I. ˈhā noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English haie, heie, from Old English hege; akin to Old English haga hedge, hawthorn — more at hedge
1. archaic : an enclosing fence : hedge
2. archaic : a place enclosed with a hay : park
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English hey, from Old English hīeg, hīg, hēg; akin to Old High German hewi hay, Old Norse hey, Gothic hawi hay, Old English hēawan to hew — more at hew
1. : grass ready for mowing or especially cut and cured for fodder ; specifically : the entire herbage sometimes including the seeds of grasses and other forage plants (as legumes) harvested and dried especially for feed
2. : a grayish greenish yellow that is slightly less strong and very slightly lighter than absinthe yellow, greener and duller than dusty yellow, and slightly deeper than yellow stone
3. : a rewarding result of careful effort, industriousness, or cultivation (as of friendships)
got some political hay out of his association with underworld characters
4. slang : bed — used with the
drag out of the hay at six-thirty to dress and serve breakfast — Margaret Long
caught him in the hay with one of her maids — H.A.Smith
5. : a trifling sum of money
sells over $250,000 worth of them a year — and in the book trade that is anything but hay — J.C.Furnas
III. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
: to cut and cure grass for hay and usually haul it from the field and store it
transitive verb
1. : to dry (a cut grass) so as to make hay
2. : to grow grass on for making hay
hay the lower meadow
3. : to give hay to
hay the horses
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English haye, from Anglo-French haie
archaic : a net used for catching a wild animal (as a rabbit)
V. noun
or hey “
( -s )
Etymology: Middle French haye
1. : a rustic dance with much interweaving of couples
2. : a right and left performed in a figure eight, straight line, or circular pattern in a dance