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Bray

//bɹeɪ// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.
  2. 2
    A place name:; A village and civil parish in Windsor and Maidenhead borough, Berkshire, England (OS grid ref SU9079).
  3. 3
    A place name:; A river in Devon, England, which flows south to join the River Mole at Meethe; in full, the River Bray.
  4. 4
    A place name:; A coastal town in County Wicklow, Ireland (Irish grid ref O 2617).
  5. 5
    A place name:; A commune in Saône-et-Loire department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A place name:; A commune in Eure department, Normandy, France.
  2. 7
    A place name:; A township in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States, named after an early settler.
  3. 8
    A place name:; A town in Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States.
  4. 9
    A place name:; A village in Kgalagadi district, Botswana, opposite Bray, South Africa.
  5. 10
    A place name:; A village in Kagisano-Molopo local municipality, North West province, South Africa, opposite Bray, Botswana.
  6. 11
    A place name:; A locality in Robe council area and Wattle Range council area, South Australia.
Noun
  1. 1
    The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.
  2. 2
    the cry of an ass wordnet
  3. 3
    Any discordant, grating, or harsh sound. broadly

    "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?"

Verb
  1. 1
    Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry. intransitive

    "Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me."

  2. 2
    To crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar. archaic, transitive

    "Though thou ſhouldeſt bray a fool in a morter among wheate with a peſtell, yet will not his fooliſhneſſe depart from him."

  3. 3
    laugh loudly and harshly wordnet
  4. 4
    To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray. broadly, intransitive

    "He threw back his head and brayed with laughter."

  5. 5
    To hit (someone or something). British, Yorkshire, broadly, transitive

    "If anything he brayed him all the harder – the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading wordnet
  2. 7
    To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner. transitive

    "[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; [...]"

  3. 8
    braying characteristic of donkeys wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

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.

Etymology 2

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.

Etymology 3

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.

Etymology 4

The town in Ireland is from Irish Bré, of uncertain origin.

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