jay

Any of the numerous species of birds belonging to several genera within the family Corvidae, including Garrulus, Cyanocitta, Aphelocoma, Perisoreus, Cyanocorax, Gymnorhinus, Cyanolyca, Ptilostomus, and Calocitta, allied to the crows, but smaller, more graceful in form, often handsomely coloured, usually having a crest, and often noisy.

Noun

  1. Any of the numerous species of birds belonging to several genera within the family Corvidae, including Garrulus, Cyanocitta, Aphelocoma, Perisoreus, Cyanocorax, Gymnorhinus, Cyanolyca, Ptilostomus, and Calocitta, allied to the crows, but smaller, more graceful in form, often handsomely coloured, usually having a crest, and often noisy.
  2. Any of various other birds of similar appearance and behaviour.

    1. The Indian roller, Coracias benghalensis.

      • They are the commonality of birddom, who furnish forth the mobs which bewilder the drunken-flighted jay when he jerks, shrieking in a series of blue hyphen-flashes through the air […] - 1878, Philip Stewart Robinson, In...
  3. Any of various large papilionid butterflies of the genus Graphium.
  4. A dull or ignorant person. It survives today in the term jaywalking.
    • Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay He rents a swell flat somewhere Kensington way He spends the good oof that his pater has made Along with the Brandy and Soda Brigade. - 1900, Harry B. Norris, “Burlington Bertie”:
  5. Promiscuous woman; prostitute.
    • Some jay of Italy, / Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him: - a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act 3, scene 4, lines 50–51:

Origin

From Middle English jay, from Old French jai ("jay"; Modern French geai), either from Late Latin gaius (“jay”), or from Old French gai (“gay, merry”), so named due to its plumage, from Old Frankish *gāhi (“quick, impetuous”), from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”), cognate with Dutch gaai (“jay”). More at gay.

Forms

jays

Synonyms

Jenny jay jay pie k kae bluejay whisky jack ignoramus promiscuous woman prostitute

Hyponyms

Old World jay gray jay American jay

Related

Corvidae

Derived

azure jay blue-fronted jay blue jay bluejay California jay Canada jay Eurasian jay Florida jay Florida scrub jay green jay grey jay grue jay jaybird jaylike jay thrush jaywalk jaywalker Labrador jay magpie-jay naked as a jay bird naked as a jay-bird piñon jay pinyon jay San Blas jay

Noun Entry 2

  1. The name of the Latin script letter J/j.
  2. A marijuana cigarette; a joint.
    • Although sympathetic, my main reaction was to think: “Some people can handle it, and some people can’t,” and then smugly light up a big fat jay. - 2009 March 23, Caitlin Moran, The Times:

Origin

Respelling of the letter jy (which see), by analogy with the following letter kay.

Forms

jays

Derived

beejay deejay Jay Ar Jaycee jaygee jayvee pee bee and jay peejays veejay