Bāy1, a.
a. [O. Fr. bāy, Fr. & Pr. bai, Sp. bayo, It. bajo, from Lat. badius, brown, chestnut-colored, used only of horses.] Red or reddish, inclining to a chestnut color;—applied to the color of horses.
6 entries under this word
Bay
Bāy (bā)2, n.
n. [Fr. baie, Pr. & Sp. bahia, It. baja, L. Lat. baia, Ir. & Gael. baith or bagh, bay, harbor, creek; Bisc. baia, baija, harbor.]
Sense 1. (Geog.) An inlet of the sea, usually smaller than a gulf, but of the same general character.
☞ The name is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve, as Hudson's Bay. Nor is the name restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but it is used for any recess or inlet between capes or head lands; as, the Bay of Biscay.
Sense 2. A pond-head, or a pond formed by a dam for the purpose of driving mill-wheels. Blount.
Sense 3. (Arch.) A principal compartment or division in the architectural arrangement of a building, marked either by the buttresses or pilasters on the walls, by the disposition of the main ribs of the vaulting in the interior, by the main arches or pillars, or by any other leading features that separate it into corresponding portions. Oxf. Gloss.
Sense 4. A place in a barn between the floor and the end of the building, or a low inclosed place for depositing hay.
Sick bay, in vessels of war, that part of a deck appropriated to the use of the sick. Totten.
Bāy3, n.
(bā), n. [Fr. baie, Sp. baya, a berry, the fruit of the laurel and other trees, from Lat. baca, bacca, berry, bacca lauri, Virg. Georg. 1, 306. “The roiall laurell is a very tall and big tree, and the baies or berries (baccæ) that it beareth are nothing sharp in tast.” Holland, Plinie, 15, 30.]
- A berry, particularly of the laurel. [Obs.]
- The laurel-tree; hence, in the plural, an honorary garland or crown bestowed as a prize for victory or excellence, anciently made or consisting of branches of the laurel.
The patriot’s honors and the poet’s bays. Trumbull. 3. A tract of land covered with bay-trees. [Local, U. S.]
Bāy4, n.
(bā), n. [Cf. Fr. aboi, barking, pl. abois, prop. the extremity to which the stag is reduced when surrounded by the dogs, barking (aboyant); aux abois, at bay; être aux abois, to be or to stand at bay; mettre aux abois, to hold, to keep at bay. See infra.] A state of being obliged to face an antagonist when escape has become impossible.
I suppose he may well hold you at the bay. Ridley.
The most terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant efforts. I. Taylor.
Bāy5, v. i.
v. i. [Abbrev. from O. Fr. abayer, N. Fr. aboyer, from Lat. ad and baubari, to bark gently or moderately; It. bajare, abbajare, to bark.] 1. To bark, as a dog at his game. The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bayed. Dryden.
- [From bay, an inlet of the sea.] To encompass or inclose; to embay. [Obs.] Shak.
- [See BATHE.] To bathe. [Obs. and very rare.]
He feeds upon the cooling shade, and bays His sweaty forehead in the breathing wind. Spenser.
Bāy6, v. t.
v. t. To bark at; to follow with barking; as, to bay the boar. Shak.