BRAYING

Verb

braying

present participle of bray

Noun

braying (plural brayings)

An act or sound of braying.

Source: Wiktionary


Bray"ing, a.

Definition: Making a harsh noise; blaring. "Braying trumpets." Shak.

BRAY

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



RESET




Word of the Day

11 April 2025

NEWSPAPER

(noun) cheap paper made from wood pulp and used for printing newspapers; “they used bales of newspaper every day”


coffee icon

Coffee Trivia

The first coffee-house in Mecca dates back to the 1510s. The beverage was in Turkey by the 1530s. It appeared in Europe circa 1515-1519 and was introduced to England by 1650. By 1675 the country had more than 3,000 coffee houses, and coffee had replaced beer as a breakfast drink.

coffee icon