• (RP, GA) IPA: /steɪd/
• (Scotland) IPA: /sted/

staid (comparative staider, superlative staidest)

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

   Synonyms: composed, dignified, regular, steady, Thesaurus:serious, Thesaurus:temperate

   Antonyms: fanciful, unpredictable, volatile, wild

   • 1611 April (first recorded performance)​, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act III, scene iv], page 382 ↗, column 2:

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

   • 1915, W[illiam] Somerset Maugham, chapter CXII, in Of Human Bondage, New York, N.Y.: George H[enry] Doran Company, OCLC 890513588 ↗, pages 594–595 ↗:

     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?

2. (rare) Always fixed#Adjective|fixed in the same location; stationary.
   • 1814, Leigh Hunt, The Descent of Liberty, a Mask, London: Printed for Gale, Curtis, and Fenner, […], published 1815, OCLC 709322 ↗, scene III, page 42 ↗:

     'Tis not age or height alone / Can secure the staidest throne / From the reach of Change or Death,— {{...}

• French: guindé, guindée
• Italian: canuto, canuta (poetic), posato, posata, serioso, seriosa
• Russian: степенный

• Russian: неподви́жный

1. Obsolete spelling of stayed#English|stayed
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “Which Consists of Visiting”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes, volume V, London: Printed by A[ndrew] Millar, […], OCLC 928184292 ↗, book XIII (Containing the Space of Twelve Days), page 29 ↗:

     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.

   • 1813 January 26, [Jane Austen], chapter XIX, in Pride and Prejudice: A Novel. In Three Volumes, volume III, London: Printed [by George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], OCLC 38659585 ↗, page 320 ↗:

     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.