dray
To convey (goods) by dray.
Noun historical
- Any of various forms of low horse-drawn cart or wagon, often without sides or with removable sides, and used especially for heavy loads.
- Let him be brought into the field of election upon his dray-cart. - 1710 September 28, Joseph Addison, Whig-Examiner:
- Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the intersection of the two main streets, a “jog” at each street corner left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour was well occupied by carts...
- The shooting motor cars, more like spiders in the moon than terrestrial objects, the thundering drays, the jingling hansoms, and little black broughams, made her think of the world she lived in. - 1915, Virginia Woolf,...
- A kind of sledge or sled.
Origin
From Middle English draye, dreye, from Old English dræġe (“dragnet”), from Proto-Germanic *dragǭ. Cognate with Middle Low German drāge (“stretcher; dray”), Middle High German trage (“a litter”). Related to Old English dragan (“to pull; draw”). More at draw.
Forms
Related
Derived
dragnet drayage drayful drayhorse drayload drayman drayperson draywoman
Noun alt of, alternative
- Alternative spelling of drey (“squirrel's nest”).
Origin
Unknown.
Forms
Verb
- To convey (goods) by dray.