ready

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See also: Ready

English

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( +‎ -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (“ready, prepared”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (“ready”), from (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *rēydʰ-, *rēy- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready". Cognate with Scots readie, reddy (“ready, prepared”), West Frisian ree (“ready”), Dutch gereed (“ready”), German bereit (“ready”), Danish rede (“ready”), Swedish redo (“ready, fit, prepared”), Norwegian reiug (“ready, prepared”), Icelandic greiður (“easy, light”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (garaiþs, “arranged, ordered”).

Pronunciation

  • enPR: rĕd'i, IPA(key): /ˈɹɛdi/
  • Audio (US)(file)
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Audio(file)
    Homophones: reddy
    Rhymes: -ɛdi
  • Hyphenation: read‧y

Adjective

ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)

  1. Prepared for immediate action or use.
    The troops are ready for battle.  The porridge is ready to serve.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit.
    • (Can we date this quote by Henry Fielding and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Dinner was ready.
  2. Inclined; apt to happen.
  3. Liable at any moment.
    The seed is ready to sprout.
  4. Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind; dexterous; prompt; easy; expert.
    a ready apprehension;  ready wit;  a ready writer or workman
    • (Can we date this quote by Sir Walter Scott and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      [...] whose temper was ready, through surly
    • The template Template:rfdatek does not use the parameter(s): 
      3=Thomas Macaulay
      Please see Module:checkparams for help with this warning.      (Can we date this quote by Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      ready in devising expedients
    • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 16:
      Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
    • 1895, Rudyard Kipling, “The King’s Ankus”, in The Second Jungle Book, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 188:
      "Apple of Death" is what the Jungle call thorn-apple or dhatura, the readiest poison in all India.
    • 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
      The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.
  5. Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
    • (Can we date this quote by John Milton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      the readiest way
    • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.

Synonyms

Antonyms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

ready (third-person singular simple present readies, present participle readying, simple past and past participle readied)

  1. (transitive) To prepare; to make ready for action.

Synonyms

Hypernyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Noun

ready (countable and uncountable, plural readies)

  1. (slang) ready money; cash
    • (Can we date this quote by Arbuthnot and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      Lord Strut was not flush in ready, either to go to law, or to clear old debts.
    • (Can we date this quote by Agnes Owens and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
      […] he was generous when he had the cash. Many a time he kept me going in drink through the week when I was stuck for the ready […]

Translations

cash — see cash

Related terms

Anagrams

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