pray
/pɹeɪ/ verb, adverb, proper noun
Forms prays praying prayed
- verb (religion) To direct words, thoughts, or one's attention to a deity or any higher being, for the sake of adoration, thanks, petition for help, etc. “Muslims pray in the direction of Mecca.”
- verb To humbly beg a person for aid or their time.
- verb (obsolete) To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for.
- verb To wish or hope strongly for a particular outcome. “She is praying that the Red Sox will win tonight.”
- verb (obsolete or law) To implore, to entreat, to request.
- adverb (archaic or formal) Please; used to make a polite request “pray silence for…”
- proper noun A surname.
Synonyms
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English preien, borrowed from Anglo-Norman preier, from Old French proiier, from Late Latin precāre, from Latin precārī, from prex (“request, petition, prayer”), from Proto-Italic *preks, from Proto-Indo-European *preḱ- (“to request, ask”). Displaced native Old English gebiddan.
Cognate via Indo-European of Old English frignan, fricgan, German fragen, Dutch vragen. Compare deprecate, imprecate, precarious.
Ellipsis of I pray you, I pray thee, whence also prithee.
* As an Irish surname, variant of Prey, from ó Préith, a personal name from Old Irish.
* As an English surname, borrowed (via Middle English) from French pré (“meadow”).
Webster’s 1913
- noun See Pry. [Obs.] Spenser.
- verb To make request with earnestness or zeal, as for something desired; to make entreaty or supplication; to offer prayer to a deity or divine being as a religious act; specifically, to address the Supreme Being with adoration, confession, supplication, and thanksgiving.
- verb To address earnest request to; to supplicate; to entreat; to implore; to beseech.
- verb To ask earnestly for; to seek to obtain by supplication; to entreat for. I know not how to pray your patience. Shak.
Etymology [OE. preien, OF. preier, F. prier, L. precari, fr. prex, precis, a prayer, a request; akin to Skr. prach to ask, AS. frignan, frinan, fricgan, G. fragen, Goth. fraíhnan. Cf. Deprecate, Imprecate, Precarious.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “pray”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details