ready
Prepared for immediate action or use.
Adjective
- Prepared for immediate action or use.
- I made ready to set out on my journey.
- The troops are ready for battle.
- The porridge is ready to serve.
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(prepositive) first only used predicatively, freely used from the end of the 17th century
- a loaf of ready-sliced bread
- The cave was like a ready-made home for us.
- First their must be a clericall tonſure whereas they clyp thꝛee oꝛ fowꝛe lyttle heaires in his crowne, and he muſt[…]be hold a Priest ready made able to haue a benefice,[…] - 1565, Theodore Beza, The 7 poynt, of the...
- Inclined; apt to happen.
- Liable at any moment.
- The seed is ready to sprout.
- My heart is ready to crack. - c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
Synonyms: fit
- Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.
- a ready apprehension
- ready wit
- a ready writer or workman
- Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
- Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way, - 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias...
- A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found. - 1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria:
Origin
From Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( + -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (“ready, prepared”), from Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (“ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ-, *h₂reh₁- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready". Cognate with Scots readie, reddy (“ready, prepared”), West Frisian ree (“ready”), Dutch gereed (“ready”), German bereit (“ready”), Danish rede (“ready”), Swedish redo (“ready, fit, prepared”), Norwegian reiug (“ready, prepared”), Icelandic greiður (“easy, light”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (garaiþs, “arranged, ordered”).
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Derived
at the ready camera ready combat-ready dinner's ready get ready harvest-ready my body is ready on the ready overready readily readiment readiness ready about aim fire! ready and waiting ready as Freddy ready as I'll ever be ready-cooked ready, fire, aim ready for primetime ready for prime time ready for the off ready-handed
Noun
- Ready money; cash.
- [H]e vvas not fluſh in Ready, either to go to Lavv or clear old Debts, neither could he find good Bail: […] - 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “A Copy of Bull and Frog’s Letter to Lord Strutt”, in...
- But it's no secret that W. & S. have been getting short of the ready for more than a year now; it's claimed that the fire began in three or four places at once; and Mr Barrowford was the last to leave the premises. -...
- […] he was generous when he had the cash. Many a time he kept me going in drink through the week when I was stuck for the ready […] - 2008, Agnes Owens, The Group:
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Verb
- To prepare; to make ready for action.
- Immigration agents in military green surrounded MacArthur Park as the convoy readied for a show of force akin to a Hollywood movie. - 2025 July 7, Melissa Gomez, Rachel Uranga and Brittny Mejia, “Heavily armed...