relay

See also re-lay

English

Wikipedia

Etymology 1

From Middle French relai (“reserve pack of hounds”), from relaier (“to exchange tired animals for fresh”); literally, "to leave behind", from Old French relaier (“to leave behind”), from re- + laier (“to leave”), of uncertain origin.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˈɹiːleɪ/
• (US) IPA: /ˈɹileɪ/
• Rhymes: -iːleɪ

Noun

relay (plural relays)

1. (hunting, now rare) A new set of hounds. [from 15th c.]
2. (now chiefly historical) A new set of horses kept along a specific route so that they can replace animals that are tired. [from 17th c.]
3. A series of vehicles travelling in sequence. [from 18th c.]
4. (athletics) A track and field discipline where runners take turns in carrying a baton from start to finish. Most common events are 4x100 meter and 4x400 meter competitions. [from 19th c.]
5. (electronics) An electrical actuator that allows a relatively small electrical voltage or current to control a larger voltage or current. [from 19th c.]

Derived terms

• relay race

Translations

electrical actuator

• Catalan: relé (ca) m
• Czech: relé (cs) n
• Finnish: rele (fi)
• French: relais (fr) m, relai (fr) m
• German: Relais (de) n
• Hungarian: relé (hu)
• Icelandic: liði (is) m, rafliði (is) m
• Italian: attuatore (it), ripetitore (it) m

• Polish: przekaźnik (pl) m
• Portuguese: relé (pt) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: рѐле̄ј (sh) m

  Roman: rèlēj (sh) m

• Slovene: relé (sl) m
• Spanish: relé (es) m
• Swedish: relä (sv) n

athletics discipline

• Bulgarian: щафета (bg) (štafeta) f 
• Catalan: relleus (ca) m pl
• Czech: štafeta (cs) f
• Finnish: viesti (fi), viestijuoksu (fi)
• German: Staffellauf (de) m
• Icelandic: boðhlaup (is) n
• Italian: staffetta (it) f
• Norwegian: stafett (no) m

• Polish: sztafeta (pl) f
• Portuguese: revezamento (pt) m
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: штафе́та (sh) f

  Roman: štaféta (sh) f

• Slovene: štaféta (sl) f
• Spanish: relevos (es) m pl
• Swedish: stafett (sv) c

Verb

relay (third-person singular simple present relays, present participle relaying, simple past and past participle relayed)

1. (obsolete, intransitive, hunting) To release a new set of hounds. [15th-17th c.]
2. (transitive, now rare) To place (people or horses) in relays, such that one can take over form another. [from 18th c.]
3. (intransitive, now rare) To take on a new relay of horses; to change horses. [from 19th c.]
4. (transitive) To pass on or transfer (information). [from 19th c.]

Synonyms

• (to relay a message): convey

Translations

to pass or transfer from one person to another, especially repeatedly through a series of persons

• Catalan: rellevar (ca)
• Czech: předat (cs)
• Finnish: välittää, kertoa eteenpäin
• French: transmettre (fr)

• Italian: comunicare (it)
• Polish: przekazać (pl), przekazywać (pl)
• Russian: передавать (ru) (peredavatʹ)
• Spanish: relevar (es)

take on new set of horses

• French: relayer (fr)

Etymology 2

re- +‎ lay

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA: /ˌɹiːˈleɪ/
• (US) IPA: /ˌɻiˈleɪ/
• Rhymes: -iːleɪ
• Homophone: re-lay

Verb

relay (third-person singular simple present relays, present participle relaying, simple past and past participle relaid)

1. Alternative spelling of re-lay.