mainstay

[ meyn-stey ]

noun

1. Nautical. the stay that secures the mainmast forward.
2. a person or thing that acts as a chief support or part:

   Coffee is the mainstay of the country's economy.

   Synonyms: prop, anchor, bulwark, pillar

mainstay

/ ˈmeɪnˌsteɪ /

noun

1. nautical the forestay that braces the mainmast
2. a chief support

Word History and Origins

Origin of mainstay¹

First recorded in 1475–85; main ¹ + stay ²

Example Sentences

Helium use started in 1927 and has been a mainstay of the parade since, with the exception of the year 1958, when a global helium shortage kept the balloons closer to earth.

From Popular-Science

Founded by Hong Kong immigrant Patrick Lo in 1996, Netgear set up shop in San Jose, California, and has been a mainstay of networking hardware since the dawn of the internet.

From Popular-Science

Bread at the readyWarm, crusty, butter-melting bread that comes straight from the oven—or at least out of a professional warmer—is a mainstay in countless eateries.

From Popular-Science

Taking on Big Tech has been a mainstay in the national conversation ever since the 2016 Presidential election, but this is the first antitrust action taken against Google.

From Search Engine Watch

They now share the blocks with mainstays such as Floriana and JR.

From Washington Blade

Eventually, DeCrow and Seidenberg filed suit against the East Village mainstay.

From The Daily Beast

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

From The Daily Beast

Conceptually, the “Angel of Death” was a cultural mainstay in continental Europe and the British Isles by the late Middle Ages.

From The Daily Beast

Foreign fighters are a mainstay of the rebellion against Assad.

From The 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.

From The Daily Beast

It is with profound regret that we cannot point to Harwood as a football hero or the mainstay of the crew.

From Project Gutenberg

We find a strong offset to the horror of Aztec cruelty in the very Bible, which we regard as the mainstay of our religious world.

From Project Gutenberg

Many of the Americans now fancied, like the British, that since Lee was a prisoner their mainstay was gone.

From Project Gutenberg

We have been told ad nauseam that the purchase system has been the mainstay of the British army.

From Project Gutenberg

Panto was indeed the mainstay of his business; it was even the warp and woof of his life.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• backbone
• bulwark
• linchpin
• pillar