at bay.

1. Kept at a distance or prevented from interfering, especially in keep or hold something at bay.

2. Cornered and obliged to resist an attacker, especially in older defensive or hunting usage.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• keep panic at bay
• hold pursuers at bay
• hold anxiety at bay

On the page

He kept panic at bay by counting the exits.

The locked grille held the pursuers at bay for a few minutes.

Cornered on the landing, she held her pursuers at bay with the fire extinguisher.

Usage notes

Primary category: fear. In keep/hold X at bay, X is the thing restrained: pursuers are kept away, or panic is prevented from taking over. The older cornered-defender sense is distinct. Neither sense names an emotion itself. Brought to bay is a related conventional construction, not a verb inflection of at bay. Fixed at bay; inflect the surrounding verb, as in keep/kept something at bay or hold/held someone at bay. The related brought to bay construction changes the preposition and is not an inflection of the selected headword.