bray

bray 1[brey] ExamplesWord Origin noun

1. the loud, harsh cry of a donkey.
2. any similar loud, harsh sound.

verb (used without object)

3. to utter a loud and harsh cry, as a donkey.
4. to make a loud, harsh, disagreeable sound.

verb (used with object)

5. to utter with a loud, harsh sound, like a donkey.

Origin of bray 1 1250–1300; Middle English brayen Old French braire to cry out (cognate with Medieval Latin bragīre to neigh) Celtic; compare Old Irish braigid (he) breaks windCan be confusedbraid brayed bray 2[brey] verb (used with object)

1. to pound or crush fine, as in a mortar.
2. Printing. to thin (ink) on a slate before placing on the ink plate of a press.

Origin of bray 2 1350–1400; Middle English brayen Anglo-French bra(i)er, Old French broier Germanic; see break Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019 Related Words for braying yell, neigh, hee-haw Examples from the Web for braying Contemporary Examples of braying

Already, the conservative media is braying for their names and setting up justifications for identifying them.

Don’t Out Cain’s Accusers

Michelle Goldberg

November 5, 2011

Palin is a beauty-queen Elmer Gantry, outdoing Stephen Colbert in cheesy, braying nationalism.

Run, Sarah, Run!

Michelle Goldberg

July 23, 2009

She dispenses facts like a braying machine, bobble-nodding a head of hyper-lacquered hair.

Thandie Nails Condi

Patricia J. Williams

October 21, 2008

Historical Examples of braying

Right at him came the donkey, braying as though in glee at the trick he had played.

Frank Roscoe’s Secret

Allen Chapman

I started off with braying horn, and at that I had to use caution.

The Million-Dollar Suitcase

Alice MacGowan

You’ve been braying in the dark about ‘See to-morrow morning!’

The Nigger Of The “Narcissus”

Joseph Conrad

I must fain eat and drink; let me at least refrain from braying.

Paul Patoff

F. Marion Crawford

Well, I am an animal that paints instead of cackling, or braying, or spinning lies.

Romola

George Eliot

British Dictionary definitions for braying bray 1 verb

1. (intr) (of a donkey) to utter its characteristic loud harsh sound; heehaw
2. (intr) to make a similar sound, as in laughinghe brayed at the joke
3. (tr) to utter with a loud harsh sound

noun

4. the loud harsh sound uttered by a donkey
5. a similar loud cry or uproara bray of protest

Derived Formsbrayer, nounWord Origin for bray C13: from Old French braire, probably of Celtic origin bray 2 verb

1. (tr) to distribute (ink) over printing type or plates
2. (tr) to pound into a powder, as in a mortar
3. Northern English dialect to hit or beat (someone or something) hard; bang

Derived Formsbrayer, nounWord Origin for bray C14: from Old French breier of Germanic origin; see break Collins English Dictionary – Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012 Word Origin and History for braying bray v.

c.1300, from Old French braire “to cry,” from Gallo-Romance *bragire “to cry out,” perhaps from a Celtic source (cf. Gaelic braigh “to shriek, crackle”), probably imitative. Related: Brayed; braying.

bray n.

c.1300, from bray (v.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper