bray
/bɹeɪ/UK/bɹeɪ/
bray verb: of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.
Verb (1)
bray (third-person singular simple present brays, present participle braying, simple past and past participle brayed)
- Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.
- Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.
- When she went to the famous ass-race [...], it was not, like other ladies, to hear those poor animals bray, nor see fellows run naked, or to hear country squires in bob wigs and white girdles make love at the side of a coach and cry, "Madam, this is dainty weather."1712 April 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, April 16, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 354; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New...
- To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray.
- He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.
- Heard ye the din of battle bray, / Lance to lance, and horſe to horſe? / Long Years of havock urge their deſtined courſe, / And thro' the kindred ſquadrons mow their way.1757 August 8, [Thomas] Gray, “The Bard. A Pindaric Ode.”, in Poems by Mr. Gray, London: Printed for J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1768, →OCLC, stanza II.3, page 64
- To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.
- [N]ow ſtorming furie roſe, / And clamour ſuch as heard in Heav'n till now / Was never, Arms on Armour claſhing bray'd / Horrible discord, and the madding Wheeles / Of brazen Chariots rag'd; [...]1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
- Just then the chiefs their tribes arrayed, / And wild and garish semblance made, / The chequered trews, and belted plaid, / And varying notes the war-pipes brayed, / To every varying clan; [...]1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William...
Noun
bray (plural brays)
- The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.
- Synonyms:
- hee-haw
- Any discordant, grating, or harsh sound.
- It seems a very nest—warm and snug, and green—for human life; with the twilight haze of time about it, almost consecrating it from the aching hopes and feverish expectations of the present. Who would think that the bray and roar of multitudinous London sounded but some sixty miles away?1843, [Douglas William Jerrold], “A Gossip at the Reculvers [from The Chronicles of Clovernook]”, in Douglas [William] Jerrold, editor, The Illuminated Magazine, volume I, London: Published for the...
- [...] Mr. [Edmund] Gosse's blank verse is sweet and varied, and full mostly of a graceful melody. If it has not the trumpet's power, neither has it the trumpet's bray, but rather a flute-like tone of its own.1876 April, “Gosse’s King Erik: King Erik. By Edmund W. Gosse. London: Chatto and Windus. 1876. [book review]”, in The London Quarterly Review, volume XLVI, number XCI, London: Published for the...
Verb (2)
bray (third-person singular simple present brays, present participle braying, simple past and past participle brayed)
- To crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar.
- Though thou ſhouldeſt bray a fool in a morter among wheate with a peſtell, yet will not his fooliſhneſſe depart from him.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 27:22
- Their heads and ſhoulders are painted red with the roote Pocone brayed to powder, mixed with oyle, this they hold in ſommer to preſerue them from the heate, and in winter from the cold.1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “The Commodities in Virginia, or that May Be Had by Industrie”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn]...
- To hit (someone or something).
- If anything he brayed him all the harder – the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over.2011, Sarah Hall, “Butcher’s Perfume”, in The Beautiful Indifference, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 25
Proper noun capitalized: Bray
Bray (plural Brays)
- A surname.
- A village and civil parish in Windsor and Maidenhead borough, Berkshire, England (OS grid ref SU9079).
- A river in Devon, England, which flows south to join the River Mole at Meethe; in full, the River Bray.
- A coastal town in County Wicklow, Ireland (Irish grid ref O 2617).
- A commune in Saône-et-Loire department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
- A commune in Eure department, Normandy, France.
- A township in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States, named after an early settler.
- A town in Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States.
- A village in Kgalagadi district, Botswana, opposite Bray, South Africa.
- A village in Kagisano-Molopo local municipality, North West province, South Africa, opposite Bray, Botswana.
- A locality in Robe council area and Wattle Range council area, South Australia.
bray meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Malayalam
bray in Hindi
- to bray, blore, hee-haw
- रेँकना rẽknā
bray in Tamil
- கழுதைக் கத்து, கழுதையின் கனைப்பு, கொடிய வெறுக்கத்தக்க ஓசை, கத்து, கழுதை போலக்கனை, பறை ஒலிசெய்
bray in Urdu
- to make the cry of a donkey
- ڈَھین٘چُوں ḍha͠icū̃
bray in Malayalam
- കഴുതയുടെ കരച്ചിൽ
More languagesFewer languages
- bray in Kannada
- ಅರಚು, ಕಿರಿಚು, ಕಿರಚು, ಕಿರುಚು
- bray in Arabic
- نَهَقَ nahaqa, رَغَى raḡā, هَدَر hadar, نَهْقَة nahqa
- bray in Indonesian
- meringkik, ringkikan
Examples of bray in a sentence
- One of them having commenced his diſcourſe, was interrupted by an aſs, who began to bray.1792 July, “Art. II. Interesting Anecdotes of Henry IV. of France. Containing Sublime Traits and Lively Sallies of Wit of that Monarch...
- The horse neighs, but the ass brays: the last is performed by a very loud, long, disagreeable, discordant cry, consisting of discords alternately sharp and flat.1812, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Ass”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and...
- "But, Jack, it's all so circumstantial—you said so yourself," Brammel brayed, never stronger than when demonstrating that two positives made a negative.1986, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], A Perfect Spy, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN; 1st Pocket Books trade...
- Even at half volume, her high-pitched brays rattled teeth.2005, Merline Lovelace, The Last Bullet (Cleo North Trilogy; 3), Ontario: Mira Books, →ISBN, page 15:
Synonyms of bray
Forms of bray
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | brays |
| present participle | braying |
| past participle | brayed |
| past | brayed |
| Noun | |
| plural | brays |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Brays |
Origin of bray
The verb is derived from Middle English brayen, brai, bray, braye (“of a person or animal: to vocalize loudly; of the weather: to make a loud sound, howl, roar”), from Old French brai, braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to cry or shout out”) (modern French braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”)), possibly from Vulgar Latin *bragiō, from Gaulish *bragu (compare Breton breugiñ (“to bray”), brammañ (“to flatulate”), Cornish bramma, brabma (“to flatulate”), Old Irish braigid (“to flatulate”)), from Proto-Celtic *brageti, *bragyeti (“to flatulate”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (“to flatulate; to stink”); cognate with Latin fragrō (“to smell”). Alternatively, the word could be from a Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), and cognate with frangere (“to break, shatter”). The noun is derived from the verb, or from Middle English brai, brait (“shriek; outcry”), from Old French brai, brait (“a cry”), from braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”); see above.
From Middle English brayen (“to break or crush into pieces”), from Anglo-Norman breier, Old French breie, breier, broiier (modern French broyer (“to crush, grind”)), possibly from Frankish *brekan (“to break”), from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”); thus making the English word a doublet of break.
The town in Ireland is from Irish Bré, of uncertain origin.
Words formed from bray
Phrases with bray
Words that rhyme with bray
Questions about bray
- What does bray mean?
- Bray means of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.
- What is bray in Hindi?
- Bray in Hindi is रेँकना (rẽknā). See Bray meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use bray in a sentence?
- One of them having commenced his diſcourſe, was interrupted by an aſs, who began to bray.
- What part of speech is bray?
- Bray can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce bray?
- Bray is pronounced /bɹeɪ/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of bray?
- The past tense of bray is brayed.
Words near bray in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: bray (page history and authors); Bray (page history and authors); रेँकना (Hindi) (page history and authors); bray (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bray (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); bray (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-bray.ogg.
Cite this entry: “bray.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/bray. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.