• enPR: rĕd'i, IPA: /ˈɹɛdi/

ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)

1. Prepared for immediate action or use.

   The troops are ready for battle.

   The porridge is ready to serve.

   • 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […]”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: Printed by J. M[acock] for John Starkey […], OCLC 228732398 ↗, [https://archive.org/stream/paradiseregaindp00milt_0#page/{}/mode/1up page 87]:

     If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit:

   • Dinner was ready.

2. Inclined; apt to happen.
3. Liable at any moment.

   The seed is ready to sprout.

   • c. 1596–1598, William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to the True Originall Copies (First Folio), London: Printed by Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, OCLC 606515358 ↗, [Act IV, scene i]:

     My heart is ready to crack.

4. Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.

   Synonyms: dexterous, prompt, easy, expert

   a ready apprehension

   ready wit

   a ready writer or workman

   • 1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. [...] In Three Volumes, volume (please specify ), Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], OCLC 230694662 ↗:

5. 18, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter 13, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify ), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, OCLC 1069526323 ↗:

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175 ↗, 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 637556 ↗, page 188 ↗:

     "Apple of Death" is what the Jungle call thorn-apple or dhatura, the readiest poison in all India.

6. Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
   • 1667, John Milton, “Book 10 ↗”, in Paradise Lost. A Poem Written in Ten Books, London: Printed [by Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […] [a]nd by Robert Boulter […] [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], OCLC 228722708 ↗; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: The Text Exactly Reproduced from the First Edition of 1667: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, OCLC 230729554 ↗, line 1097:

     Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way,

   • A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.

• good to go

• unready

• French: prêt, prête
• German: bereit, fertig, gar (of food), parat
• Italian: pronto, preparato
• Portuguese: pronto, preparado
• Russian: гото́вый
• Spanish: preparado, listo

• Portuguese: pronto
• Spanish: inclinado, predispuesto

• Italian: pronto

• German: bereit

ready (readies, present participle readying; past and past participle readied)

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

• yark

• French: rendre disponible
• German: bereit machen, fertig machen, klar machen, vorbereiten
• Italian: preparare
• Portuguese: preparar, aprontar
• Spanish: preparar, alistar

ready

1. (slang) ready money; cash

   • Lord Strut was not flush in ready, either to go to law, or to clear old debts.

   • […] 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 […]

• already

1. Surname