braying
present participle of bray
braying (plural brayings)
An act or sound of braying.
Source: Wiktionary
Bray"ing, a.
Definition: Making a harsh noise; blaring. "Braying trumpets." Shak.
Bray, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Brayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Braying.] Etym: [OE. brayen, OF. breier, F. broyer to pound, grind, fr. OHG. brehhan to break. See Break.]
Definition: To pound, beat, rub, or grind small or fine. Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar, . . . yet will not his foolishness depart from him. Prov. xxvii. 22.
Bray, v. i. Etym: [OE brayen, F. braire to bray, OF. braire to cry, fr. LL. bragire to whinny; perh. fr. the Celtic and akin to E. break; or perh. of imitative origin.]
1. To utter a loud, harsh cry, as an ass. Laugh, and they Return it louder than an ass can bray. Dryden.
2. To make a harsh, grating, or discordant noise. Heard ye the din of battle bray Gray.
Bray, v. t.
Definition: To make or utter with a loud, discordant, or harsh and grating sound. Arms on armor clashing, brayed Horrible discord. MIlton. And varying notes the war pipes brayed. Sir W. Scott.
Bray, n.
Definition: The harsh cry of an ass; also, any harsh, grating, or discordant sound. The bray and roar of multitudinous London. Jerrold.
Bray, n. Etym: [OE. braye, brey, brew, eyebrow, brow of a hill, hill, bank, Scot. bra, brae, bray, fr. AS. br eyebrow, influenced by the allied Icel. br eyebrow, bank, also akin to AS. brBrow.]
Definition: A bank; the slope of a hill; a hill. See Brae, which is now the usual spelling. [North of Eng. & Scot.] Fairfax.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
9 March 2025
(verb) fill to excess so that function is impaired; “Fear clogged her mind”; “The story was clogged with too many details”
The Boston Tea Party helped popularize coffee in America. The hefty tea tax imposed on the colonies in 1773 resulted in America switching from tea to coffee. In the lead up to the Revolutionary War, it became patriotic to sip java instead of tea. The Civil War made the drink more pervasive. Coffee helped energize tired troops, and drinking it became an expression of freedom.
