bray
/bɹeɪ/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms brays braying brayed
- verb (intransitive) Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry. “Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.”
- verb (intransitive, by extension) To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray. “He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.”
- verb (transitive) To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.
- noun The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.
- noun (by extension) Any discordant, grating, or harsh sound.
- verb (transitive, archaic) To crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar.
- verb (transitive, UK, chiefly Yorkshire, by extension) To hit (someone or something).
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun A village and civil parish in Windsor and Maidenhead borough, Berkshire, England (OS grid ref SU9079).
- proper noun A river in Devon, England, which flows south to join the River Mole at Meethe; in full, the River Bray.
- proper noun A coastal town in County Wicklow, Ireland (Irish grid ref O 2617).
- proper noun A commune in Saône-et-Loire department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
- proper noun A commune in Eure department, Normandy, France.
- proper noun A township in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States, named after an early settler.
- proper noun A town in Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States.
Synonyms
Etymology
The verb is derived from Middle English brayen, brai, bray, braye (“of a person or animal: to vocalize loudly; of the weather: to make a loud sound, howl, roar”), from Old French brai, braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to cry or shout out”) (modern French braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”)), possibly from Vulgar Latin *bragiō, from Gaulish *bragu (compare Breton breugiñ (“to bray”), brammañ (“to flatulate”), Cornish bramma, brabma (“to flatulate”), Old Irish braigid (“to flatulate”)), from Proto-Celtic *brageti, *bragyeti (“to flatulate”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (“to flatulate; to stink”); cognate with Latin fragrō (“to smell”). Alternatively, the word could be from a Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), and cognate with frangere (“to break, shatter”).
The noun is derived from the verb, or from Middle English brai, brait (“shriek; outcry”), from Old French brai, brait (“a cry”), from braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”); see above.
From Middle English brayen (“to break or crush into pieces”), from Anglo-Norman breier, Old French breie, breier, broiier (modern French broyer (“to crush, grind”)), possibly from Frankish *brekan (“to break”), from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”); thus making the English word a doublet of break.
The town in Ireland is from Irish Bré, of uncertain origin.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To pound, beat, rub, or grind small or fine.
- verb To utter a loud, harsh cry, as an ass. Laugh, and they Return it louder than an ass can bray. Dryden.
- verb To make a harsh, grating, or discordant noise.
- verb To make or utter with a loud, discordant, or harsh and grating sound.
Etymology [OE. brayen, OF. breier, F. broyer to pound, grind, fr. OHG. brehhan to break. See Break.]
Etymology [OE brayen, F. braire to bray, OF. braire to cry, fr. LL. bragire to whinny; perh. fr. the Celtic and akin to E. break; or perh. of imitative origin.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “bray”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details