bray
Part of speech: verb
noun
Morphological type: simple
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.
Inflected forms:
form: brays
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: braying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: brayed
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: brayed
pos: verb
tags: past
form: brays
pos: noun
tags: plural
Senses:
gloss: Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.
When she went to the famous ass-race [...], it was not, like other ladies, to hear those poor animals bray, nor see fellows run naked, or to hear country squires in bob wigs and white girdles make love at the side of a coach and cry, "Madam, this is dainty weather."
Henry [IV of France], paſſing through a little town, ſaw ſeveral deputies coming up to harangue him. One of them having commenced his diſcourſe, was interrupted by an aſs, who began to bray. "Gentlemen," cried the King, "one at a time, if you pleaſe."—
The horse neighs, but the ass brays: the last is performed by a very loud, long, disagreeable, discordant cry, consisting of discords alternately sharp and flat. He seldom brays but when pressed with hunger or love. [...] When gelded, the ass brays with a low voice; and, though he makes the same efforts and the same motions of the throat, yet the sound reaches to no great distance.
gloss: To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray.
pos: verb
tags: broadly
intransitive
examples: He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.
Heard ye the din of battle bray, / Lance to lance, and horſe to horſe? / Long Years of havock urge their deſtined courſe, / And thro' the kindred ſquadrons mow their way.
"But, Jack, it's all so circumstantial—you said so yourself," Brammel brayed, never stronger than when demonstrating that two positives made a negative.
gloss: To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: [N]ow ſtorming furie roſe, / And clamour ſuch as heard in Heav'n till now / Was never, Arms on Armour claſhing bray'd / Horrible discord, and the madding Wheeles / Of brazen Chariots rag'd; [...]
Just then the chiefs their tribes arrayed, / And wild and garish semblance made, / The chequered trews, and belted plaid, / And varying notes the war-pipes brayed, / To every varying clan; [...]
gloss: The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.
pos: noun
gloss: Any discordant, grating, or harsh sound.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: It seems a very nest—warm and snug, and green—for human life; with the twilight haze of time about it, almost consecrating it from the aching hopes and feverish expectations of the present. Who would think that the bray and roar of multitudinous London sounded but some sixty miles away?
[...] Mr. [Edmund] Gosse's blank verse is sweet and varied, and full mostly of a graceful melody. If it has not the trumpet's power, neither has it the trumpet's bray, but rather a flute-like tone of its own.
At full volume, Doreen's whinnying laugh could shatter glass. Even at half volume, her high-pitched brays rattled teeth.
Derived words: brayer
braying
brayingly
outbray
Translations:
lang: Arabic
word: نَهَقَ
roman: nahaqa
lang: Azerbaijani
word: anqırmaq
lang: Basque
word: arrantza egin
lang: Bulgarian
word: рева като магаре
roman: reva kato magare
lang: Catalan
word: bramar
lang: Ngazidja Comorian
word: ulila
lang: Czech
word: hýkat
lang: Dutch
word: balken
lang: Finnish
word: kiljua
lang: Finnish
word: hirnua
lang: French
word: braire (âne)
lang: Galician
word: ornear
lang: German
word: iahen
lang: German
word: kreischen
lang: German
word: schreien
lang: Greek
word: γκαρίζω
roman: gkarízo
lang: Ancient Greek
word: βρωμάομαι
roman: brōmáomai
lang: Hebrew
word: נער
roman: na'ár
lang: Icelandic
word: rymja
lang: Ido
word: bramar
lang: Indonesian
word: meringkik
lang: Italian
word: ragliare
lang: Latin
word: oncō
lang: Latin
word: rudō
lang: Māori
word: ngehengehe
lang: Norman
word: braithe
lang: Portuguese
word: ornejar
lang: Portuguese
word: zurrar
lang: Russian
word: реве́ть
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: njakati
lang: Serbo-Croatian
word: revati
lang: Slovak
word: híkať
lang: Spanish
word: rebuznar
lang: Spanish
word: roznar
lang: Spanish
word: ornear
lang: Swedish
word: skria
lang: Turkish
word: anırmak
lang: Urdu
word: ڈَھین٘چُوں
roman: ḍha͠icū̃
lang: Welsh
word: brefu
lang: Welsh
word: nadu