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mainstay

[ meyn-stey ]

/ ˈmeɪnˌsteɪ /

SEE SYNONYMS FOR mainstay ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

Nautical. the stay that secures the mainmast forward.

a person or thing that acts as a chief support or part: Coffee is the mainstay of the country's economy.

Origin of mainstay

First recorded in 1475–85; main¹ + stay²

SYNONYMS FOR mainstay

2 pillar, bulwark, anchor, prop.

SEE SYNONYMS FOR mainstay ON THESAURUS.COM

Words nearby mainstay

mainour, mains, mainsail, mainsheet, mainspring, mainstay, mainstream, mainstream corporation tax, mainstreamer, mainstreaming, mainstreeting

Example sentences from the Web for mainstay

De Robertis, an East Village mainstay, closes tomorrow—a moment for nostalgia, but also pragmatism.

De Robertis, a New York Great, Bids Farewell |Lizzie Crocker |December 4, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
Foreign fighters are a mainstay of the rebellion against Assad.

Syria’s Terror Blowback Threatens Europe and the United States |Bruce Riedel |May 5, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The one problem with Braley's remark is that it happened to reflect on a fellow Iowan who is a mainstay of Hawkeye State politics.

Picking Crops And Picking Judges |Ben Jacobs |March 25, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
The social media site has become a mainstay for propaganda and recruiting for most major groups.

Syria’s Jihadist Twitter Wars |Bill Roggio |February 16, 2014 |DAILY BEAST

Disobedience of the rules is a mainstay of nonviolent resistance.

Love Trumped Rules for Fired Methodist Rev. Frank Schaefer |Gene Robinson |December 20, 2013 |DAILY BEAST
(p. 046) Throughout 1914 Paul was the mainstay of the magazine.

War Letters of a Public-School Boy |Paul Jones.
In this guerrilla the archer, though he kept his place, soon ceased to be the mainstay of battle.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 14, Slice 5 |Various
Code, racked and embarrassed, looked around for his mother, but that mainstay was nowhere in sight.

The Harbor of Doubt |Frank Williams
The Britons, just as much as himself, understood corn as the staff of life, the mainstay of war as well as of peace.

Elizabethan England |William Harrison
It is the old, old story of “pious fraud,” the mainstay of the Christian Faith.

The Churches and Modern Thought |Philip Vivian

British Dictionary definitions for mainstay

mainstay

/ (ˈmeɪnˌsteɪ) /

noun

nautical the forestay that braces the mainmast

a chief support