Revised as of
4 Oct 2022
This was an unexpected encounter, lol. Staid is not a word I come across that often, and when I read that “she staid her hand”, well, I cracked up. Let alone that staid is an adjective and not a verb, I tried to imagine a boring and respectable hand, but all I could see was liver spots. I . . . I . . . I don’t think that’s what the author meant *she shakes her head sadly with a snort and a laugh*
Well, I’m sitting here, eating crow, for I just ran across staid as an alternative spelling for stayed. So . . . well. . . . humph *choke* sorry that was a dry bit of crow there . . . My one redeeming moment is that staid is an archaic past tense, so you still need to watch in what time period your story takes place.
Now if the character had stayed her hand, well I could only feel lucky for the poor sap she was about to hit.
Word Confusions . . .
. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end. Consider sharing this Word Confusion with friends by tweeting it.
| Staid | Stayed |
|---|---|
Justice Case Testimonial by an unknown, but likely was a U.S. Army photographer, is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. — It’s a staid group in this courtroom. |
Zwingenberg, Neckar River, is Vitold Muratov’s own work under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons. — A bridge stayed for stability over the Neckar River in Zwingenberg. |
| Part of Grammar: | |
| Adjective | Morpheme: stay
Noun 1, 3; Verb 1; intransitive & transitive 2, 3 Plural for the noun: stays Third person present verb: stays |
| Respectable
Unadventurous Of settled or sedate character
Fixed, settled, or permanent |
Noun: A period of staying somewhere, in particular of living somewhere temporarily as a visitor or guest 1 [Literary] A curb or check
[Archaic] Power of endurance A device used as a brace or support 2
A large rope, wire, or rod used to support a ship’s mast, leading from the masthead to another mast or spar or down to the deck 3
Verb, intransitive:
To continue in the place or condition specified
Keep [Of a person] Live, dwell, or reside, especially temporarily as a visitor or guest (for the time specified) [Scottish & South African] Live permanently [Archaic] Wait a moment in order to allow someone time to think or speak [Archaic] Make a stand [Archaic] Cease doing something [Informal] Remain in a hand by meeting the bet or raise Verb, transitive: Stop, delay, halt, or prevent something
[Rare] To quell or allay strife, etc. [Often used with out] Remain through or during Be able to last through [Archaic] To await [Literary] Support or prop up 2 [Nautical] Secure or steady a mast by means of stays 3
|
| Examples: | |
| It was such a staid law firm.
A lovely girl, but so staid and sedate that she was dull. The new building plans appear to be for a staid office building. Every comic had a point of view, and everyone avoided staid old routines based on set-piece jokes. I envisioned a staid, quiet event in which people would come and go in silence. The normally staid company has become a lot more adventurous of late. In mathematics he strove to preserve something of what seemed a more staid and sober tradition. I was expecting a slightly staid, old-fashioned choir, with little of real interest. Some TV shows are a little bit staid and need livening up a bit. British cinema is often seen as a staid and starchy affair, as lacking in feeling as it was in aesthetic passion. It was his loud argyle socks that revealed the boyish sense of humour behind the staid visage. Now, they’re just staid old men and women in freshly pressed casual suits and middle management voices. Yorkshire food is traditionally seen as staid and stodgy, but can be modern and exciting. It is a slick piece of work, more like a product of Madison Avenue than staid Capitol Hill. This site will no doubt be jarring to the casual observer more familiar with staid academic websites. Recent consultation showed that residents in the capital perceived York to be a staid and an unexciting destination. |
Noun: We had a glorious overnight stay at a luxury hotel. There is likely to be a good public library as a stay against boredom. We got lucky with that stay of prosecution. “These whalebone stays are surprisingly comfortable,” Matilda confided in her friend. Some men are always great at beginnings; but they have no stay in them. I eased off on the line while Patrick took up the tension on the side stays. The lack of stays to stiffen the masts leaves them with springiness. Verb, intransitive: Jenny stayed at home with their young child. He stayed with the firm as a consultant. She stayed for lunch. In spite of the gore, his lunch stayed down. She stayed calm throughout the ordeal. He stayed in power through the tactics he used. I stayed out of trouble until I hit my teens. The girls stayed with friends. He stayed his hand a moment. We stayed at home to watch a Star Wars marathon. He stayed healthy despite the doctors. Verb, transitive: The judge stayed the execution. We stayed the pangs of hunger with a rabbit and some trout. Patton stayed the German armies. Marion stayed for the entire project. He stayed the week out despite the company. They stayed in character throughout their impromptu performance. The tower is stayed with cables. |
| Derivatives: | |
| Adjective: unstaid Adverb: staidly, unstaidly Noun: staidness, unstaidness |
Adjective: stay-at-home Noun: stay-cation, staycation, stayer, staysail |
| Phrasal Verb | |
| stay behind stay down stay on stay over (of a guest or visitor) stay up stay with |
|
| History of the Word: | |
| From the mid-16th century and an archaic past participle of stay. |
|
C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!
Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Book Layout & Formatting Ideas, Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.
Resources for Staid versus Stayed
Apple Dictionary.com
Dictionary.com: stay
Oxford Dictionaries: staid
Pinterest Photo Credits
Burning of the Knights Templar is courtesy of Wikiwand. Svmeletij (background removed) by Unk (Askalon scan) is under the GFDL or the CC BY-SA 3.0 license. Stop Sign in Zimbabwe is ZooFari’s own work and is in the public domain. All three are via Wikimedia Commons.
