RAY

ray

(noun) cartilaginous fishes having horizontally flattened bodies and enlarged winglike pectoral fins with gills on the underside; most swim by moving the pectoral fins

ray

(noun) any of the stiff bony spines in the fin of a fish

re, ray

(noun) the syllable naming the second (supertonic) note of any major scale in solmization

beam, beam of light, light beam, ray, ray of light, shaft, shaft of light, irradiation

(noun) a column of light (as from a beacon)

beam, ray, electron beam

(noun) a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation

ray

(noun) a branch of an umbel or an umbelliform inflorescence

ray

(noun) (mathematics) a straight line extending from a point

irradiate, ray

(verb) expose to radiation; “irradiate food”

radiate, ray

(verb) extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center; “spokes radiate from the hub of the wheel”; “This plants radiate spines in all directions”

ray

(verb) emit as rays; “That tower rays a laser beam for miles across the sky”

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Etymology 1

Noun

ray (plural rays)

A beam of light or radiation.

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

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

(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.

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

(mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.

(colloquial) A tiny amount.

Hyponyms

• death ray

• gamma ray

• manta ray

• stingray

• X-ray

Verb

ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)

(transitive) To emit something as if in rays.

(intransitive) To radiate as if in rays.

Etymology 2

Noun

ray (plural rays)

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

Etymology 3

Verb

ray (third-person singular simple present rays, present participle raying, simple past and past participle rayed)

(obsolete) To arrange. [14th-18th c.]

(now rare) To dress, array (someone). [from 14th c.]

(obsolete) To stain or soil; to defile. [16th-19th c.]

Noun

ray (uncountable)

(obsolete) Array; order; arrangement; dress.

Etymology 4

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

Noun

ray (plural rays)

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

Etymology 5

Alternative forms.

Noun

ray (plural rays)

(music) Alternative form of re

Anagrams

• -ary, Ary, Ayr, RYA, ary, ayr, rya, yar

Etymology 1

Proper noun

Ray

A surname.

A diminutive of the male given name Raymond, also used as a formal given name.

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

Etymology 2

Proper noun

Ray

A city near Tehran, Iran.

(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

Anagrams

• -ary, Ary, Ayr, RYA, ary, ayr, rya, yar

Source: Wiktionary


Ray, v. t. Etym: [An aphetic form of array; cf. Beray.]

1. To array. [Obs.] Sir T. More.

2. To mark, stain, or soil; to streak; to defile. [Obs.] "The fifth that did it ray." Spenser.

Ray, n.

Definition: Array; order; arrangement; dress. [Obs.] And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray. Spenser.

Ray, n. Etym: [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray, staff, rod, spoke of a wheel. Cf. Radius.]

1. One of a number of lines or parts diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle; as, a star of six rays.

2. (Bot.)

Definition: A radiating part of the flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See Radius.

3. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting the fins of fishes. (b) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.

4. (Physics) (a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or reflecting point; a single element of light or heat propagated continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray. (b) One of the component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See Illust. under Light.

5. 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. Pope.

6. (Geom.)

Definition: One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point, and regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions. See Half-ray. Bundle of rays. (Geom.) See Pencil of rays, below.

– Extraordinary ray (Opt.), that one or two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction.

– Ordinary ray (Opt.) that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which follows the usual or ordinary law of refraction.

– Pencil of rays (Geom.), a definite system of rays.

– Ray flower, or Ray floret (Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite plants as the aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the disk flowers are tubular and five-lobed.

– Ray point (Geom.), the common point of a pencil of rays.

– Röntgen ray ( (Phys.), a kind of ray generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by the electrical discharge. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects by which means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque objects are made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs. So called from the discoverer, W. C. Röntgen.

– X ray, the Röntgen ray; -- so called by its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.

Ray, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rayed; p. pr. & vb. n. Raying.] Etym: [Cf. OF. raier, raiier, rayer, L. radiare to irradiate. See Ray, n., and cf. Radiate.]

1. To mark with long lines; to streak. [Obs.] Chaucer.

2. Etym: [From Ray, n.]

Definition: To send forth or shoot out; to cause to shine out; as, to ray smiles. [R.] Thompson.

Ray, v. t.

Definition: To shine, as with rays. Mrs. Browning.

Ray, n. Etym: [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. Roach.] (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of numerous elasmobranch fishes of the order Raiæ, including the skates, torpedoes, sawfishes, etc. (b) In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat, narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate. Bishop ray, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray (Stoasodon nàrinari) of the Southern United States and the West Indies.

– Butterfly ray, a short-tailed American sting ray (Pteroplatea Maclura), having very broad pectoral fins.

– Devil ray. See Sea Devil.

– Eagle ray, any large ray of the family Myliobatidæ, or Ætobatidæ. The common European species (Myliobatis aquila) is called also whip ray, and miller.

– Electric ray, or Cramp ray, a torpedo.

– Starry ray, a common European skate (Raia radiata).

– Sting ray, any one of numerous species of rays of the family Trygonidæ having one or more large, sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also stingaree.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

29 March 2024

FAULTFINDING

(adjective) tending to make moral judgments or judgments based on personal opinions; “a counselor tries not to be faultfinding”


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Coffee Trivia

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.

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