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What does bay mean?

Definitions for bay
beɪbay

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word bay.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. bay, embaymentnoun

    an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf

  2. baynoun

    the sound of a hound on the scent

  3. true laurel, bay, bay laurel, bay tree, Laurus nobilisnoun

    small Mediterranean evergreen tree with small blackish berries and glossy aromatic leaves used for flavoring in cooking; also used by ancient Greeks to crown victors

  4. baynoun

    a compartment on a ship between decks; often used as a hospital

    "they put him in the sick bay"

  5. baynoun

    a compartment in an aircraft used for some specific purpose

    "he opened the bomb bay"

  6. alcove, baynoun

    a small recess opening off a larger room

  7. bayadjective

    a horse of a moderate reddish-brown color

  8. bayverb

    (used of animals especially a horse) of a moderate reddish-brown color

  9. bayverb

    utter in deep prolonged tones

  10. bay, questverb

    bark with prolonged noises, of dogs

Wiktionary

  1. baynoun

    A horse of this color.

  2. bayadjective

    Of a reddish-brown colour (especially of horses).

  3. Baynoun

    A region of Somalia.

  4. Baynoun

    The San Francisco Bay Area

  5. Baynoun

    San Francisco Bay.

  6. Etymology: From baye, baie, from beg, as in begbeam, conflated with baie, from baca.

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Bayadjective

    A bay horse is what is inclining to a chesnut; and this colour is various, either a light bay or a dark bay, according as it is less or more deep. There are also coloured horses, that are called dappled bays. All bay horses are commonly called brown by the common people. All bay horses have black manes, which distinguish them from the sorrel, that have red or white manes. There are light bays and gilded bays, which are somewhat of a yellowish colour. The chesnut bay is that which comes nearest to the colour of the chesnut. Farrier’s Dict.

    Etymology: badius, Lat.

    I remember, my lord, you gave good words the other day of a bay courser I rode on. ’Tis yours because you liked it. William Shakespeare, Timon.

    Poor Tom! proud of heart, to ride on a bay trotting horse over four inch’d bridges. William Shakespeare, King Lear.

    His colour grey,
    For beauty dappled, or the brightest bay. John Dryden, Virgil.

  2. BAYnoun

    Etymology: baye, Dutch.

    A reverend Syracusan merchant,
    Who put unluckily into this bay. William Shakespeare, Comedy of Err.

    We have also some works in the midst of the sea, and some bays upon the shore for some works, wherein is required the air and vapour of the sea. Francis Bacon.

    Here in a royal bed the waters sleep,
    When tir’d at sea, within this bay they creep. Dryden.

    Some of you have already been driven to this bay. John Dryden, Epistle to the Whigs.

    Hail, sacred solitude! from this calm bay
    I view the world’s tempestuous sea. Wentworth Dillon.

  3. Baynoun

    The state of any thing surrounded by enemies, and obliged to face them by an impossibility of escape.

    Etymology: abboi, Fr. signifies the last extremity;

    This ship, for fifteen hours, sate like a stag among hounds at the bay, and was sieged and fought with, in turn, by fifteen great ships. Francis Bacon, War with Spain.

    Fair liberty pursu’d, and meant a prey
    To lawless power, here turn’d, and stood at bay. John Denham.

    Nor flight was left, nor hopes to force his way;
    Embolden’d by despair, he stood at bay;
    Resolv’d on death, he dissipates his fears,
    And bounds aloft against the pointed spears. John Dryden, Æneid.

    All, fir’d with noble emulation, strive;
    And, with a storm of darts, to distance drive
    The Trojan chief; who held at bay, from far
    On his Vulcanian orb, sustain’d the war. John Dryden, Virgil.

    We have now, for ten years together, turned the whole force and expence of the war, where the enemy was best able to hold us at a bay. Jonathan Swift.

    He stands at bay,
    And puts his last weak refuge in despair. James Thomson.

  4. Baynoun

    In architecture, a term used to signify the magnitude of a building; as if a barn consists of a floor and two heads, where they lay corn, they call it a barn of two bays. These bays are from fourteen to twenty feet long, and floors, from ten to twelve broad, and usually twenty feet long, which is the breadth of the barn. Builder’s Dict.

    If this law hold in Vienna ten years, I’ll rent the fairest house in it after threepence a bay. William Shakespeare, Meas. for Meas.

    There may be kept one thousand bushels in each bay, there being sixteen bays, each eighteen foot long, about seventeen wide, or three hundred square feet in each bay. John Mortimer.

  5. Baynoun

    A poetical name for an honorary crown or garland, bestowed as a prize for any kind of victory or excellence.

    Beneath his reign shall Eusden wear the bays. Alexander Pope.

  6. To Bayverb

    To follow with barking; to bark at.

    I was with Hercules and Cadmus once,
    When in the wood of Crete they bay’d the bear
    With hounds of Sparta. William Shakespeare, Midsum. Night’s Dream.

    If he should do so,
    He leaves his back unarm’d, the French and Welch
    Baying him at the heels. William Shakespeare, Henry IV.

  7. To Bayverb

    Etymology: abboyer, Fr.

    And all the while she stood upon the ground,
    The wakeful dogs did never cease to bay. Fairy Queen, b. i.

    The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bay’d;
    The hunter close pursu’d the visionary maid;
    She rent the heav’n with loud laments, imploring aid. John Dryden, Fables.

    We are at the stake,
    And bay’d about with many enemies. William Shakespeare, Julius Cæsar.

Wikipedia

  1. Bay

    A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a narrow entrance. A fjord is an elongated bay formed by glacial action.A bay can be the estuary of a river, such as the Chesapeake Bay, an estuary of the Susquehanna River. Bays may also be nested within each other; for example, James Bay is an arm of Hudson Bay in northeastern Canada. Some large bays, such as the Bay of Bengal and Hudson Bay, have varied marine geology.The land surrounding a bay often reduces the strength of winds and blocks waves. Bays may have as wide a variety of shoreline characteristics as other shorelines. In some cases, bays have beaches, which "are usually characterized by a steep upper foreshore with a broad, flat fronting terrace". Bays were significant in the history of human settlement because they provided safe places for fishing. Later they were important in the development of sea trade as the safe anchorage they provide encouraged their selection as ports.

ChatGPT

  1. bay

    A bay is a body of water partially enclosed by land but with a wide mouth, affording access to the sea. It is typically smaller and less enclosed than a gulf. They are formed either by coastal erosion or local tectonic changes causing sea levels to rise. Bays can provide calm waters for ports and harbors.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Bayadjective

    reddish brown; of the color of a chestnut; -- applied to the color of horses

  2. Baynoun

    an inlet of the sea, usually smaller than a gulf, but of the same general character

  3. Baynoun

    a small body of water set off from the main body; as a compartment containing water for a wheel; the portion of a canal just outside of the gates of a lock, etc

  4. Baynoun

    a recess or indentation shaped like a bay

  5. Baynoun

    a principal compartment of the walls, roof, or other part of a building, or of the whole building, as marked off by the buttresses, vaulting, mullions of a window, etc.; one of the main divisions of any structure, as the part of a bridge between two piers

  6. Baynoun

    a compartment in a barn, for depositing hay, or grain in the stalks

  7. Baynoun

    a kind of mahogany obtained from Campeachy Bay

  8. Baynoun

    a berry, particularly of the laurel

  9. Baynoun

    the laurel tree (Laurus nobilis). 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

  10. Baynoun

    a tract covered with bay trees

  11. Bayverb

    to bark, as a dog with a deep voice does, at his game

  12. Bayverb

    to bark at; hence, to follow with barking; to bring or drive to bay; as, to bay the bear

  13. Bayverb

    deep-toned, prolonged barking

  14. Bayverb

    a state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible

  15. Bayverb

    to bathe

  16. Baynoun

    a bank or dam to keep back water

  17. Bayverb

    to dam, as water; -- with up or back

Wikidata

  1. Bay

    Bay is a hair coat color of horses, characterized by a reddish brown body color with a black mane, tail, ear edges, and lower legs. Bay is one of the most common coat colors in many horse breeds. The black areas of a bay horse's hair coat are called "black points", and without them, a horse cannot be a bay. Black points may sometimes be covered by white markings, however such markings do not alter a horse's classification as "bay". Bay horses have dark skin, except under white markings, where the skin is pink. Bay is genetically a base color and the addition of other genes creates many additional coat colors. While the basic concepts behind bay coloring are fairly simple, the genes themselves and the mechanisms that cause shade variations within the bay family are quite complex and, at times, disputed.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Bay

    bā, adj. reddish brown inclining to chestnut.—n. elliptical for 'bay-horse.'—n. Bayard (bā′ard), a bay-horse: a name for any horse generally, from 'Bayard,' the famous bay-coloured magic horse given to Renaud by Charlemagne: a man recklessly blind to danger: a fellow bold in his ignorance: a type of the knight, from Bayard (1476-1524), 'the knight without fear and without reproach.' [Fr. bai—L. badius, chestnut-coloured.]

  2. Bay

    bā, n. an inlet of the sea with a wider opening than a gulf: an inward bend of the shore. [Fr. baie—Low L. baia, a harbour.]

  3. Bay

    bā, n. the laurel-tree: (pl.) an honorary garland or crown of victory, originally of laurel: literary renown.—ns. Bay′berry; Bay′-rum, an aromatic stimulant used for the skin and hair, and prepared by distilling the leaves of the bay-berry (Pimenta acris) with rum, or otherwise mixing the volatile oil of the leaves with alcohol. [O. Fr. baie, a berry—L. baca.]

  4. Bay

    bā, n. barking, baying (esp. of a dog when in pursuit): the combined cry of hounds in conflict with a hunted animal: used often of the last stand of a hunted animal when it faces the hounds at close quarters.—v.i. to bark (esp. of large dogs).—v.t. to bark at: to utter by baying: to follow with barking: to bring to bay.—To hold, keep at bay, said of the hunted animal; To stand, be, at bay, at close quarters. [These senses show a confusion of two distinct words, according to Murray: (1) to hold at bay = O. Fr. tenir a bay = It. tenere a bada, bay, bada, denoting the suspense indicated by the open mouth; (2) in the phrase 'to stand at bay,' the word points to O. Fr. abai, barking, bayer, to bark.]

  5. Bay

    Baye, bā, v.t. (Spens.) to bathe.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. bay

    The fore-part of a ship between decks, before the bitts (see SICK-BAY). Foremost messing-places between decks in ships of war.

  2. bay

    An inlet of the sea formed by the curvature of the land between two capes or headlands, often used synonymously with gulf; though, in strict accuracy, the term should be applied only to those large recesses which are wider from cape to cape than they are deep. Exposed to sea-winds, a bay is mostly insecure. A bay is distinguished from a bend, as that a vessel may not be able to fetch out on either tack, and is embayed. A bay has proportionably a wider entrance than either a gulf or haven; a creek has usually a small inlet, and is always much less than a bay.

  3. bay

    Laurel; hence crowned with bays.

Editors Contribution

  1. bay

    A body of water with land in the area.

    The local bay area was beautiful day and night.


    Submitted by MaryC on March 16, 2020  

  2. bay

    A defined space allocated for a specific purpose.

    There are parking bays in the shopping center and cargo bays in the airport for the unloading of cargo and truck bays in the logistics center.


    Submitted by MaryC on December 18, 2016  

Suggested Resources

  1. BAY

    What does BAY stand for? -- Explore the various meanings for the BAY acronym on the Abbreviations.com website.

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. BAY

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Bay is ranked #5477 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Bay surname appeared 6,350 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 would have the surname Bay.

    83% or 5,273 total occurrences were White.
    5.3% or 337 total occurrences were Asian.
    5.1% or 329 total occurrences were Black.
    4.2% or 267 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.7% or 109 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.5% or 35 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'bay' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #2958

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'bay' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4566

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'bay' in Nouns Frequency: #1194

Usage in printed sourcesFrom: 

Anagrams for bay »

  1. aby

How to pronounce bay?

How to say bay in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of bay in Chaldean Numerology is: 4

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of bay in Pythagorean Numerology is: 1

Examples of bay in a Sentence

  1. Matthew Stafford:

    It's the best feeling in the world. God is great. there's so many guys on The Tampa Bay Buccaneers that deserve this.

  2. Bay County Jail:

    There's hundreds, hundreds of people standing there -- watching, looking, seeing, hearing what's going on, and yet our culture and our society and our young people have got to the point where obviously this is acceptable somewhere. I will tell you it is not acceptable in Bay County.

  3. Paulo Saldiva:

    A lot of attention has been paid to Rio's water pollution, but far more people die because of air pollution than the water, you are not obligated to drink water from Guanabara Bay but you must breathe Rio's air.

  4. Qasim Rashid:

    There have been immense atrocities and horrific violence committed against American Muslims because of 9/11. We saw things like the Patriot Act, the invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, and Guantanamo Bay and the indefinite detention of people without due process of law, i knew I had to do something to create the kind of country I thought America should be ; one based on justice and compassion.

  5. Fernanda Cortez:

    The State is not some magical organization that can solve these issues alone... It's really important that citizens understand they are responsible for polluting the bay and have a role to play in cleaning it up, these items that are on display didn't just fall into the bay, someone threw them there.

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Popularity rank by frequency of use

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Translations for bay

From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary

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    a bright spot on the parhelic circle; caused by diffraction by ice crystals
    A sundog
    B preponderance
    C meerschaum
    D subrogation

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