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ray

noun
/ɹeɪ/US

Etymology

* As an English surname, from pet forms derived from the root of Raymond. * Also as an English surname, from Old French rei (“king”). Compare Roy, King. * Also as an English surname, from Old English rā (“roe deer”). Compare Roe. * 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 (“to gush out, flow, radiate”). Compare Leray. * As a Polish and Slovene surname, Americanized from Raj, from raj (“paradise”). * As an Indian surname, variant of Rai.

  1. derived from rā — “roe deer”
  2. derived from rei — “king”

Definitions

  1. A beam of light or radiation.

    • I saw a ray of light through the clouds.
    • Strangely light and delicate was his frame and seeming, yet with a sense of slumbering power beneath, as the delicate peak of a snow mountain seen afar in the low red rays of morning.

  2. A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.

  3. One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an…

    One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.

  4. ›+ 21 more definitions

    1. A radiating part of a flower or plant

      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.

    2. Sight

      Sight; perception; vision; from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.

      • All eyes direct their rays / On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.

    3. A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.

    4. To emit something as if in rays.

      • 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.

    5. To radiate as if in rays.

    6. To expose to radiation.

      • Rats' eyes with ulcus serpens were successfully treated; one second of raying stopped the progress of the ulcer, which healed uninterruptedly.

    7. Any of the superorder Batoidea of marine fish with flat bodies, large wing-like fins, and…

      Any of the superorder Batoidea of marine fish with flat bodies, large wing-like fins, and whip-like tails.

    8. To arrange.

    9. To dress, array (someone).

    10. To stain or soil

      To stain or soil; to defile.

      • From his soft eyes the teares he wypt away, / And from his face the filth that did it ray […].

    11. Array

      Array; order; arrangement; dress.

      • spoyling all her geares and goodly ray

    12. The letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.

    13. Alternative form of re.

    14. A surname transferred from the nickname.

    15. A diminutive of the male given names Raymond, Rayane, or Rayan, also used as a formal…

      A diminutive of the male given names Raymond, Rayane, or Rayan, also used as a formal given name.

      • -, or Raymond if it happened to be a boy, choosing it in the hope that a name like Ray would make a boy's life easier.
      • Although the name on his birth certificate was spelled "Ray", Ray said he was originally given the name "Rae" after Rae Williams, a cousin on his father's side.
      • Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood linked the drunken driving and distracted driving issues in his statement announcing the meeting.

    16. A diminutive of the female given name Rachel, more often spelled Rae.

      • 'Rachel told me―' 'Call her Ray. She hates Rachel.'

    17. A number of places in the United States

      A number of places in the United States:

    18. A river in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire, England, which joins the River Cherwell.

    19. A river in north Wiltshire, England, which joins the Thames.

    20. A city near Tehran, Iran.

    21. A region and satrapy in ancient Iran located between the Alborz and Zagros mountain…

      A region and satrapy in ancient Iran located between the Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges and the Dasht-e Kavir desert; Rhagiana.

The neighborhood

Derived

alpha ray, anticrepuscular ray, Becquerel calorific ray, Becquerel ray, beray, Blu-ray, calorific ray, catch some rays, cosmic ray, crepuscular ray, distributed ray tracing, eigenray, extraordinary ray, finray, god ray, grocery shrink ray, Gurwitsch ray, half-ray, heat-ray, hemiray, Lenard ray, lightray, medullary ray, meridional ray, mitogenetic ray, number ray, outray, raycaster, ray casting, ray floret, rayful, ray grass, ray gun, raying room, rayless, raylet, raylike, ray marching, ray of hope, ray of light · +17 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at ray. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01ray02radiation03shooting04gun05longboard06feet07foot08ankle09angle10rays

A definitional loop anchored at ray. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at ray

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA