rye 1
/ruy/ , n.
1. a widely cultivated cereal grass, Secale cereale, having one-nerved glumes and two- or three-flowered spikelets.
2. the seeds or grain of this plant, used for making flour and whiskey, and as a livestock feed.
3. See rye bread .
4. a straight whiskey distilled from a mash containing 51 percent or more rye grain.
5. Northeastern U.S. and Canada. a blended whiskey.
adj.
6. made with rye grain or flour: rye rolls. Also called rye whiskey (for defs. 4, 5).
[ bef. 900; ME; OE ryge; c. ON rugr; akin to D rogge, G Roggen ]
rye 2
/ruy/ , n.
a male Gypsy.
[ 1850-55; rai ]