ray
Jump to navigation
Jump to search
English[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Etymology 1[edit]
Via Middle English, borrowed from Old French rai, from Latin radius (“staff, stake, spoke”). Doublet of radius.
Noun[edit]
ray (plural rays)
- A beam of light or radiation.
- I saw a ray of light through the clouds.
- (zoology) A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
- (zoology) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
- (botany) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, such as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius.
- (obsolete) Sight; perception; vision; from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.
- 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
- All eyes direct their rays / On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.
- (mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.
- (colloquial) A tiny amount.
- Unfortunately he didn't have a ray of hope.
Hyponyms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
Terms derived from ray
Translations[edit]
beam of light or radiation
| ||||||||
reinforcing in a fish's fin
mathematics: line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point
|
colloquial: tiny amount
Verb[edit]
ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)
- (transitive) To emit something as if in rays.
- 1889, Robert Browning, letter to Dr. Furnivall:
- I had no particular woman in my mind; certainly never intended to personify wisdom, philosophy, or any other abstraction; and the orb, raying colour out of whiteness, was altogether a fancy of my own.
- (intransitive) To radiate as if in rays.
- (transitive) To expose to radiation.
- 1928, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, page 219:
- Rats' eyes with ulcus serpens were successfully treated; one second of raying stopped the progress of the ulcer, which healed uninterruptedly.
Translations[edit]
to emit something as if in rays, to radiate as if in rays
Etymology 2[edit]
From Middle English raye, rayȝe, from Old French raie, from Latin raia, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle English reyhhe, reihe, reȝge (“ray, skate”), from Old English reohhe (“ray”).
Noun[edit]
ray (plural rays)
- A marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail.
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail
|
Etymology 3[edit]
Shortened from array.
Verb[edit]
ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)
- (obsolete) To arrange. [14th–18th c.]
- (now rare) To dress, array (someone). [from 14th c.]
- (obsolete) To stain or soil; to defile. [16th–19th c.]
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:
- From his soft eyes the teares he wypt away, / And from his face the filth that did it ray […] .
Noun[edit]
ray (uncountable)
- (obsolete) Array; order; arrangement; dress.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 50:
- spoyling all her geares and goodly ray
Etymology 4[edit]
From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.
Noun[edit]
ray (plural rays)
- The letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.
Related terms[edit]
- ar, in Latin and the name of the other Pitman r
Etymology 5[edit]
Alternative forms.
Noun[edit]
ray (plural rays)
Anagrams[edit]
Ainu[edit]
Etymology[edit]
(This etymology is missing or incomplete. Please add to it, or discuss it at the Etymology scriptorium.)
Pronunciation[edit]
Verb[edit]
ray (Kana spelling ラィ)
- (intransitive) to die
Derived terms[edit]
- rayke (“to kill”)
Bikol Central[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
ray
- Clipping of rahay.
Buhi'non Bikol[edit]
Noun[edit]
ray
Derived terms[edit]
Northern Kurdish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Pronunciation[edit]
Noun[edit]
ray ?
Turkish[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Ottoman Turkish رای, from French rail.
Noun[edit]
ray (definite accusative rayı, plural raylar)
References[edit]
- Avery, Robert et al., editors (2013) The Redhouse Dictionary Turkish/Ottoman English, 21st edition, Istanbul: Sev Yayıncılık, →ISBN
Categories:
- English 1-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/1 syllable
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Old French
- English terms derived from Latin
- English doublets
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English terms with usage examples
- en:Zoology
- en:Botany
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- en:Mathematics
- English colloquialisms
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- English terms with rare senses
- English uncountable nouns
- en:Music
- en:Shapes
- en:Rays and skates
- Ainu terms with IPA pronunciation
- Ainu lemmas
- Ainu verbs
- Ainu intransitive verbs
- Bikol Central terms with IPA pronunciation
- Bikol Central lemmas
- Bikol Central nouns
- Bikol Central clippings
- Buhi'non Bikol lemmas
- Buhi'non Bikol nouns
- Northern Kurdish terms borrowed from Arabic
- Northern Kurdish terms derived from Arabic
- Northern Kurdish 1-syllable words
- Northern Kurdish terms with IPA pronunciation
- Northern Kurdish lemmas
- Northern Kurdish nouns
- Turkish terms inherited from Ottoman Turkish
- Turkish terms derived from Ottoman Turkish
- Turkish terms derived from French
- Turkish lemmas
- Turkish nouns