Shay

name, noun

name, noun ·1 syllable ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1
A chaise. archaic
"The poſt-ſhay ſhall be at the door by ſix o'clock in the morning; and if Miſs Fanny does not get into it, vvhy I vvill, and ſo there's an end of the matter."
2
A geared steam locomotive, patented by Ephraim Shay.
3
a carriage consisting of two wheels and a calash top; drawn by a single horse wordnet

Proper Noun

1
A surname from Irish.
2
A unisex given name transferred from the surname.
3
A diminutive of the male given name Seamus.

Synonyms

carriage chaise chaise

Example

"Shay burst out laughing when she heard the joke that David told."

Etymology

Etymology 1

A back-formation from chaise (originally from French), with the /z/ of that word taken as the plural ending -s.

Etymology 2

Variant of Shea, from Irish Ó Séaghdha.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.