unstay

English[edit]

From un- +‎ stay.

unstay (third-person singular simple present unstays, present participle unstaying, simple past and past participle unstayed)

(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.
(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.