unstayed

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ stayed.

Adjective

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

• Dauntsey, unsteady