English

Verb

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

1. (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.

2. (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.