allay
/əˈleɪ/
allay verb: to make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
Verb
allay (third-person singular simple present allays, present participle allaying, simple past and past participle allayed)
- To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
- to allay popular excitement
- to allay the tumult of the passions
- To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
- to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity
- […] and is the onlie laſt remedie for all debilities which haue long vexed the body through a hote diſtemper of the Lever, ſuch as a hote Gutte; it allayeth all Inflamations inward & outward.1618, Patri[c]k Anderson, The Colde Spring of Kinghorne Craig […], Edinburgh: Thomas Finlason, unnumbered page
- To subside, abate, become peaceful.
- And the wynde alayed, and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark iiij
- For raging wind blows up incessant showers,
And when the rage allays the rain begins.c. 1591–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Third Part of Henry the Sixt, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
- To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
- To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.
- Yet far be it from us to condemn all their works to be dross, because debased and allayed with superstitious intents […]1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warr
Noun
allay (plural allays)
- Alleviation; abatement; check.
- An alloy.
allay meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Bengali and Malayalam
allay in Tamil
- தணி, குறை, குறைப்பு, தணிப்பு, மட்டுப்படுத்துதல், மட்டமான உலோகக்கலவை
allay in Urdu
- بجھانا, دور کرنا, کمی کرنا, ٹھنڈا کرنا
allay in Bengali
- উপশম করা
allay in Malayalam
- ലഘൂകരിക്കുക, അടക്കുക, ആശ്വസിപ്പിക്കുക, ശമിപ്പിക്കുക, സാന്ത്വനപ്പെടുത്തുക
More languagesFewer languages
- allay in Kannada
- ತಣಿಸು, ಕಡಿಮೆಮಾಡು
Examples of allay in a sentence
- O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstacy, […]c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies...
- They were forced to try to allay discontent by palliative measures.1888, William Morris, Signs of Change […] , London: Reeves and Turner, page 104:
- He had to pretend to be drunk in order to allay the suspicions which might have been aroused by his appearance at the gate.1887, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “A Study in Scarlet”, in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, London; New York, N.Y.: Ward, Lock & Co., part I (Being a...
- Kissinger was obviously doing his best to allay our government's growing apprehension in connection with Nixon's forthcoming trip to Peking.1983, James C. H. Shen, “Dropping the First Shoe”, in Robert Myers, editor, The U.S. & Free China: How the U.S. Sold Out Its Ally...
Synonyms of allay
Forms of allay
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | allays |
| present participle | allaying |
| past participle | allayed |
| past | allayed |
| alternative form (obsolete) | alay |
| Noun | |
| plural | allays |
Origin of allay
From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.
Words formed from allay
Words that rhyme with allay
Questions about allay
- What does allay mean?
- Allay means to make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
- What is allay in Tamil?
- Allay in Tamil is தணி, குறை, குறைப்பு. See Allay meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use allay in a sentence?
- O love, be moderate, allay thy ecstacy, […]
- What part of speech is allay?
- Allay can be a verb or a noun.
- How do you pronounce allay?
- Allay is pronounced /əˈleɪ/.
- What is the past tense of allay?
- The past tense of allay is allayed.
Words near allay in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: allay (page history and authors); allay (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allay (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allay (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allay (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); allay (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Mélange a trois-allay.wav.
Cite this entry: “allay.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/allay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.