BAY


Meaning of BAY in English

I. bay 1 /beɪ/ BrE AmE noun [countable]

[ Sense 1: Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: baie , from Old Spanish bahia ]

[ Sense 2: Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: bay 'condition of a hunted animal that is trapped and has to turn around' (14-17 centuries) , from Old French abai , from abaiier ; ⇨ ↑ bay 2 ]

[ Sense 3-4: Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: baee 'opening' , from baer 'to have the mouth wide open' ]

[ Sense 5: Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: baie 'berry' , from Latin baca ]

[ Sense 6: Date: 1500-1600 ; Origin: ⇨ ↑ bay 3 ]

1 . SEA a part of the sea that is partly enclosed by a curve in the land:

a house with a view across the bay

Montego Bay

2 . keep/hold something at bay to prevent something dangerous or unpleasant from happening or from coming too close:

A thick wall keeps the noise at bay.

3 . AREA an area within a large room or just outside a building that is used for a particular purpose:

a storage bay

loading bay

4 . FOR CARGO the part of a ship or plane where things are stored:

the cargo bay

5 . TREE ( also bay tree ) a tree that has leaves that smell sweet and are often used in cooking

6 . HORSE a horse that is a reddish brown colour

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THESAURUS

▪ the sea especially British English the large area of salty water that covers much of the Earth’s surface:

She lives by the sea.

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The sea was very rough.

▪ the ocean especially American English the large area of salty water that covers much of the Earth’s surface:

a house by the ocean

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The restaurant had a sweeping view of the ocean.

▪ waters a large area of water – used about an area of water that belongs to a particular country, or when describing what the water is like:

boats fishing in Canadian waters

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British territorial waters

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the calm waters of the harbour

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dangerous waters

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choppy waters (=with a lot of waves)

▪ bay an area of sea that is partly enclosed by a curve in the land:

I swam across the bay.

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the Bay of Biscay

▪ gulf a very large area of sea partly enclosed by land:

the Gulf of Mexico

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oil from the Gulf (=the area of water near Iran, Saudi Arabia etc)

▪ tide the regular rising and falling of the level of the sea:

Is the tide going out or coming in ?

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High tide (=when the sea is at its highest level) is at 4 o'clock in the afternoon.

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low tide (=when the sea is at its lowest level)

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The rocks are visible at low tide.

▪ wave a line of raised water that moves across the surface of the sea:

The waves were crashing against the rocks.

II. bay 2 BrE AmE verb [intransitive]

[ Date: 1200-1300 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: abaiier , from the sound ]

1 . if a dog bays, it makes a long high noise, especially when it is chasing something SYN howl :

dogs baying at the moon

2 . to make strong demands to get answers to questions or force someone to give you something

bay for

Reporters began baying for the president’s blood (=demanding that he be punished) .

III. bay 3 BrE AmE adjective

[ Date: 1300-1400 ; Language: Old French ; Origin: bai , from Latin badius ]

a bay horse is reddish brown in colour

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English.      Longman - Словарь современного английского языка.