also made her dreadfully slow, a point of some importance in a crowded ship that had relied on getting rid of her Turks at Mubara and on completing her water there.