hay
EnglishEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
From Middle English hey, from Old English hīġ, hīeġ, from Proto-Germanic *hawją (compare West Frisian hea, Dutch hooi, German Heu, Norwegian høy), from *hawwaną (“to hew, cut down”). More at hew.
NounEdit
hay (countable and uncountable, plural hays)
- (uncountable) Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
- Camden
- Make hay while the sun shines.
- C. L. Flint
- Hay may be dried too much as well as too little.
- Camden
- (countable) Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
- (slang) Cannabis; marijuana.
- 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947:
- I would like some of that hay. Enclose $20.
- 1947, William Burroughs, letter, 19 Feb 1947:
- A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Rowe to this entry?)
- (obsolete) A hedge.
- (obsolete) A circular country dance.
- 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,[1]
- My men like Satyres grazing on the lawnes,
- Shall with their Goate feete daunce an antick hay,
- c. 1594, William Shakespeare, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Act V, Scene 1,[2]
- I’ll make one in a dance, or so; or I will play
- On the tabour to the Worthies, and let them dance the hay.
- 1594, Christopher Marlowe, Edward II, London: William Jones,[1]
Derived termsEdit
Term list
TranslationsEdit
grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder
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Further readingEdit
VerbEdit
hay (third-person singular simple present hays, present participle haying, simple past and past participle hayed)
- To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
- To lay snares for rabbits.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Huloet to this entry?)
TranslationsEdit
to cut green plants for fodder
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Related termsEdit
ReferencesEdit
Webster's Online Dictionary article on hay
Etymology 2Edit
From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay and gay. The expected form in English if the h had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", hā.
NounEdit
hay (plural hays)
- The letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.
Related termsEdit
- aitch, the Latin letter for this sound
AnagramsEdit
Middle EnglishEdit
PronounEdit
hay
- Alternative form of he
ReferencesEdit
- “he, pron. (3)” in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 12 June 2018.
Middle FrenchEdit
SpanishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Old Spanish ha i (“it has there”) (compare Catalan hi ha and French il y a), from ha, third-person singular present of haber (“to have”), + i, enclitic form of ahí, from Latin ibī (“there”).
PronunciationEdit
VerbEdit
hay
- (impersonal) Present indicative form of haber, there is, there are
- Hay dos tiendas que venden películas.
- There are two stores that sell films.
VietnameseEdit
PronunciationEdit
Etymology 1Edit
Cognate with Arem [hɪː] ("to understand").
VerbEdit
hay
- (archaic or literary) to know; to get to know; to learn
- 2018 January 22, Viễn Sự, Sơn Lâm, “Trẻ con lai ở miền Tây: Con không cha như nhà không nóc [The mixed children in Southwestern Vietnam: a fatherless child is like a roofless house]”, in Tuổi Trẻ Online[3]:
- Hồi mẹ nó ẵm về nước, bà nội nó nói mua cho cái vé khứ hồi, tới hồi ra sân bay về lại Hàn Quốc thì mới hay cái vé đi có một chiều.
- When his mother carried him in her arms back to Vietnam, his paternal grandmother said they had bought a return ticket for her, but she realised it was only a one-way ticket when she was at the airport, trying to return to Korea.
- (‘hay’ + verb) to have a habit of (doing something)
- Con hay nói nhiều lắm ― You, child, have a habit of talking too much / You, child, are talkative
Usage notesEdit
- The sense of “to know” is now mostly used in fixed expressions.
Etymology 2Edit
AdjectiveEdit
hay
Derived termsEdit
Etymology 3Edit
ConjunctionEdit
hay (là)
- or
- Chọn cái này, hay chọn cái kia
- Choose this one, or choose that one
Derived termsEdit
Derived terms