staid

comparative staider · superlative staidest

1. Not capricious or impulsive; sedate, serious, sober.

   Put thy ſelfe / Into a hauiour of leſſe feare, ere wildneſſe / Vanquiſh my ſtayder Senſes.

   1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv], page 382, column 2

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   The hours of study, the hours of recreation, the sports, the pastimes, the casualties, which in the staider years of life pass without note or comment, alike are wrapped and muffled in the one roseate haze.

   1835, [Louisa Sidney Stanhope], chapter III, in Sydney Beresford. A Tale of the Day. … In Three Volumes, volume I, London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, […], →OCLC, pages 70–71

   As for Peter, he was the happiest of the happy, and had sung and whistled so joyously while skating that the staidest passers-by had smiled as they listened.

   1866, M[ary] E[lizabeth] Dodge [i.e., Mary Mapes Dodge], “A Catastrophe”, in Hans Brinker; or, The Silver Skates. A Story of Life in Holland, New York, N.Y.: James O’Kane, […], →OCLC, page 97

   He wondered what had become of the boys who were his companions: they were nearly thirty now; some would be dead, but others were married and had children; they were soldiers and parsons, doctors, lawyers; they were staid men who were beginning to put youth behind them. Had any of them made such a hash of life as he?

   1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter CXII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, →OCLC, pages 594–595

   I was just thinking that it's sure been a long time since you've pulled one of your great practical jokes. You've gotten downright boring lately, Cody. Staid, even.

   1996, Gina Ferris Wilkins, chapter 1, in Cody’s Fiancée (Silhouette Special Edition; 1006), New York, N.Y.: Silhouette, →ISBN; republished Don Mills, Ont.: Harlequin, 2013, →ISBN

   Meetings between Pakistani and American leaders are traditionally staid and predictable, although some Pakistanis are fond of recalling an apocryphal 1963 exchange between John F. Kennedy and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto – father of slain Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, to whom [Asif Ali] Zardari was married. Impressed by the then Foreign Minister, who would become Prime Minister before being deposed by a U.S.-backed military dictator in 1977 and later executed, Kennedy is alleged to have said, "If you were an American, you would be in my Cabinet." Bhutto is alleged to have answered, "Be careful, Mr. President. If I were an American, you would be in my Cabinet."

   2008 September 26, Omar Waraich, “How Sarah Palin Rallied Pakistan’s Feminists”, in Time, New York, N.Y.: Time Warner Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 17 May 2017

   Synonyms: composed, dignified, regular, steady, austere, frightful, demure, serious · Antonyms: fanciful, unpredictable, volatile, wild

2. rareAlways fixed in the same location; stationary.

   'Tis not age or height alone / Can secure the staidest throne / From the reach of Change or Death,— […]

   1814, Leigh Hunt, The Descent of Liberty, a Mask, London: […] Gale, Curtis, and Fenner, […], published 1815, →OCLC, scene III, page 42

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   [I]n a common sailor's life sleep is not a regular thing as we have it on shore, and perhaps that staid glazy and sedate-looking eye, which a hard-worked seaman usually has, is really caused by broken slumber. He is never completely awake, but he is never entirely asleep.

   1867, John MacGregor, chapter II, in The Voyage Alone in the Yawl “Rob Roy,” from London to Paris, and back by Havre, the Isle of Wight, South Coast, &c., London: Sampson Low, Son, and Marston, […], →OCLC, page 37

1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of stayed.

   Still the people were below and did not see many things, but the Sun staid higher up and saw more.

   1898, James Mooney, The Jicarilla genesis

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   The Company had now ſtaid ſo long, that Mrs. Fitzpatrick plainly perceived they all deſigned to ſtay out each other. She therefore reſolved to rid herſelf of Jones, he being the Viſitant, to whom ſhe thought the leaſt Ceremony was due.

   1749, Henry Fielding, “Which Consists of Visiting”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume V, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XIII (CONTAINING THE SPACE OF TWELVE DAYS), page 29

   Though Darcy could never receive him at Pemberley, yet, for Elizabeth's sake, he assisted him farther in his profession. Lydia was occasionally a visitor there, when her husband was gone to enjoy himself in London or Bath; and with the Bingleys they both of them frequently staid so long, that even Bingley's good humour was overcome, and he proceeded so far as to talk of giving them a hint to be gone.

   1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XIX, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 320