tray
/tɹeɪ/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms trays traying trayed
- noun A small, typically rectangular or round, flat, and rigid object upon which things are carried. “I carefully arranged the dishes on the tray and brought it upstairs.”
- noun (by extension) The items on a full tray. “Before long they had consumed a whole tray of shrimp cocktails and sent for another.”
- noun A component of a device into which an item is placed for use in the device's operations. “The CD tray will not open.”
- noun (computing, graphical user interface, informal) A notification area used for icons and alerts.
- noun (computing, business) A type of retail or wholesale packaging for CPUs where the processors are sold in bulk and/or with minimal packaging.
- noun (Australia) The platform of a truck that supports the load to be hauled.
- verb (transitive) to place (items) on a tray “Be sure to tray eggs with the large end up.”
- verb (intransitive) to slide down a snow-covered hill on a tray from a cafeteria. “Traying has provided collegiate fun and the occasional fatality for decades.”
- noun (obsolete) trouble; annoyance; anger
- verb (transitive, obsolete) to grieve; to annoy
- verb (transitive, obsolete) to betray
- noun (LGBTQ slang) A gay trans person, particularly a man (a man who is both transgender and gay)
- proper noun A diminutive of the female given name Tracy.
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English trey, from Old English trēġ, trīġ (“wooden board, tray”), from Proto-West Germanic *trauwi, from Proto-Germanic *trawją (“wooden vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *drewo-, *dóru (“tree; wood”). Cognate with Old Norse treyja (“carrier”), Old Swedish trø (“wooden grain measure”), Low German Treechel (“dough trough”), Ancient Greek δροίτη (droítē, “tub, vat”), Sanskrit द्रोण (droṇa, “trough”). Related to trough and tree.
From Middle English traye, treie, from Old English trega (“misfortune, misery, trouble, grief, pain”), from Proto-Germanic *tregô (“mourning”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreǵʰ- (“unwilling, sullen, slack”). Cognate with Icelandic tregi (“sorrow, grief”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐍉 (trigō, “grief”).
From Middle English trayen, treien, from Old English tregian (“to trouble, harass, vex”), from Proto-West Germanic *tregōn, from Proto-Germanic *tregōną (“to become tedious, become lazy, sadden”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreǵʰ- (“unwilling, sullen, slack”).
From Middle English trayen, from Old French trair (“to betray”), from Latin tradō (“hand over, betray”).
Webster’s 1913
- verb To betray; to deceive. [Obs.] Chaucer.
- noun A small trough or wooden vessel, sometimes scooped out of a block of wood, for various domestic uses, as in making bread, chopping meat, etc.
- noun A flat, broad vessel on which dishes, glasses, etc., are carried; a waiter; a salver.
Etymology [OF. traïr, F. trahir, L. tradere. See Traitor.]
Etymology [OE. treye, AS. treg. Cf. Trough.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “tray”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details