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Webster 1913 Edition

Bay

Bay

(bā)
,
Adj.
[F.
bai
, fr. L.
badius
brown, chestnut-colored; – used only of horses.]
Reddish brown; of the color of a chestnut; – applied to the color of horses.
Bay cat
(Zool.)
,
a wild cat of Africa and the East Indies (
Felis aurata
).
–
Bay lynx
(Zool.)
,
the common American lynx (
Lynx lynx
, formerly
Felis rufa
or
Lynx rufa
).

Bay

,
Noun.
[F.
baie
, fr. LL.
baia
. Of uncertain origin: cf. Ir. & Gael.
badh
or
bagh
bay, harbor, creek; Bisc.
baia
,
baiya
, harbor, and F.
bayer
to gape, open the mouth.]
1.
(Geog.)
An inlet of the sea, usually smaller than a gulf, but of the same general character.
☞ The name is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve; as, Hudson’s
Bay
. The name is not restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but is used for any recess or inlet between capes or headlands; as, the
Bay
of Biscay.
2.
A small body of water set off from the main body; as a compartment containing water for a wheel; the portion of a canal just outside of the gates of a lock, etc.
3.
A recess or indentation shaped like a bay.
4.
A principal compartment of the walls, roof, or other part of a building, or of the whole building, as marked off by the buttresses, vaulting, mullions of a window, etc.; one of the main divisions of any structure, as the part of a bridge between two piers.
5.
A compartment in a barn, for depositing hay, or grain in the stalks.
6.
A kind of mahogany obtained from Campeachy Bay.
Sick bay
,
in vessels of war, that part of a deck appropriated to the use of the sick.
Totten.

Bay

,
Noun.
[F.
baie
a berry, the fruit of the laurel and other trees, fr. L.
baca
,
bacca
, a small round fruit, a berry, akin to Lith.
bapka
laurel berry.]
1.
A berry, particularly of the laurel.
[Obs.]
2.
The laurel tree (
Laurus nobilis
). Hence, in the plural, an honorary garland or crown bestowed as a prize for victory or excellence, anciently made or consisting of branches of the laurel.
The patriot's honors and the poet's
bays
.
Trumbull.
3.
A tract covered with bay trees.
[Local, U. S.]
Bay leaf
,
the leaf of the bay tree (
Laurus nobilis
). It has a fragrant odor and an aromatic taste, and is used for flavoring in food.

Bay

,
Verb.
I.
[
imp. & p. p.
Bayed
(bād)
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Baying
.]
[OE.
bayen
,
abayen
, OF.
abaier
, F.
aboyer
, to bark; of uncertain origin.]
To bark, as a dog with a deep voice does, at his game.
The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely
bayed
.
Dryden.

Bay

,
Verb.
T.
To bark at; hence, to follow with barking; to bring or drive to bay;
as, to
bay
the bear
.
Shak.

Bay

,
Noun.
[See
Bay
,
Verb.
I.
]
1.
Deep-toned, prolonged barking.
“The bay of curs.”
Cowper.
2.
[OE.
bay
,
abay
, OF.
abai
, F.
aboi
barking, pl.
abois
, prop. the extremity to which the stag is reduced when surrounded by the dogs, barking (
aboyant
);
aux abois
at bay.]
A state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible.
Embolden'd by despair, he stood at
bay
.
Dryden.
The most terrible evils are just kept at
bay
by incessant efforts.
I. Taylor

Bay

,
Verb.
T.
[Cf. OE.
bæwen
to bathe, and G.
bähen
to foment.]
To bathe.
[Obs.]
Spenser.

Bay

,
Noun.
A bank or dam to keep back water.

Bay

,
Verb.
T.
To dam, as water; – with up or back.

Webster 1828 Edition

Bay

BAY

,
Adj.
[L.badius. Blass Bd.] Red, or reddish, inclining to a chestnut color; applied to the color of horses. The shades of this color are called light bay, dark bay, dappled bay, gilded bay, chestnut bay. In popular language, in England, all bay horses are called brown.

BAY

,
Noun.
1.
An arm of the sea, extending into the land, not of any definite form, but smaller than a gulf, and larger than a creek. The name,however, is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve, as Hudson's Bay. Nor is the name restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but used for any recess or inlet between capes of head lands, as the bay of Biscay.
2.
A pond-head,or a pond formed by a dam, for the purpose of driving mill-wheels. [ I believe not used in U.S.]
3.
In a barn, a place between the floor and the end of the building, or a low inclosed place, for depositing hay.
In England, says Johnson, if a barn consists of a floor and two heads, where they lay corn, they call it a barn of two bays. These bays are from 14 to 20 feet long, and floors from 10 to 12 feet broad, and usually 20 feet long, which is the breadth of the barn.
4.
In ships of war, that part on each side between decks which lies between the bitts.
5.
Any kind of opening in walls.

Definition 2024

Bay

Bay

See also: bay, bây, bẫy, bảy, and baþ

English

Proper noun

Bay

  1. A region of Somalia.
External links

Etymology 2

From bay

Proper noun

the Bay

  1. (informal) The San Francisco Bay Area (metropolitan area in California)
  2. (informal) San Francisco Bay.

Translations

Anagrams

bay

bay

See also: Bay, bây, bẫy, bảy, baþ, and бау

English

Noun

bay ‎(plural bays)

  1. (obsolete) A berry.
  2. Laurus nobilis, a tree or shrub of the family Lauraceae, having dark green leaves and berries.
  3. The leaf of this or certain other species of tree or shrub, used as a herb.
  4. (in the plural, now rare) The leaves of this shrub, woven into a garland used to reward a champion or victor; hence, fame, victory.
    • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, IV.i:
      both you here with many a cursed oth, / Sweare she is yours, and stirre vp bloudie frayes, / To win a willow bough, whilest other weares the bayes.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Trumbull
      The patriot's honours and the poet's bays.
  5. (US, dialect) A tract covered with bay trees.
  6. A kind of mahogany obtained from Campeche in Mexico.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 2

From French baie, from Late Latin baia, probably ultimately from Iberian.

Noun

bay ‎(plural bays)

  1. (geography) A body of water (especially the sea) more or less three-quarters surrounded by land.
    • 1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 1, in Mr. Pratt's Patients:
      'Twas early June, the new grass was flourishing everywheres, the posies in the yard—peonies and such—in full bloom, the sun was shining, and the water of the bay was blue, with light green streaks where the shoal showed.
  2. A bank or dam to keep back water.
Synonyms
  • (body of water): gulf
Derived terms
  • California bay
Translations
body of water

Etymology 3

From French baie, from Old French baé, masculine singular past participle of the verb baer, from Vulgar Latin *badō ‎(“I am open”).

Noun

bay ‎(plural bays)

  1. An opening in a wall, especially between two columns.
  2. An internal recess; a compartment or area surrounded on three sides.
    • 2013 June 1, “Ideas coming down the track”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8838, page 13 (Technology Quarterly):
      A “moving platform” scheme […] is more technologically ambitious than maglev trains even though it relies on conventional rails. Local trains would use side-by-side rails to roll alongside intercity trains and allow passengers to switch trains by stepping through docking bays.
  3. The distance between two supports in a vault or building with a pitched roof.
  4. (nautical) Each of the spaces, port and starboard, between decks, forward of the bitts, in sailing warships.
  5. (rail transport) A bay platform.
  6. A bay window.
Translations
Derived terms

Etymology 4

From Old French bay, combined with aphesized form of abay; verbal form Old French baier, abaier.

Noun

bay ‎(plural bays)

  1. The excited howling of dogs when hunting or being attacked.
  2. (by extension) The climactic confrontation between hunting-dogs and their prey.
  3. (figuratively) A state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
      Embolden'd by despair, he stood at bay.
    • (Can we date this quote?) I. Taylor
      The most terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant efforts.
Derived terms
Translations

Verb

bay ‎(third-person singular simple present bays, present participle baying, simple past and past participle bayed)

  1. (intransitive) To howl.
    • (Can we date this quote?) Dryden
      The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bayed.
  2. (transitive) To bark at; hence, to follow with barking; to bring or drive to bay.
    to bay the bear
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Shakespeare to this entry?)
  3. (transitive) To pursue noisily, like a pack of hounds.
Derived terms
  • bay at the moon
Translations

Etymology 5

From French baie, from Latin badius ‎(“reddish brown, chestnut”).

Adjective

bay ‎(comparative more bay, superlative most bay)

  1. Of a reddish-brown colour (especially of horses).
Derived terms
Translations

Noun

bay ‎(uncountable)

  1. A brown colour/color of the coat of some horses.
    bay colour:    
  2. A horse of this color.
Quotations
  • For usage examples of this term, see Citations:bay.
Translations

See also

Anagrams

Cornish

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): [bæi]

Noun

bay m ‎(plural bayow)

  1. kiss

Mutation

Synonyms

Related terms

Crimean Tatar

Adjective

bay

  1. rich

Declension

Haitian Creole

Verb

bay

  1. to give

Synonyms

Turkish

Etymology

From Old Turkic 𐰉𐰖 ‎(b¹j¹, bay, “rich person, noble”), from Proto-Turkic *bāj ‎(“rich, noble; many, numerous”), possibly from Proto-Altaic *bēǯu ‎(“numerous, great”),[1] Related to common Turkic бай, not related to bey.

The meaning “sir, gentleman” was coined during the language reforms in parallel to bey.[2]

Noun

bay ‎(definite accusative bayı, plural baylar)

  1. (uncountable, addressing) sir
  2. (countable) gentleman
Synonyms
  • bey
  • beyefendi
Derived terms
Declension

Adjective

bay ‎(comparative daha bay, superlative en bay)

  1. (dated) rich, wealthy
Synonyms
Antonyms
Related terms
Declension

References

  1. ↑ Starostin, Sergei; Dybo, Anna; Mudrak, Oleg (2003) Etymological dictionary of the Altaic languages (Handbuch der Orientalistik; VIII.8), Leiden, New York, Köln: E.J. Brill: “*bēǯu”
  2. ↑ Nişanyan, Sevan (2002–), “bay”, in Nişanyan Sözlük

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Proto-Mon-Khmer *par

Verb

bay

  1. to fly (travel through the air)
  2. to flutter (flap or wave quickly but irregularly)
  3. to fly (travel very fast)
  4. to fade away

Adverb

bay

  1. with ease; in a fast-paced manner
    cãi bay
    to snap at each other

Etymology 2

Noun

bay

  1. trowel

Etymology 3

Pronoun

bay

  1. (condescending or very informal) you
Synonyms

References

Etymology

Somali

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