Meanings
- alternativeAlternative form of aye aye.
“Ay, ay, Ruary!” He cried the high-pitched Banffshire greeting across the water. “Ay, ay, man!” hailed back Ruary.
1940, Maurice Walsh, chapter V, in The Hill Is Mine, London; Edinburgh: W[illiam] & R[obert] Chambers, Ltd., published 1954, →OCLC, page 1012 more examples
A few days ago a Sailor begging with a paſs through a certain county weſtward, was directed to the Mayor of a certain town; his Worſhip, who could not read, took the paſs in his hand, at the ſame time crying, with a ſtern countenance, “Ay, ay, I ſee this is factious,[”] (meaning fictitious)—“Sir, your Worſhip has got the paper upſide down.”
1768 November 17, The Bath and Bristol Chronicle, Bath, Somerset, →OCLC, page [3], column 2Phœbe was about to enter the barn, when she was suddenly interrupted by the voice of a woman, who, in a cracked and termagant voice, cried out,—“Ay, ay—who’s that, I should like to know?—what next?” The poor girl turned round, and saw a thin, wiry-looking woman, who stood at the door of the barn in an attitude of surprise at Phœbe’s assurance.
1842, [James Malcolm Rymer], chapter XXIV, in Phœbe; or, The Miller’s Maid. A Romance of Deep Interest., London: […] E[dward] Lloyd, […], →OCLC, page 135
Cite this entry
ay, ay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ay%2C%20ay
“ay, ay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ay%2C%20ay. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ay, ay,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ay%2C%20ay.
Source: ay, ay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.