"stay the course" meaning in English

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stays the course",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "staying the course",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stayed the course",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stayed the course",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "stay the course (third-person singular simple present stays the course, present participle staying the course, simple past and past participle stayed the course)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with French translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "If you decide to stay the course and finish engineering school, it will mean long hours and sleepless nights.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 132:",
          "text": "This sort of thing is meat and drink to the born Controller—and Controllers are born with the right imperturbable temperament for the job; hence the fact that they are recruited from many different grades of operating staff, and some recruits don't stay the course.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To persist or continue."
      ],
      "id": "en-stay_the_course-en-verb-SdDwVGgl",
      "links": [
        [
          "persist",
          "persist"
        ],
        [
          "continue",
          "continue"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To persist or continue."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "go the distance"
        },
        {
          "word": "stay the distance"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "stay the distance"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "pysyä suunnitelmassaan"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "word": "garder le cap"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "trzymać kurs"
        },
        {
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "sense": "Translations",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "utrzymać kurs"
        }
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "stay the course"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-stay the course.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ae/En-au-stay_the_course.ogg/En-au-stay_the_course.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/En-au-stay_the_course.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "stay the course"
}

{
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "stays the course",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "staying the course",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stayed the course",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "stayed the course",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "stay the course (third-person singular simple present stays the course, present participle staying the course, simple past and past participle stayed the course)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "go the distance"
    },
    {
      "word": "stay the distance"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with Polish translations",
        "Translation table header lacks gloss"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "If you decide to stay the course and finish engineering school, it will mean long hours and sleepless nights.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "ref": "1962 August, G. Freeman Allen, “Traffic control on the Great Northern Line”, in Modern Railways, page 132:",
          "text": "This sort of thing is meat and drink to the born Controller—and Controllers are born with the right imperturbable temperament for the job; hence the fact that they are recruited from many different grades of operating staff, and some recruits don't stay the course.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To persist or continue."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "persist",
          "persist"
        ],
        [
          "continue",
          "continue"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To persist or continue."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "stay the course"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-stay the course.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/ae/En-au-stay_the_course.ogg/En-au-stay_the_course.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/ae/En-au-stay_the_course.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "word": "stay the distance"
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "pysyä suunnitelmassaan"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "word": "garder le cap"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "trzymać kurs"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "sense": "Translations",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "utrzymać kurs"
    }
  ],
  "word": "stay the course"
}