3 ms·
It's just an awkward/antiquated phrasing. "Stay" isn't used much anymore except for "stay of execution."
by wavefunction 12y ago
It's just an awkward/antiquated phrasing. "Stay" isn't used much anymore except for "stay of execution."
- dllthomas 12y agoAlso, "stay one's hand". Still rare and a bit antiquated, but occurs more frequently than "stay" in this sense more generally (... is my impression). For some data: https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%2B+stay+your+hand+%2B+stay+his+hand+%2B+stay+her+hand+%2B+stay+their+hands%2Cstay+of+execution&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2C%28stay%20my%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20your%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20his%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20her%20hand%20%2B%20stay%20their%20hands%29%3B%2Cc0%3B.t1%3B%2Cstay%20of%20execution%3B%2Cc0 https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=stay+my+hand+%...