| 释义 |
▪ I. ray, n.1|reɪ|
Also 7 raie, raye; pl. 5, 7 rayes, (6 ? rayse), 6–7 raies.
[a. OF. acc. rai, ray (nom. rais, raiz, etc., see Godef.; in mod.F. rais) = Prov. rai(g, rait, etc., Sp. and Pg. rayo, It. raggio (pl. raggi, rai):—L. radium, acc. of radius radius n.
Occasionally employed in Eng. from the 14th c. onwards, but not in common use until the 17th.]
I.
1. a. A single line or narrow beam of light.
In popular use applied to each of the lines in which light seems to stream from a distant glowing body or luminous point, and to similar lines, produced by the reflection of light from a polished surface, lens, etc.; also to a narrow line of light passing through a small opening. In early scientific use defined by Newton as the least portion of light which can be stopped alone or propagated alone; more recently as the motion of a simple particle of light, or the smallest conceivable line of light, and now usually regarded merely as the straight line in which the radiant energy capable of producing the sensation of light is propagated to any given point.
Ray is usually distinguished from beam, as indicating a smaller amount of light; in scientific use a beam is a collection of parallel rays. In ordinary language ray is the word usually employed when the reference is to the heat rather than the light of the sun (as in quot. 1698).
13..E.E. Allit. P. A. 160, I sey..A crystal clyffe ful relusaunt; Mony ryal ray con fro hit rere. 1483Caxton Cato F ij, Lyke hym whyche is blynde of the rayes of the sonne. c1586C'tess Pembroke Ps. cii. vii, The sunn of my life daies Inclines to west with falling raies. 1665Glanvill Def. Van. Dogm. 34 'Tis as conceivable as how the Rays of Light should come in a direct line to the eye. 1698Fryer Acc. E. India & P. 242 We had our skins flead off of those Parts exposed to the Solar Rays. c1750Shenstone Progr. Taste ii. 116 The sheathless sword the guard displays, Which round emits its dazzling rays. a1800Cowper Glow-worm 6 Disputes have been, and still prevail, From whence his rays proceed. 1830M. Donovan Dom. Econ. I. 59 If a ray of light is admitted, the vegetable grows with greater vigour. 1849James Woodman iii, The rays of the moon stole through the leafless branches and chequered the frosty turf.
fig.1831Lytton Godolphin 4 A ray shot across his countenance as he uttered his last words.
transf.1741Shenstone Judgm. Hercules 202 Thy costly robe shall glow with Tyrian rays. 1830Tennyson Arab. Nts. 136 With argent-lidded eyes Amorous, and lashes like to rays Of darkness.
b. A representation of a ray (esp. Her.); a material thing representing or resembling a ray of light, a brilliant stretch (of something).
1729Savage Wanderer iii. 84 O'er altars thus, impainted, we behold Half-circling glories shoot in rays of gold. 1780Edmondson Compl. Body Heraldry II. Gloss., Rays, when depicted round the sun, should be sixteen in number, but, when round an etoile, six only. 1797Encycl. Brit. (ed. 3) VIII. 457/1 Azure, one Ray of the Sun, bendways Gules, between six Beams of that Luminary Argent. 1835Lytton Rienzi v. i, Hung with silk of a blood-red, relieved by rays of white.
c. fig. of mental and moral influences, etc., comparable to light.
1634Milton Comus 425 The sacred rayes of Chastity. 1674Boyle Excell. Theol. i. ii. 75 Reason is such a ray of Divinity [etc.]. 1732Berkeley Alciphr. i. §2 A ray of truth may enlighten the whole world and extend to future ages. 1781J. Moore View Soc. It. (1790) I. vi. 63 This never fails to dart such a ray of comfort into my heart. 1838Thirlwall Greece III. xxiii. 265 Only one ray of hope broke the gloom of her prospects.
d. A trace of anything. (Chiefly with negatives.)
1773Earl Malmesbury Diaries & Corr. I. 97, I am resolved to push on in my career as long as I see a ray of the ladder, which is within my compass, to mount. 1847Dickens Haunted M. (C.D. ed.) 219 Isn't it enough that you were seven boys before, without a ray of gal. 1856Emerson Eng. Traits, The ‘Times’ Wks. (Bohn) II. 117 Rude health and spirits,..and the habits of society are implied, but not a ray of genius.
e. Fig. phr. (little) ray of sunshine, a person (freq. a young woman) who enlivens or cheers another; a happy or vivacious person. Cf. sunshine n. 2 a.
1915A. Bennett These Twain (1916) xx. 485 You're a little ray of sunshine, and all that, and I'm the first to say so. 1929J. B. Priestley Good Companions ii. iv. 364 Why are you now our little ray of sunshine? 1959M. Scott White Elephant v. 56 Are you two in this to make money or just to be little rays of sunshine? 1972C. Fremlin Appointment with Yesterday iv. 31 Milly rather fancied herself in the rôle of little ray of sunshine to brighten his declining years. 1978‘M. M. Kaye’ Far Pavilions xxxvii. 540 He hasn't exactly been a ray of sunshine up to now.
2. a. (Chiefly poet.) Light, radiance; (freq. also implying heat: see note to sense 1).
1592Davies Immort. Soul Ded. vii, Where the Sun..never doth retire his golden Ray. 1667Milton P.L. iv. 673 Earth, made..apter to receive Perfection from the Suns more potent Ray. 1748Gray Alliance 66 Lamps, that shed at Ev'n a cheerful ray. 1770Goldsm. Des. Vill. 347 Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray. 1818Shelley Rev. Islam vi. xxii, A mountain,..whose crest..in the ray Of the obscure stars gleamed. 1830Lytton P. Clifford xxviii, The ray of the lanterns glimmered on the blades of cutlasses.
fig.1606Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 47 In stormes of Fortune..in her ray and brightnesse. 1635–56Cowley Davideis ii. Wks. 1710 I. 346 Fair was the Promise of his dawning Ray. 1726–46Thomson Winter 465 Reared by his care, of softer ray appears Cimon sweet-souled. 1741Shenstone Judgm. Hercules 77 Her air diffused a mild yet awful ray.
†b. concr. A star. nonce-use. Obs.
1700Prior Carm. Sec. 398 Thou smiling see'st great Dorset's Worth confest, The Ray distinguishing the Patriot's Breast.
3. a. (Chiefly poet.) A beam or glance of the eye; † also, sight, power of vision (obs.).
1531Elyot Gov. ii. xii, The rayes or beames issuinge from the eyen of her,..hath thrilled throughout the middes of my hart. 1616Chapman Homer's Hymn Hermes 368 To me then declare, O old man,..if thy grave ray Hath any man seen [etc.]. 1667Milton P.L. iii. 619 The Aire, No where so cleer, sharp'nd his visual ray To objects distant farr. 1728Pope Dunc. ii. 7 All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds grow foolish as they gaze.
b. A line of sight.
1700Moxon Math. Dict. 177 The Visual Point..is a Point in the Horizontal Line, wherein all the Ocular Rays unite. 1753Hogarth Anal. Beauty v. 25 A ray may be supposed to be drawn from the center of the eye to the letter it looks at first. 1842Gwilt Encycl. Arch. §2391 The visual rays upon every object may be compared to the legs of a pair of compasses.
†4. Astrol. = aspect n. 4. Obs. rare.
1700Moxon Math. Dict. 137 In Astronomy, a Radius or a Ray is taken for the Aspect or Configuration of two Stars: so we say Saturn beholds Venus with an Hostile Ray, &c. when she is square with him.
5. a. Used (on the analogy of sense 1) in reference to the emission or transmission of non-luminous physical energies propagated in radiating straight lines after the manner of light (in modern use esp. of heat: cf. radiation 2, X-rays n. pl.).
Roentgen rays: see Roentgen.
1664Power Exp. Philos. iii. 159 If the Magnetick rayes proceeded intrinsecally from the Stone. 1813Sir H. Davy Agric. Chem. (1814) 39 The beautiful experiments of Dr. Herschel have shewn that there are rays transmitted from the sun which do not illuminate. 1865Reader 28 Jan. 105/1 The term dark, or invisible, or obscure rays, stimulates the imagination by its strangeness.
†b. A series (of atoms) moving in a straight line. Obs. rare.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 196 Those rayes of other atoms that are shacking all over the worlds wasts.
c. Chiefly Science Fiction. A supposed destructive beam of energy emitted by a ray-gun or similar device. Cf. death-ray s.v. death n. 19.
1898H. G. Wells War of Worlds vi. 39 Only the fact that a hummock of heathery sand intercepted the lower part of the Heat-Ray saved them. 1919G. B. Shaw Heartbreak House 39, I will discover a ray mighter than any X-ray: a mind ray that will explode the ammunition in the belt of my adversary before he can point his gun at me. 1926G. Hunting Vicarion xiii. 215 I'm glad they never perfected that ray they used to talk about for disposing of an enemy at a distance without betraying the disposer. 1940Graves & Hodge Long Week-End vi. 93 An inventor..claimed to have produced a ray that would set fire to anything inflammable. 1969E. von Daniken Chariots of Gods? ii. 25 They will hammer and chisel in the rock pictures of what they had once seen: Shapeless giants,..staves from which rays are shot out as if from a sun.
II.
6. Math. a. = radius n. 3. Now rare.
1690Leybourn Curs. Math. 735 If the Ray AC of the Concentrick ACEF be supposed to be equal to the Ray BD of the Eccentrick BDEF. 1704C. Hayes Treat. Fluxions 45 The Arch of the Circle MQ, bounded at Q by the Ray FA. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp., Ray of curvature, in geometry, is used to signify the semi-diameter of the circle of curvature. 1825J. Nicholson Operat. Mechanic 129 From each of these points draw a line to the opposite end of the base, as so many rays to a centre. 1835Lindley Introd. Bot. (1848) I. 336 A corolla is said to be regular when its segments form equal rays of a circle.
b. Any one of the lines forming a pencil or set of straight lines passing through a point.
1879Encycl. Brit. X. 389/2 Through every point in p one line in the pencil will pass, and every ray in Q will cut p in one point. 1885C. Leudesdorf Cremona's Proj. Geom. 73 The locus of the points of intersection of pairs of corresponding rays of the pencils.
7. One of any system of lines, parts, or things radially disposed.
1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. 131 A kind of Gelly,..having several kinds of rays like legs, proceeding from the middle of it. 1672–3Grew Anat. Roots i. iii. §7 These Parts, are like so many White Rays, streaming, by the Diameter of the Root, from the inward Edge toward the Circumference of the Barque. 1748Sir J. Hill Hist. Fossils 654 Of these [Asteriæ] some have five angles, or rays, and others only four. 1849Noad Electricity (ed. 3) 350 The radii of the wheel must be so arranged that each ray shall touch the surface of the mercury, before the preceding ray shall have quitted it.
8. Bot.
a. The marginal portion of a composite flower, consisting of ligulate florets arranged radially. = radius n. 2 c (a).
1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. vi. (1794) 65 Botanists have given the name of ray to the set of semiflorets which compose the circumference. 1837Penny Cycl. VII. 422/1 Every head of flowers..has a central part, or disk, and a circumference, or ray. 1872Oliver Elem. Bot. ii. 195 In Daisy, the outside florets are irregular,..and white, constituting the ray.
b. A pedicel or branch of an umbel. = radius n. 2 c (b).
1785Martyn Rousseau's Bot. v. (1794) 51 The rays of the little umbels are no farther subdivided. 1776–96Withering Brit. Plants (ed. 3) IV. 375 The Rays may be sometimes 3 or 5, but only accidentally. 1870Hooker Stud. Flora 155 Umbels lateral and terminal, subglobose; rays few or many, long or short.
c. = medullary ray.
1884Bower & Scott De Bary's Phaner. 458 With reference to their origin at the first commencement of the woody ring, the former have also received the name of the original primary rays. 1925Eames & MacDaniels Introd. Plant Anat. vii. 176 The ray is more or less like a brick wall, the individual cells representing the bricks. 1953K. Esau Plant Anat. xi. 252 The dicotyledons typically contain only parenchyma cells in the rays.
9. Zool.
a. = fin-ray, fin n.1 6.
1668Wilkins Real Char. ii. v. 142 Pike... Two finns; the hindermost of which is small, fleshy and without rays. 1769Pennant Zool. III. 166 The first ray of the first dorsal fin is very long. 1828Stark Elem. Nat. Hist. I. 400 One great genus, characterized by the first dorsal fin with soft rays, followed by a second smaller one,..not supported by rays. 1872Baker Nile Tribut. ix. 156 The back fin resembled that of a perch, with seven rays.
b. One of the radial divisions of a star-fish.
1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Star-fish, There are many species of the star-fish,..they have different numbers of rays, but the most common kind have five. 1834McMurtrie Cuvier's Anim. Kingd. 466 There are also two ovaries in each ray. 1842Penny Cycl. XXIII. 16/1 Specimens of star-fish with four large rays and a small one still growing.
10. Astr. Any of the long bright lines of pale material that can be seen to radiate from some lunar craters.
1838J. P. Nichol Phenomena & Order Solar Syst. II. vi. 171 The most remarkable circumstance connected with this variety in the Moon's shining power is those rays issuing chiefly from craters and extending over a large space. 1873R. A. Proctor Moon iv. 253 The telescope..has discovered numerous small craters of varying depth in the midst of many of the rays, and it reveals the fact, that these small craters..do not penetrate through the matter we are examining, inasmuch as there comes from their bases always the same kind of light that characterizes the ray. 1895T. G. Elger Moon 27 The rays emanating from Tycho surpass in extent and interest any of the others. 1922H. S. Jones Gen. Astron. iv. 102 From some of the craters, under favourable conditions of illumination, bright rays or streaks can be seen radiating radially in all directions. 1962Listener 1 Feb. 223/2 The mysterious lunar rays issuing from Tycho, Copernicus, and other craters also fit better into an igneous theory. The rays cross mountains, walled formations, ridges, and seas without marked deviation.
11. attrib. and Comb.
a. In sense 1, as ray-fringed, ray-gilt, ray-girt, ray-shorn, ray-strewn adjs.
1830Tennyson To ― 6 *Ray-fringed eyelids of the morn.
1773J. Ross Fratricide ii. 54 (MS.) Those yet faithful, round his *ray-gilt throne Bask in their Maker's smile.
1797T. Park Sonnets 29 Glory's *ray-girt head.
1872Geo. Eliot Middlem. II. xxxvii. 265 The other great dread—of himself becoming dimmed and for ever *ray-shorn in her eyes.
1859G. Meredith R. Feverel xxi, The dim *ray-strewn valley.
b. In sense 8 a, as ray-corolla, ray-floret, ray-flower, ray-petal; sense 8 c, as ray cell, ray initial, ray tracheid.
1907D. P. Penhallow Man. N. Amer. Gymnosperms v. 83 Pits on the lateral walls of the *ray cells are an invariable feature of all investigated species of..Coniferales. 1933Forestry VII. 93 It is essential to study..the development of the ray cells in the wood.
1870Hooker Stud. Flora 203 Artemisia..*Ray-corollas dilated below.
1845A. H. Lincoln Lect. Bot. (1850) 185 Flowers without rays, or the *ray florets indistinct. 1877Darwin Forms of Fl. Introd. 5 The ray-florets of the Compositæ often differ remarkably from the others.
1852Gray in Smithsonian Contrib. Knowl. V. vi. 107 Perityle aglossa... This species is remarkable for the want of *ray⁓flowers.
1953K. Esau Plant Anat. vi. 126 The *ray initials give origin to the ray cells. 1975Sci. Amer. July 102/2 Among the components of the cambium are what are called ray initials; the continuation of a ray initial down into the sapwood of a stem, a branch or a trunk is known as a wood ray.
1859Darwin Orig. Spec. v. (1872) 116 That the development of the *ray-petals by drawing nourishment from the reproductive organs causes their abortion.
1907D. P. Penhallow Man. N. Amer. Gymnosperms vi. 88 In the higher Coniferæ the medullary ray is distinguished by the presence of an element which differs materially in its structure from the associated parenchyma cells. These elements have been designated as *ray tracheids. 1940Brown & Panshin Comm. Timbers U.S. vii. 128 Ray tracheids attain their best development in the genus Pinus. 1956F. W. Jane Structure of Wood v. 91 Ray tracheids often form the marginal cells of the rays.
c. In sense 9 a, ray-finned adj.; sense 9 b, as ray-margin, ray-plate, ray-scale, ray-spine, etc.
1841E. Forbes Brit. Starfishes 28 The lateral ray-plates. Ibid. 50 Upper ray-scales transversely oblong. Ibid. 51 The ray-spines are long, slender, and sharp. Ibid. 133 The number of plates on each ray-margin. 1933A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. iv. 85 That [sc. the history] of the later ray-finned fishes has no such interest. 1968[see lung-fish s.v. lung n. 7]. 1970R. M. Black Elements Palaeont. xvii. 249 The ray-finned fish have had an expansionist evolution.
d. ray blight, a fungus disease of chrysanthemums caused by Ascochyta chrysanthemi, which attacks the flowers, causing discoloration and shrivelling of the petals; ray diagram, a diagram showing the paths of light rays through an optical system; ray-filter, a means of separating the obscure from the luminous rays of electric light (see quot.); ray-fin, a fish belonging to the subclass Actinopterygii, to which most living bony fish belong and which includes those having thin fan-like fins with dermal rays; ray fleck, the marking caused by the exposure of a ray in sawn timber; ray-fungus, a fungus (Actinomyces) which enters the body and produces the disease Actinomycosis; ray gun, a hand-held device that can be made to emit rays, esp. (in Science Fiction) destructive or harmful ones; ray therapy, the treatment of disease with radiation; radio-therapy; ray-tracing, the calculation of the path taken by a ray of light through an optical system; ray treatment = ray therapy.
1907F. S. Stevens in Bot. Gaz. XLIV. 241 The Chrysanthemum Ray Blight... The common name chosen for the disease..is taken from the most conspicuous symptom of the malady, a blighting of the corolla. 1961Amat. Gardening 21 Oct. 6/2 Ray blight is much less common than the other two bloom diseases. 1965Nakajima & Young Art of Chrysanthemum vii. 81 If the ray blight is not checked, it may continue on to destroy all blooms in the immediate area.
1980J. W. Hill Intermediate Physics xii. 123 Draw two ray diagrams to show how a real and virtual image may be obtained of an object placed the same distance away from two different mirrors.
1871Tyndall Fragm. Sci. (1879) I. iii. 86 A substance..has been discovered, by which these dark rays may be detached from the total emission of the electric lamp. This ray-filter is a liquid, black as pitch to the luminous, but bright as a diamond to the non-luminous, radiation.
1945A. S. Romer Vertebr. Paleontol. (ed. 2) v. 89 Most of the more characteristic Paleozoic ray-fins were once assigned to Palaeoniscus. 1963P. H. Greenwood Norman's Hist. Fishes (ed. 2) xvii. 306 The Bony Fishes can be divided into three main groups or subclasses: Actinopterygii (ray-fins), Crossopterygii (fringe-fins) and Dipneusti (lung-fishes).
1934Brown & Panshin Identification Comm. Timbers U.S. 211 Ray fleck: a portion of a ray as it appears on the quarter surface. 1940― Comm. Timbers U.S. viii. 201 Some woods possess low, closely spaced, but relatively conspicuous ray flecks. 1968Canad. Antiques Collector July 26/1 Quarter sawed figure is characterised by the annual growth rings appearing as parallel stripes and by the appearance of rays on the surface. In such woods as oak and chestnut these rays are called ray fleck or flake.
1897Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Ray-fungus, The ray-fungus consists of a dense mycelium of interlacing hyphæ, with club-shaped extremities extending radially into the tissues. 1897Allbutt's Syst. Med. III. 890 The livers contained a large focus of pus, in which colonies of the ray-fungus were found.
1931Amazing Stories Dec. 804/1 The rayguns of the battlecraft, being of superior range, melted down the mortars of the fort at the magazine. 1951A. C. Clarke Sands of Mars iv. 40 It was a modified air pistol... ‘If you say it's like a ray-gun I'll certify you.’ 1957[see bug-eyed a.]. 1958Spectator 19 Sept. 379/1 But as a space-veteran who once triggered a ray-gun with Flash Gordon, let me advise you to read on. 1967Autocar 28 Dec. 29/3 As the car nears each set of lamps a patrolman..points the ray gun at the cell situated between the two lamps. A beamed radio signal from the gun activates the fog warning lamp switch. 1977W. McIlvanney Laidlaw xxvi. 116 It was a beautiful smile... It hit Harkness like a ray-gun and he felt his concentration atomise.
1928Daily Express 20 Dec. 8/3 When the phrase ‘ray-therapy’ crept into one of the royal bulletins, I heard educated persons explaining that it meant treatment by wireless! 1943Gloss. Terms Electr. Engin. (B.S.I.) 144 Radio-therapy, [deprecated synonym] ray therapy, the treatment of diseases by radiation.
1918L. Silberstein Simplified Method of tracing Rays p. v, Our purpose is not to treat the whole subject of geometrical optics, but..that part of it which is called by the short name of ‘ray tracing’... Given the ray incident upon any system of lenses..find the emergent ray. 1943D. H. Jacobs Fund. Optical Engin. xxiv. 381 Ray-tracing equations are all derived from one exact law: Snell's law. 1974W. T. Welford Aberrations of Symmetrical Optical Syst. iii. 41 This process of finding a ray path in terms of the numerical values of the incidence heights and convergence angles at each surface in turn is called raytracing.
1904Science Siftings 12 Mar. 320/2 The Finsen light concentrates as much violet rays as can be found in a hundred square feet of sunlight. The same principle enters into all ray treatment. 1905Westm. Gaz. 4 May 12/2 Six patients suffering from skin diseases..died after the ray-treatment.
▪ II. ray, n.2|reɪ|
Also 4 rayȝe, 4–7 raye, 5 raie.
[a. F. raie (13th c.) = Sp. and Pg. raya, It. raja:—L. raia raia.]
A selachian fish of the family Raiidæ, having a broad flat body (sometimes of enormous size) and inferior gill-openings; esp. a skate.
1323–4Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 13 In..vii Rayes et ix turbot emptis. c1400R. Gloucester's Chron. (Rolls) App. T., Folc þer was inne..hengim on his cloþes fisch tayles of rayȝe [v.r. ray]. c1450Two Cookery-bks. 103 Ray boiled. Take a Ray, and draw him in þe bely [etc.]. 1565Cooper Thesaurus, Batis..the fishe called ray or skeate. 1588T. Harriot Virginia D iij, There are also Troutes: Porpoises: Rayes. 1623Cockeram iii, Pastorica, a fish like a Raye, with strong pricks. 1726G. Shelvocke Voy. round World 55 All their bays and creeks are well stock'd with mullets, large rays,..and drum-fish. 1833J. Rennie Alph. Angling 11 In some fishes, such as the rays and the sharks, the nostril opens by a considerable chink into the mouth. 1862Ansted Channel Isl. ii. ix. (ed. 2) 211 The ray is taken largely for bait, and is also sold for human food.
b. With defining adjs. (see quots.).
Also eagle-ray, rock-ray, shark-ray, sting-ray, whip-ray, etc.; see these words. For an enumeration of the various kinds of rays, see Couch Brit. Fishes (1862) I. 97–144.
1611Cotgr., Raye estelée, the starrie Skate, the rugged Ray. Raye lize, the smooth Raye... Raye au long bec, the spotted, long-snowted, or sharp-snowted Ray. 1753Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v. Raia, Rays are generally divided by authors into the smooth and the prickly. The smooth are what we call skates and flairs; the prickly we call thornbacks. 1769Pennant Zool. III. 64 Sharp-nosed Ray..(Raia oxyrinchus Lin.). 1862G. T. Lloyd 33 Yrs. Tasmania iv. 51 The ray is termed in the colonies the ‘stinging ray’ from its possessing a barbed spear-bone. 1869[see beaked 2 c.].
c. attrib. and Comb., as ray-fish, ray-mouthed adj., ray-tail; ray-dog, ? the ray-mouthed dog-fish; ray-maid, -oil (see quots.).
1857Kingsley Two Y. Ago I. 60 In the shallow muddy pools, lie..some twenty non-exenterated *ray-dogs and picked dogs (Anglice, dog-fish).
1611Florio, Rhina, the Skate-fish, a *Raye-fish. 1611Cotgr., Coliart, a kind of smooth, and straw-coloured Ray-fish.
1862J. Couch Brit. Fishes I. 99 Thornback Ray. *Ray-maid (Linn. Raia clavata). This is one of the commonest of the Rays, and the most valued. 1884F. Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 344 The young [of the Thornback ray] termed maids, maidens, or maiden-skates: ray-maids.
1875Trans. Devon. Assoc. VII. 145 It [Mustelus lævis] is known in Plymouth and Cornwall as the ‘*ray-mouthed dog-fish’.
1881Spon's Encycl. IV. 1376 *Ray-oils are very extensively procured from the livers of Raja clavata, R. pastinaca, and other species indigenous to Indian seas, and possess qualities like those of cod-liver-oil.
▪ III. † ray, n.3 Obs.
Also 4–6 raye, 6 raie (rey).
[Aphetic form of array n., perh. a. ONF. *rei, OF. roi: see array v.]
1. Order, arrangement, array, esp. of soldiers.
In 16–17th c. also freq. in the comb. battle-ray.
c1470Henry Wallace v. 59 Butler be than had putt his men in ray. 1519W. Horman Vulg. 274 Whan the ray of the hoste is all to scatered,..and one byddeth sette in a newe raye. a1553Udall Royster D. iv. vii. (Arb.) 71 Nowe sirs, keepe your ray, and see your heartes be stoute. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. 119 Dispersed here and there out of ray. 1632― Cyrupædia 26 The setting of a battayle in ray was but a small part of the art.
fig.a1529Skelton Sp. Parrot 415 Wylfulnes and braynles now rule all the raye. 1567Satir. Poems Reform. iv. 43 Fra credite I crakit, Kyndnes brak ray.
2. A line or rank.
1481Caxton Myrr. i. xix. 57 She may..passe only one ligne or Ray fro the place where she holdeth her in. 1542Udall Erasm. Apoph. 183 b, Takyng with hym thirteen rayes of horsemen, hymself flounced me into the floudde. 1587Mirr. Mag., Albanact x, By Mars his force, their rayes and ranckes hee rent.
3. Dress. = array n. 11.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 125 That [w]ho is riall of his ray, that light reede him ffolwith. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 11503 Thogh thow holdest me nat wys, By cause my ray ys al to-rent. 1566J. Partridge Plasidas 770 Thus fiftene yeares all desolate She liues in widdowes ray. 1637B. Jonson Sad Sheph. ii. i, Here he comes, new claithed,..and helpes her forth! This is true court-ship, and becomes his ray. [c1760Smollett Burlesque Ode 39, I am left behind..To sing thy dirge in sad funereal ray.]
transf.1596Spenser F.Q. v. ii. 50 As a ship, whom cruell tempest drives Upon a rocke.., spoyling all her geares and goodly ray.
▪ IV. ray, n.4 (and a.) Obs. exc. Hist.|reɪ|
Also 4 rai, 4–6 rey, raye, 6 raie.
[a. OF. *raié, *reié, northern ff. roié, roiet (Godef.) f. raie, roie stripe, streak. (Cf. mod.F. étoffe de raies.)
In med.L. rendered by radiatus: see Du Cange.]
1. A kind of striped cloth.
The word was app. obsolete in the time of Cowel (1607), who says ‘Ray seemeth to be a word attributed to cloth neuer coloured or died’. This explanation (adopted by some later lexicographers) was no doubt suggested by the separate mention of drap de raye and drap de colour in various Acts of Parliament.
13..Michael Kildare in Rel. Ant. II. 192 Of fow no grai, no rede no rai, nastou bot a here. 1362Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 125 Among this riche rayes lernde I a lessun, Brochede hem with a pak-neelde [etc.]. 1426Lydg. De Guil. Pilgr. 14082, I ffond vp fyrst devyses newe, Rayes off many sondry hewe. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 8 The time hath bene..When men with honest ray could holde them selfe content. 1552in Money Ch. Goods Berks (1879) 18 A old vestymente of Raye. 1837Sir F. Palgrave Merch. & Friar v. (1844) 188 Miniver and satin inspired as little respect as serge and ray.
b. So cloth of ray.
[1328Act 2 Edw. III, c. 14 La longure de chescun drap de Raye. 1388Act 12 Rich. II, c. 14 En laeure come les draps de Ray.] 1587Holinshed Chron. III. 802/2 Cloth, called vulgarlie cloth of raie. c1640J. Smyth Lives Berkeleys (1883) I. 305 All the knights robes were of cloth of ray.
2. attrib. or as adj. (sometimes placed after the n.). Striped; made of striped cloth.
1362Langl. P. Pl. A. iii. 277 No ray robe with riche pelure. 1382Wyclif Prov. xxxi. 22 A rai cloth she made to hir. 1442in Willis & Clark Cambridge (1886) I. 382 To euery of theym iij yerd of cloth Ray. 1494Fabyan Chron. vii. 663 To be ladde aboute the towne wt raye hoodes vpon theyr heddes. 1533Wriothesley Chron. (1875) I. 21 Their was a raye cloath, blew, spreed from the highe desses of the Kinges Benche unto the high alter of Westminster. 1611Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. ix. xix. §12 Himselfe and Queene vpon ray Cloth..went into King Edwards shrine.
▪ V. ray, n.5 rare.|reɪ|
[App. a. F. raie stripe, streak (see prec.), but in some cases perh. apprehended as a use of ray n.1]
†1. A stripe, streak, line. Obs.
a1327Poem Time Edw. II 283 in Pol. Songs (Camden) 336 A newe taille of squierie is nu in everi toun; The raie is turned overthvert that sholde stonde adoun. a1500Chaucer's Dreme 1824 A bird, all fedred blew and greene, With brighte rayes like gold betwene, As smalle thred over every joynt. 1573Baret Alvearie s.v. Ray, Wrought with little rayes, streames, or streaks.
2. A groove in a rifle-barrel.
1802James Milit. Dict. s.v. Rifled, The rifled barrels in America, during the last war, contained from 10 to 16 rays or threads... Some persons have imagined, that those of 16 rays were the best.
▪ VI. † ray, n.6 Obs.
Forms: 4 reye, 6 ray(e.
[a. MHG. reie (reige), rei, rê, etc. (see Grimm: mod.G. reihen, reigen), or MLG. rei(e, Du. (late MDu.) rei, of obscure origin.]
A kind of round dance.
c1384Chaucer H. Fame iii. 146 Pypers of the Duche tonge, To lerne love-daunces, springes, Reyes, and these straunge thinges. 1514Barclay Cyt. & Uplondyshm. (Percy Soc.) 11, I can daunce the raye, I can both pipe & sing. a1529Skelton Replyc. 169 Ye dawns all in a sute The heritykes ragged ray.
▪ VII. ray, n.7 rare.
[Of obscure origin.]
†1. Darnel. Obs.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. lxv. (Bodl. MS.) lf. 206 Amonge þe beste wheete somtyme groweþ yuel wedes & venemos as Cocle & ray & oþer suche. 1578Lyte Dodoens iv. xv. 469 In Englishe it is also called Iuraye, Darnell, and Raye. Ibid. xlv. 504 Wall Barley or Way Bennet..may be called Red-Ray, or Darnell. 1597[see ivray]. 1601Holland Pliny xviii. xvii, As for the graine of Raie or Darnell, it is very small. 1617in Minsheu Ductor.
2. ellipt. = ray-grass.
1805R. W. Dickson Pract. Agric. I. 351 Being laid down with fourteen pounds of white clover, and one peck of ray, the grass lets at twenty shillings.
▪ VIII. † ray, n.8 Obs. rare.
[a. ONF. rei = OF. roi roy.]
A king.
a1400Sir Perc. 178 Scho tuke hir leve and went hir waye, Bothe at barone and at raye. c1460Emare 430 Then sayde that ryche raye, I wyll have that fayr may, And wedde her to my quene.
b. Erroneously used for ‘man’, ‘person’.
1513Douglas æneis viii. Prol. 157 Thir romanis ar bot rydlis, quod I to that ray.
▪ IX. † ray, n.9 Obs.
[Of obscure origin; perh. a concrete application of ray n.1]
A small piece of gold or gold-leaf; a spangle.
c1450Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 633 Pro xxvj rayis pro garniamento..senescalli d'ni Prioris, vjs. xjd. 1565Cooper Thesaurus, Bracteola, a little leafe or raye of golde, silver or other metall. Also a thynne ray set under a precious stone in a ring. 1632Sherwood, A raie of gold, or other mettall, fueille d'or, ou d'aultre metal. 1640O. Sedgwicke Christs Counsell 173 He carefully lookes upon every ray and dust of gold, and preserves it.
▪ X. ray, n.10 Now dial.|reɪ|
[cf. ray v.2 5 c.]
Diarrhœa in sheep or cattle.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 133 The Flix, or the Laske, which in som places they call the Ray. 1741Compl. Fam.-Piece iii. 491 This Salve is very speedy..in curing the Distempers called the Ray and the Scab in Sheep. 1869Lonsdale Gloss., Ray, a diarrhœa.
▪ XI. † ray, n.11 Obs. rare—1.
App., chopped straw.
The Latin text has cum desecto stramento.
1656W. D. tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. §440 A Driver..winnoweth oats with a fan; being winnowed casteth them (together with Ray) unto the horses.
▪ XII. ray, v.1|reɪ|
[f. ray n.1, or ad. F. rayer, OF. raier:—L. radiāre to emit beams, furnish with beams, f. radius n.]
1. intr. Of light: To issue from some point in the form of rays. Also with beams, etc. as subj. Const. forth, off, out.
1598Florio, Radiare, to shine.., to radiate, to ray. 1635Quarles Embl. v. xiv. 302 The brighter beams, that from his eyeballs ray'd. 1698Norris Pract. Disc. (1707) IV. 158 This excellent Glory that ray'd forth through our Saviour's Body at the Transfiguration. 1850Mrs. Browning Poems II. 87 A molten glory..That rays off into the gloom. 1890Murray's Mag. May 698 A glitter seeming to ray out from his cold, pale eyes.
b. transf. and fig.
1647H. More Song of Soul iii. ii. xxviii, The soul..when it raies out,..Oretakes each outgone beam. 1710R. Ward Life H. More 41 Early in the Morning he was wont to awake..with all his Thoughts and Notions raying (as I may so speak) about him. 1797Burke Regic. Peace iii. Wks. 1808 VIII. 283 Philosophy, raying out from Europe, would have warmed..the universe. 1865Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys xxiii. (1879) 213 On the side of God her soul lay open, and her thought rayed wide.
c. In indirect passive, with upon.
1656Trapp Comm. Phil. iv. 19 So they are rayed upon with a beam of divine love.
2. intr. Of luminous bodies or points: To emit light in rays. rare.
1647H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. ii. xvi, In a moment Sol doth ray. 1655–87― App. Antid. iii. §2 What we fansy..to befal light and colours, that any point of them will thus ray orbicularly.
3. intr. To radiate, extend in the form of radii.
1659H. More Immort. Soul 196 That the Nerves..may ray through the sides. 1873H. E. H. King Disciples, Ugo Bassi ii. (1877) 88 Gold-threaded hair that rayed from lips and brow. 1896Spectator 12 Dec. 851/1 Iron roads raying out to the ends of the kingdom.
b. To move in to a centre along radial lines.
1876Mrs. Whitney Sights & Ins. xxxv. 332 Those in the far outskirts catching the impulse gradually, and raying in.
4. trans. To send out or forth, to emit (light) in rays. Also const. into.
1789E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. (1791) 75 The star of Autumn rays his misty hair. 1850Blackie æschylus I. 26 The flaming pine Rayed out a golden glory like the sun. 1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 192 As the sun rays forth its natural light into the air. 1899P. H. Wicksteed tr. Dante's Paradiso 341 A point I saw which rayed forth light. 1922E. R. Eddison Worm Ouroboros xxx. 372 Yellow flames of candles..on either side of the mirror rayed forth tresses of tinselling brightness.
b. transf. and fig.
1655H. Vaughan Silex Scint., Isaac's Marriage 8 Religion was Ray'd into thee as beames into a glasse. 1701Norris Ideal World i. ii. 52 It being impossible..that a figure that is not exactly round in itself should ray forth the image of a perfect circle. 1858Carlyle Fredk. Gt. v. ii. (1872) II. 74 He kept all Europe in perpetual travail;..raying-out ambassadors, and less ostensible agents. 1863Cowden Clarke Shaks. Char. xiii. 337 His presence rays life and manliness into every part of the drama.
5. a. To furnish with rays or radiating lines. b. To irradiate.
1750G. Hughes Barbados 199 It bears..many yellow papilionaceous flowers, ray'd with purple veins. Ibid. 201 It is generally rayed with fine streaks of red. a1835Hogg Grk. Pastoral Poet. Wks. 1838–40 II. 148 Such a grace Ne'er ray'd a human virgin's face. 1871B. Taylor Faust (1875) II. ii. ii. 94 It rays the darkness with its lightning.
6. trans. To treat with, or examine by means of, X-rays or other invisible radiation.
1921Science 23 Sept. 278/1 The total number of offspring by the pairs in which the females were rayed..was 2460. 1933Discovery Feb. 46/2 Tissues taken from an animal which had been rayed [with doses of Gamma rays]. 1955Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XLI. 155 The Tradescantia microspore chromosomes react..as double threads when rayed at prophase.
Hence ˈraying vbl. n.1 (also with out).
1856R. A. Vaughan Mystics (1860) I. 65 There is a raying out of all orders of existence. 1921Science 23 Sept. 278/1 Eggs which were laid during the first six days after raying and mating. 1933Discovery Feb. 46/2 The dose of gamma rays needed to kill a culture at once..is enormous, and as the dose decreases the interval between the raying and the death of the culture becomes larger. 1955Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. XLI. 150 Accurate analysis of chromosomal aberrations could not be made until about 6 hours after raying.
▪ XIII. ray, v.2 Obs. exc. dial.|reɪ|
Also 4–7 raie, 5 rai, 6 raiy.
[Aphetic f. array v. Cf. ray n.3]
†1. trans. To put (men) in order or array. Obs.
1387Trevisa Higden (Rolls) III. 77 After long pees he rayed batailles, and overcom þe Albans. a1450Le Morte Arth. 2720 Ychone theyme rayed in alle ryghtis: Novther party thought to flee. c1470Henry Wallace iv. 681 The rang in haist thai rayit sone agayne. a1600Flodden F. vii. (1664) 60 All ray'd in ranks, ready to fight. 1600Holland Livy xxiii. xxvii. 492 They encountered, thin and losely raied, with the enemies thicke and closely raunged together.
†2. To arrange, dispose, or deal with, in any fashion; also in pass., to take oneself away. Obs.
c1380Sir Ferumb. 2295 Þe mete þat was ful richly raied in disches of golde fyn. c1450St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 7522 Þe saint be dreme him slepand flayde, And bade him sone away be rayde. Ibid. 7812 Raying þe cors in to þe bote þai led it to Jarow mynster. c1475Partenay 3090 The helme rent And foulle raide. 1509Hawes Past. Pleas. xxxi. viii, Wyth him dismayde which you have rayed so.
†3. refl. To make ready, prepare, equip (oneself).
c1380Sir Ferumb. 270 Euere suþþe y haue me raid redely to þy seruyse. c1400Arth. & Merl. (D.) 436 (Kölbing) Þey raydyn [v.r. dighten] hem þanne to in hast, In to þat batayle for to wende. c1440Promp. Parv. 422/1 Rayd, or (a)rayde, or redy, paratus.
4. To dress (oneself or another). = array v. 8. Also absol. Now dial.
1399Langl. Rich. Redeles iii. 120 Ffor ben they rayed arith they recchith no fforther. c1400Beryn 3812 Beryn rose, & rayd him, & to þe chirch went. c1440Promp. Parv. 422/1 Rayd, or arayd wyth clothynge, or other thynge of honeste, ornatus. 1509Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 9 Both man and woman..Are rayde and clothed not after their degree. 1650Fuller Pisgah iv. vi. 105 Their clothes were made large and loose,..so that they might run, and ray themselves. 1675Hobbes Odyssey (1677) 169 If true, with coat and vest my news requite; If not, then not; although ill raid am I. 1886in W. Som. and Dorset glossaries. 1898T. Hardy Wessex Poems 118 She rose and rayed, and decked her head.
†5. To smear, bespatter, or soil with blood, dirt, etc.; to dirty or defile; to beray. Also const. in. Obs. (freq. in 16th c.).
1526Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 257 All his precyous body wounded & rayed with blode. a1535More Wks. 614/1, I..shall shew you shortly how angrely he ryseth vp, and royally rayed in dyrte. 1618Bolton Florus ii. xviii. (1636) 150 That those should bee rayed with durt, who would not be smeared with blood. 1663Mennes & Smith Witt's Recreations §469 His scarlet hose, and doublet very rich, With mud and mire all beastly raid.
†b. Without const. in same sense. Obs.
1533J. Heywood Merry Play (1830) 31, I burned my face, and rayde my clothes also. 1588Kyd Househ. Phil. Wks. (1901) 272 Soyled places which may spoile or ray her garments. 1596Shakes. Tam. Shr. iv. i. 3.
†c. absol. Of sheep: To become foul. Obs.—1
1523Fitzherb. Husb. §41 If any shepe raye or be fyled with dounge about the tayle.
Hence † ˈraying vbl. n.2 Obs.
1552Elyot, Basis,..roundels made to set vnder wyne pottes for raiying of the table. 1591Percivall Sp. Dict., Encenagamiento, raying with durt, oblimatio.
▪ XIV. ray
var. ra1 Sc. Obs.; var. ree v. to sift; obs. Sc. f. roe. |
