Is this your crossword clue?
"stays" is also used as a crossword clue. If that's what you saw, the answer is often corset (6 letters).
Definitions
a woman's close-fitting foundation garment
Used in a sentence
“Her face was whiter than snow, and her heart was throbbing through her stays.”
““Listen! I see it all — down, down even to the stays! Such stays! Six-eight a pair, Polly, with red flannel — or list is it? — that they put into the tops of those fearful things. I can draw you a picture of them.””
“Her throat was contracted, her breasts strove against the enlacement of her stays, she was about to weep.”
Source: Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0
Used as a crossword answer1 curated clues
01“Corset stiffeners”5 letters
Not quite right?
"Search similar patterns."
S____