stay-at-homeadj.n.
/ˈsteɪət(h)əʊm/, U.S. /ˈsteɪətˌ(h)oʊm/ (in sense B. 2 also)Brit. /ˌsteɪətˈhəʊm/, U.S. /ˌsteɪətˈhoʊm/ A. adj.
That stays at home, not given to travelling or to gadding abroad; hence untravelled. Also spec. avoiding going abroad on military service.
ΘΚΠ
society > inhabiting and dwelling > [adjective] > dwelling at home
home-keepinga1616
stay-at-home1806
home-living1828
society > travel > aspects of travel > condition of not travelling > [adjective]
untravelled1585
unaireda1640
ingle-bred1788
unwandered1799
stay-at-home1806
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > type of soldier generally > [adjective] > avoiding going abroad
stay-at-home1861
1806 G. Pinckard Notes W. Indies III. 342 The extravagant alarm pictured by the fearful imaginations of stay-at-home travellers.
1814 J. Austen Mansfield Park I. v. 95 A talking pretty young woman like Miss Crawford, is always pleasant society to an indolent, stay-at-home man. View more context for this quotation
1819 Lady Morgan in Passages from Autobiogr. (1859) 326 I went to bed most depressed, and in admiration of your stay-at-home wisdom.
1861 O. W. Holmes Sweet Little Man 35 In the brigade of the Stay-at-Home Rangers Marches my corps.
1902 C. J. Cornish Naturalist on Thames 152 It is in the woods that the stay-at-home birds are most in evidence in winter.
1946 W. S. Churchill Victory 78 You hear all this talk by the stay-at-home Left Wing intelligentsia that the soldiers will hold us guilty if we do not have a new world waiting for them on their return.
B. n.
1. A person who stays at home, one not given to travelling or gadding abroad; spec. a person who avoids going abroad on military service. Also transferred.
ΘΚΠ
society > society and the community > social relations > lack of social communication or relations > [noun] > attachment to home life > person
house dove1579
houseling1598
house bird1601
home-sittera1657
housekeepera1741
Sunday man1769
homester1819
homebird1821
homebody1821
stay-at-home1836
homeboy1847
homegirl1847
stay-putter1927
society > armed hostility > warrior > soldier > type of soldier generally > [noun] > avoiding going abroad
stay-at-home1883
1836 C. Dickens Let. ?27 Nov. (1965) I. 200 Mrs. Dickens is a great stay-at-home just now.
1841 C. Dickens Barnaby Rudge i. 229 Sixty-six years ago a vast number both of travellers and stay-at-homes were in this condition.
1855 C. Kingsley Westward Ho! xv If some of you young gentlemen would..go forth to find us stay-at-homes new markets for our ware.
1883 A. Pinkerton Spy of Rebellion xxv. 499 Extravagant ideas of a struggle which should be ‘short, sharp and decisive’, were the only ones entertained by the great army of ‘stay at homes’.
1918 Nation (N.Y.) 7 Feb. 131/1 Students..accused as stay-at-homes, unwilling to fight and suffer for the Fatherland.
1949 E. Hyams Grape Vine in England 143 Not by any means all the root-dwelling insects change into winged insects. The stay-at-homes winter among the roots of the vines.
1981 A. Cooke in N.Y. Times Mag. 19 July 6/4 We..sent in ‘technicians’ and followed them up with a blood sacrifice, but burdened the stay-at-homes with no extra taxes.
2. A staying at home, spec. a strike.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > working > labour relations > [noun] > strike > other types of strike
stay-away1867
sympathetic strike1899
stay-in1915
sympathy strike1937
token strike1947
hiccup strike1950
token stoppage1954
stay-at-home1959
1959 New Statesman 28 Feb. 302/3 Living in a neon-world of semi-legality, its leadership organises conferences and ‘stay-at-homes’ as if keeping the government informed about its intentions was a rule in the revolutionary game.
1960 Guardian 20 Apr. 18/1 They disagreed on whether the stay-at-home should be for a day or a week.
1976 Times 24 Aug. 1/4 If today's stay-at-home is maintained..the organizers will have demonstrated that they are capable of arranging mass protests among urban blacks.
Derivatives
nonce-words.
stay-at-homeativeness n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > condition of not travelling > [noun]
stay-at-homeitiveness1822
stay-at-homeativeness1826
stay-at-homeishness1880
1826 Westm. Rev. 6 327 Their un-Italianized countrymen, who are endowed with Spurzheim's bump, denominated stayathomeativeness.
stay-at-homeishness n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > condition of not travelling > [noun]
stay-at-homeitiveness1822
stay-at-homeativeness1826
stay-at-homeishness1880
1880 Daily Tel. 22 Sept. Our national tendency towards ‘stay-at-homeishness’.
stay-at-homeitiveness n.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > aspects of travel > condition of not travelling > [noun]
stay-at-homeitiveness1822
stay-at-homeativeness1826
stay-at-homeishness1880
1822 T. L. Peacock Maid Marian i. 15 Domesticity, or, as learned doctors call it, the faculty of stayathomeitiveness.
Draft additions January 2018
Designating a person who does not go out to work, esp. a parent engaged in the full-time care of children, as stay-at-home dad, stay-at-home mom, stay-at-home mum, etc.
ΚΠ
1913 Jrnl. Med. Soc. New Jersey 9 271/2 The women who go out to work are naturally somewhat more thrifty, energetic and determined not to get below the poverty line than the stay-at-home mothers.
1921 Glovers Rev. Aug. 63/2 Both the business girl and the stay-at-home women are both in the habit of making week-end trips during August.
1958 Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City) 5 May 3/3 (advt.) A gay cobbler apron for stay-at-home moms!
1972 Amer. Jrnl. Compar. Law 20 699 The Court's approach applies in the case of a stay-at-home wife as well as in the case of a wife gainfully employed outside.
1999 J. O'Brien Social Prisms 189 A man who is highly educated and capable of securing a well-paying job may be socially ridiculed if he chooses to be a stay-at-home dad.
2016 Sun (Ireland ed.) (Nexis) 22 June 33 A cake stall at a jumble sale used to just be a cake stall. Now it is the stay-at-home mum's chance to channel her inner Mary Berry.
Draft additions June 2021
Designating a policy, order, etc., requiring people to stay in their homes for public health or safety reasons; (now) esp. designating a government directive intended to inhibit the spread of an infectious disease, requiring people to remain at home except for certain types of essential work or tasks. Esp. in stay-at-home order.
ΚΠ
1893 Amer. Practitioner & News 6 May 330 On the development of an epidemic of cholera it is well for all..to remain at home... Modern treatment..sustains the ‘stay-at-home’ policy.
1947 U.S. Dept. State Bull. 14 Dec. 1196/2 A mob..broke into the American Legation at Damascus... Mr. Memminger..sent a stay-at-home order to all Americans who could be reached.
2006 Windsor (Ontario) Star (Final ed.) (Nexis) 4 July a1 A proposed plan that maps out the city's strategy during an influenza pandemic will be presented to council for approval... It also outlines personal hygiene plus stay-at-home policies for work or those caring for ill family members.
2020 Wall St. Jrnl. 15 Aug. d2/2 This year, we've had to navigate work-from-home policies and stay-at-home orders.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1915; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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adj.n.1806