ray
A beam of light or radiation.
Noun
- A beam of light or radiation.
- I saw a ray of light through the clouds.
- Strangely light and delicate was his frame and seeming, yet with a sense of slumbering power beneath, as the delicate peak of a snow mountain seen afar in the low red rays of morning. - 1922, E[ric] R[ücker] Eddison,...
- A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
- One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
- 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.
- 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. - 1728, [Alexander Pope], “(please specify the page)”, in The Dunciad. An Heroic Poem. […], Dublin; London: […] A. Dodd, →OCLC:
- A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.
Origin
Via Middle English, borrowed from Old French rai, from Latin radius (“staff, stake, spoke”). Doublet of radius.
Forms
Hyponyms
beta ray cathode ray death ray delta ray derma ray gamma ray green ray grenz ray light ray N-ray Roentgen-ray shrink ray T-ray violet ray X-ray
Derived
alpha ray anticrepuscular ray Becquerel calorific ray Becquerel ray beray Blu-ray calorific ray catch some rays cosmic ray crepuscular ray distributed ray tracing eigenray extraordinary ray finray god ray grocery shrink ray Gurwitsch ray half-ray heat-ray hemiray Lenard ray lightray medullary ray meridional ray
Noun Entry 2
- Any of the superorder Batoidea of marine fish with flat bodies, large wing-like fins, and whip-like tails.
Origin
From Middle English raye, rayȝe, from Old French raie, from Latin raia, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle English reyhhe, reihe, reȝge (“ray, skate”), from Old English reohhe (“ray”).
Forms
Derived
bat ray butterfly ray cownose ray devil ray eagle ray electric ray manta ray ray-finned shagreen ray shark ray spinal butterfly ray spotted eagle ray stingray
Noun obsolete, uncountable
- Array; order; arrangement; dress.
- spoyling all her geares and goodly ray - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book V, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 50:
Origin
Shortened from array.
Noun Entry 4
- The letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.
Origin
From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.
Forms
Related
Noun entertainment, lifestyle
- Alternative form of re.
Origin
Alternative forms.
Forms
Related
Verb Entry 6
- To emit something as if in rays.
- I had no particular woman in my mind; certainly never intended to personify wisdom, philosophy, or any other abstraction; and the orb, raying colour out of whiteness, was altogether a fancy of my own. - 1889, Robert...
- To radiate as if in rays.
- To expose to radiation.
- Rats' eyes with ulcus serpens were successfully treated; one second of raying stopped the progress of the ulcer, which healed uninterruptedly. - 1928, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, page 219:
Forms
Verb obsolete
- To arrange.
- To dress, array (someone).
- To stain or soil; to defile.
- From his soft eyes the teares he wypt away, / And from his face the filth that did it ray […]. - 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie,...