stay wedge (stawej)

In locomotives, a wedge fitted to the inside bearings of the driving-axles to keep them in their proper position. S. T. D. An abbreviation of the Latin Sacræ or Sacrosanctæ Theolog iæ Doctor, Doctor of Sacred Theology. stead (sted), n. [Early mod. E. also sted; IMG:content-2042.png:[blocks in formation] So am I straytely sted. York Plays , p. 103. O father, we are cruelly sted between God's laws and man's laws - What shall we do? - What can we do? Scott, Heart of Mid-Lothian, xix. 3t. With up: to replace; fill. We shall advise this wronged maid to stead up your appointment, go in your place. Shak., M. for M., iii. 1. 260. 4. To avail; a ist; benefit; serve; be of service, advantage, or use to. We are neither in skill nor ability of power greatly to stead you. Sir P. Sidney, Arcadia, i. In my dealing with my child, my Latin and Greek, my accomplishments and my money, stead me nothing; but as much soul as I have avails. Emerson, The Over-Soul. II.t in trans. To stop; stay. IMG:content-2043.png:[blocks in formation] steadfast, stedfast (sted fast), fast, stede fast, stidefast, ste devest, studevest, pastr ), = fastr ), firm in its place (cf. Sw. stadfästa Dan. stadfæste, confirm, ratify), established in place or position. "Yes, yes," quod he, "this is the case, Your Iee is euer stedfast in on place. Generydes (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2772. Ye fleeting streams last long, outliving many a day; But on more stedfast things Time makes the strongest Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 148. 2. Firm; unyielding; unwavering; constant; prey. I leue the saying and gyfe stede to hym. Hampole , Prose Treatises (E. E. T. S.), p. 19. resolute. IMG:content-2044.png:[blocks in formation] Heavenly grace doth him uphold, And stedfast truth acquite him out of all. Spenser, F. Q., I. viii. 1. Stedfast in the faith. 1 Pet. v 9. Through all his [Warren Hastings's] disasters and perils, his brethren stood by him with steadfast loyalty. Macaulay , Warren Hastings. 3. Steady; unwavering; concentered. He loked fast on to hym in stede fast wise, And thought alway his sonne that he shuld be. Generydes (E. E. T. S.), l. 414. The homely villain court's ies to her low; And, blushing on her, with a steadfast eye Receives the scroll without or yea or no. Shak., Lucrece, 1. 1339. 31. Space of time; while; moment. Rest a little stead. Spenser, F. Q., VI. vii. 40. 4. The frame on which a bed is laid: now rarely used except in the compound bedstead. But in the gloomy court was rais'd a bed, Stuff'd with black plumes, and on an ebon stead. Dryden, tr. of Ovid's Meta morph., x. 293. 51. A steading. - 6t. Position or situation of affairs; state; condition; plight. She was my solas, my ioy in ech stede , My plesaunce, my comfort, my delite to! Rom . of Partenay (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2886. He staggered to and fro in doubt full sted. Spenser, F. Q., V. xii. 23. 7. A istance; service; use; benefit; advantage; avail: usually in the phrases to stand in stead, to do stead (to render service). Here our dogs pottage stood vs in good stead , for we had nothing els. Quoted in Capt . John Smith's Works, I. 90. The Duke of Savoy felt that the time had at last arrived when an adroit diplomacy might stand him in stead . Motley, Dutch Republic, I. 200. A devil's advocate may indeed urge that his [Thiers's] egotism and almost gasconading temperament stood him in stead in the trying circumstances of his negotiations with the powers and with Prince Bismarck-but this is not really to his discredit. Encyc. Brit ., XXIII. 305. Stead oft, instead of. Political Poems, etc. (ed. Furnivall), p. 48. To do stead, to do service; help. Milton, Comus, 1. 611. [Rare.] - To stand in stead. See stand. [ Stead occurs as the second element in many topographical names, as Hampstead, Winsted.] stead (sted), r. [ ME. stedfastly, stedefæstlice; Hesiod maketh him [Orion] the sonne of Neptune and Euriale; to whom his father gaue that vertue, to walk as stedfastly vpon the sea as the land. Heywood, Hierarchy of Angels, p. 177. (b) Steadily; fixedly; intently. Look on me stedfastly , and, whatsoe'er I say to you, Move not, nor alter in your face. (c) A uredly; certainly. Fletcher, Wild goose Chase, iv. 2. Your woful mooder wende stedfastly That cruel houndes or som foul vermyne Hadde eten yow. Chaucer, Clerk's Tale, 1. 1038.