Stayed to meander about. I went inside (8)
I believe the answer is:
remained
'stayed' is the definition.
('remain' can be a synonym of 'stay')
'about i went inside' is the wordplay.
'about' shows that the letters should be reversed in order.
'i' becomes 'me'.
'went' becomes 'rained' (I can't explain this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'inside' indicates putting letters inside.
'me' reversed gives 'em'.
'em' going within 'rained' is 'REMAINED'.
'to meander' is the link.
This may not be correct. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for remained that I've seen before include "Stayed behind" , "didn't move" , "Stayed put as I meander" , "Was left" .)