ray
see also: Ray
Pronunciation Etymology 1

Via Middle English, borrowed from Old French rai, from Latin radius.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

  1. A beam of light or radiation.
    I saw a ray of light through the clouds.
  2. (zoology) A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
  3. (zoology) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
  4. (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.
  5. (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.
  6. (mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.
  7. (colloquial) A tiny amount.
    Unfortunately he didn't have a ray of hope.
Translations Translations Translations
  • German: Hoffnungsstrahl (ray of hope)
  • Italian: raggio
  • Portuguese: pingo, fio
Verb

ray (rays, present participle raying; simple past and past participle rayed)

  1. (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.
  2. (intransitive) To radiate as if in rays.
  3. (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.
Etymology 2

From Middle English raye, rayȝe, from Old French raie, from Latin raia, of uncertain origin.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

  1. A marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail.
Translations Etymology 3

Shortened from array.

Verb

ray (rays, present participle raying; simple past and past participle rayed)

  1. (obsolete) To arrange. [14th]
  2. (now rare) To dress, array (someone). [from 14th c.]
  3. (obsolete) To stain or soil; to defile. [16th]
    • 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

ray (uncountable)

  1. (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

From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

  1. The letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.
Related terms
  • ar, in Latin and the name of the other Pitman r
Etymology 5

Alternative forms.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

  1. (music) Alternative form of re

Ray
Etymology 1
  • As an English surname, from pet forms derived from the root of Raymond.
  • Also as an English surname, from Old French rei.
  • Also as an English surname, from Old English .
  • Also as an English surname, variant of Wray and Rye.
  • As a Scottish Gaelic - surname, shortened from McRae.
  • As a French - surname, from the verb raier.
  • As a Polish - and Slovenian - surname, Americanized from Raj, from raj.
  • As an Indian surname, variant of Rai.
Proper noun
  1. Surname.
  2. A male given name, also used as a formal given name.
  3. A female given name, more often spelled Rae.
  4. A number of places in USA:
    1. CDP in Coosa County, Alabama.
    2. A ghost town in Pinal County, Arizona.
    3. An unincorporated community in Fremont, Steuben County.
    4. A twp in Macomb County, Michigan.
    5. An unincorporated community in Koochiching County, Minnesota.
    6. A minor city in Williams County, North Dakota.
  5. A river in Buckinghamshire, and.
  6. A river in north Wiltshire.
Etymology 2

From Persian ری, from Pahlavi -, from Old Persian 𐎼𐎥𐎠, a Median district.

Proper noun
  1. A city near Tehran, Iran.
  2. (historical) a region and satrapy in ancient Iran located between the Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges and the Dasht-e Kavir desert; Rhagiana
Synonyms
  • Arsacia
Related terms


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