ready
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: rĕd'i
ipa: /ˈɹɛd.i/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈrɛɖi/
homophone: reddy
homophone: Reddy (Indic, only if without gemination)
rhymes: -ɛdi
Forms: form: readier
form: readiest
Etymology: 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”).
Senses: examples: text: The troops are ready for battle.
text: The porridge is ready to serve.
text: If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit:
ref: 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 87:
text: she was told dinner was ready
ref: 1711, Jonathan Swift, journal to Stella:
text: Miranda: I'll admit it, Shepard. I'm impressed. You got us here. Are you ready?
Shepard: We're going in blind, and we don't even know if we'll survive the trip. No way in hell we're ready... but we don't have a choice.
ref: 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
glosses: Prepared for immediate action or use.
glosses: Inclined; apt to happen.
examples: text: The seed is ready to sprout.
text: My heart is ready to crack.
ref: c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:
synonyms: fit
glosses: Liable at any moment.
examples: text: a ready apprehension
text: ready wit
text: a ready writer or workman
text: whose temper was ready, though surly
ref: 1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
text: ready in devising expedients
ref: 1849–1861, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter XIII, in The History of England from the Accession of James the Second, volume (please specify |volume=I to V), London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC:
text: Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
ref: 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 16:
text: "Apple of Death" is what the Jungle call thorn-apple or dhatura, the readiest poison in all India.
ref: 1895, Rudyard Kipling, “The King’s Ankus”, in The Second Jungle Book, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC, page 188:
text: The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.
ref: 2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:
synonyms: dexterous
prompt
easy
expert
glosses: Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.
examples: text: Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way,
ref: 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 Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, line 1097:
text: A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.
ref: 1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria:
glosses: Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
Synonyms: good to go
Hypernyms: cable-ready
camera-ready
make-ready
oven-ready
shovel-ready
Derived terms: at the ready
camera ready
combat-ready
dinner's ready
get ready
harvest-ready
my body is ready
on the ready
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 prime time
ready for primetime
ready for the off
ready-handed
ready-handedness
ready like Freddy
ready-made
ready-meal
ready meal
ready-mix
ready-mixed
ready money
ready or not
ready queue
ready-reckoner
ready reckoner
Ready Reckoners
ready room
ready salted
set
go!
ready, steady, go
ready to be tied
ready-to-drink
ready to hand
ready to rock
ready to rock and roll
ready to roll
ready-to-wear
ready up
ready, willing, and able
rough and ready
rough-and-ready
school-ready
shovel-ready
single and ready to mingle
the devil to pay and no pitch hot or ready
unready