What does hay mean?

Definitions for hay
heɪhay

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

Princeton's WordNet

  1. hayverb

    grass mowed and cured for use as fodder

  2. hayverb

    convert (plant material) into hay

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. HAYnoun

    Grass dried to fodder cattle in Winter.

    Etymology: hieg, Hig, Saxon; hey, Dutch.

    Make hay while the sun shines. William Camden, Remains.

    Make poor men’s cattle break their necks;
    Set fire on barns and hay stacks in the night,
    And bid the owners quench them with their tears. William Shakespeare.

    We have heats of dungs, and of hays and herbs laid up moist. Francis Bacon, New Atlantis.

    Or if the earlier season lead
    To the tann’d hay cock in the mead. John Milton.

    Bring them for food sweet boughs and osiars cut,
    Nor all the Winter long thy hay rick shut. Thomas May, Virgil.

    Some turners turn long and slender sprigs of ivory, as small as an hay stalk, Joseph Moxon, Mech. Exer.

    The best manure for meadows is the bottom of hay mows and hay stacks. John Mortimer, Husbandry.

    Hay and oats, in the management of a groom, will make ale. Jonathan Swift.

    By some hay cock, or some shady thorn,
    He bids his beads both even song and morn. Dryden.

    Blouzelinda, in a gamesome mood,
    Behind a hay cock loudly laughing stood. John Gay, Pastorals.

    The hum of bees inviting sleep sincere,
    Into the guiltless breast, beneath the shade,
    Or thrown at large amid’ the fragrant hay. James Thomson, Autumn.

  2. Haynoun

    A net which incloses the haunt of an animal.

    Etymology: from haie, French, a hedge.

    Coneys are destroyed by hays, curs, spaniels, or tumblers bred up for that purpose. John Mortimer, Husbandry.

Wikipedia

  1. Hay

    Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticated animals such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Pigs can eat hay, but do not digest it as efficiently as herbivores do. Hay can be used as animal fodder when or where there is not enough pasture or rangeland on which to graze an animal, when grazing is not feasible due to weather (such as during the winter), or when lush pasture by itself would be too rich for the health of the animal. It is also fed when an animal is unable to access pasture—for example, when the animal is being kept in a stable or barn.

ChatGPT

  1. hay

    Hay is dried grass, clover, alfalfa, or other plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing animals such as cows, horses, goats, and sheep. It is also used as a bedding material for animals in stables, kennels, and cages.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Haynoun

    a hedge

  2. Haynoun

    a net set around the haunt of an animal, especially of a rabbit

  3. Hayverb

    to lay snares for rabbits

  4. Haynoun

    grass cut and cured for fodder

  5. Hayverb

    to cut and cure grass for hay

  6. Etymology: [OE. hei, AS. hg; akin to D. hooi, OHG. hewi, houwi, G. heu, Dan. & Sw. h, Icel. hey, ha, Goth. hawi grass, fr. the root of E. hew. See Hew to cut.]

Wikidata

  1. Hay

    Hay is grass, legumes or other herbaceous plants that have been cut, dried, and stored for use as animal fodder, particularly for grazing livestock such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep. Hay is also fed to pets such as rabbits and guinea pigs. Pigs may be fed hay, but they do not digest it as efficiently as more fully herbivorous animals. Hay is fed when or where there is not enough pasture or rangeland on which to graze an animal, when grazing is unavailable due to weather or when lush pasture by itself is too rich for the health of the animal. It is also fed during times when an animal is unable to access pasture, such as when animals are kept in a stable or barn.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. Hay

    hā, n. grass cut down and dried for fodder.—ns. Hay′cock, a conical pile of hay in the field; Hay′-fē′ver, an ailment mostly met with in early summer, marked by excessive irritation of the nose, throat, &c., and accompanied with violent sneezing and intense headache—also called Hay′-asth′ma; Hay′field, a field where hay is made; Hay′-fork, a long-handled fork used in turning over hay to dry, or in lifting it; Hay′-knife, a broad knife, with a handle set cross-wise at one end, used for cutting hay from a stack; Hay′-loft, a loft in which hay is kept; Hay′-mak′er, one employed in cutting and drying grass for hay: (pl.) a kind of country-dance; Hay′-mak′ing; Hay′-mow, a rick of hay: a mass of hay stored in a barn; Hay′-rick, a pile of hay; Hay′-stack, a stack of hay; Hay′-ted′der, a machine for scattering hay and exposing it to the sun and air.—Look for a needle in a hay-stack, to look for something where it is barely possible to be found; Make hay, to throw things into confusion; Make hay while the sun shines, to seize a favourable opportunity. [A.S. híeg, híg, hég; Ger. heu, Dut. hooï, Ice. hey.]

  2. Hay

    hā, n. a hedge, fence.—n. Hay′-ward, one who herded the common cattle of a town. [A.S. hegehaga, a hedge.]

  3. Hay

    hā, n. (Shak.) a home-thrust in fencing. [It. hai, avere—L. habēre, to have.]

  4. Hay

    hā, n. a country-dance with winding movement.

Dictionary of Nautical Terms

  1. hay

    A straight rank of men drawn up exactly in a line.

Editors Contribution

  1. hay

    A type of plant material.

    Hay can be made from grass and also from other types of plant material.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 6, 2020  

Suggested Resources

  1. HAY

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

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. HAY

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Hay is ranked #2005 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The Hay surname appeared 18,029 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 6 would have the surname Hay.

    85.7% or 15,458 total occurrences were White.
    7.1% or 1,287 total occurrences were Black.
    2.8% or 510 total occurrences were Asian.
    2.3% or 415 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1.6% or 294 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    0.3% or 67 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.

Matched Categories

British National Corpus

  1. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'hay' in Written Corpus Frequency: #4134

How to pronounce hay?

How to say hay in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of hay in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of hay in Pythagorean Numerology is: 7

Examples of hay in a Sentence

  1. Elizabeth Warren:

    I get why some people think there’s hay to be made here, you wo n’t find my family members on any rolls, and I ’m not enrolled in a tribe. ... I respect that distinction. Defending herself, she said :.

  2. Whitney High:

    Families that have one child with eczema often have another child with asthma or even a third child with seasonal rhinitis or hay fever.

  3. Ruth Danielsen:

    They are the nicest humans you would ever want to meet, very polite, salt-of-the-earth types, they are always giving hay away to other ranchers who need it and donating money to local schools and charities, really nice people. Not the people the government should be going after.

  4. Johannes Trithemius, 1488:

    Speak of things public to the public, but of things lofty and secret only to the loftiest and most private of your friends. Hay to the ox and sugar to the parrot.

  5. Andrea Nini:

    Most of what we see in the Bixby letter is found in the writing of Hay, but not in Lincoln.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

hay#1#9260#10000

Translations for hay

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