Upstay

verb

verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Verb
  1. 1
    To sustain, support. archaic

    "those two villeins, which her steps vpstayd, / When her weake feete could scarcely her sustaine, / And fading vitall powers gan to fade, / Her forward still with torture did constraine […]"

Example

More examples

"those two villeins, which her steps vpstayd, / When her weake feete could scarcely her sustaine, / And fading vitall powers gan to fade, / Her forward still with torture did constraine […]"

Etymology

From up- + stay.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.