bray

present singular third person brays · participle present braying · participle past brayed · past brayed

1. intransitiveOf an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.

   Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.

   3 more examples

   When she went to the famous ass-race [...], it was not, like other ladies, to hear those poor animals bray, nor see fellows run naked, or to hear country squires in bob wigs and white girdles make love at the side of a coach and cry, "Madam, this is dainty weather."

   1712 April 26 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “TUESDAY, April 16, 1712”, in The Spectator, number 354; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume IV, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC, page 293

   Henry [IV of France], paſſing through a little town, ſaw ſeveral deputies coming up to harangue him. One of them having commenced his diſcourſe, was interrupted by an aſs, who began to bray. "Gentlemen," cried the King, "one at a time, if you pleaſe."—

   1792 July, “Art. II. Interesting Anecdotes of Henry IV. of France. Containing Sublime Traits and Lively Sallies of Wit of that Monarch; […]. Translated from the French. Crown 8vo. 2 Vols. 6s. Boards. Debrett. 1792. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume VIII, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket, […], published 1794, →OCLC, page 249

   The horse neighs, but the ass brays: the last is performed by a very loud, long, disagreeable, discordant cry, consisting of discords alternately sharp and flat. He seldom brays but when pressed with hunger or love. [...] When gelded, the ass brays with a low voice; and, though he makes the same efforts and the same motions of the throat, yet the sound reaches to no great distance.

   1812, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Ass”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and Particular, […]. The History of Man and Quadrupeds: Translated, with Notes and Observations, […] In Twenty Volumes, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies, […], →OCLC, page 174

   Synonyms: blore, hee-haw

2. broadlyintransitiveTo make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray.

   He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.

   2 more examples

   Heard ye the din of battle bray, / Lance to lance, and horſe to horſe? / Long Years of havock urge their deſtined courſe, / And thro' the kindred ſquadrons mow their way.

   1757 August 8, [Thomas] Gray, “The Bard. A Pindaric Ode.”, in Poems by Mr. Gray, London: Printed for J[ames] Dodsley, […], published 1768, →OCLC, stanza II.3, page 64

   "But, Jack, it's all so circumstantial—you said so yourself," Brammel brayed, never stronger than when demonstrating that two positives made a negative.

   1986, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], A Perfect Spy, London: Hodder & Stoughton, →ISBN; 1st Pocket Books trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, January 2003, →ISBN, page 400

3. transitiveTo make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.

   Just then the chiefs their tribes arrayed, / And wild and garish semblance made, / The chequered trews, and belted plaid, / And varying notes the war-pipes brayed, / To every varying clan; [...]

   1808 February 22, Walter Scott, “Canto Fifth. The Court.”, in Marmion; a Tale of Flodden Field, Edinburgh: […] J[ames] Ballantyne and Co. for Archibald Constable and Company, […]; London: William Miller, and John Murray, →OCLC, stanza V, page 247

   1 more example

   [N]ow ſtorming furie roſe, / And clamour ſuch as heard in Heav'n till now / Was never, Arms on Armour claſhing bray'd / Horrible discord, and the madding Wheeles / Of brazen Chariots rag'd; [...]

   1667, John Milton, “Book VI”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC, lines 207–211

plural brays

1. The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.

   Synonyms: hee-haw

2. broadlyAny discordant, grating, or harsh sound.

   At full volume, Doreen's whinnying laugh could shatter glass. Even at half volume, her high-pitched brays rattled teeth.

   2005, Merline Lovelace, The Last Bullet (Cleo North Trilogy; 3), Ontario: Mira Books, →ISBN, page 15

   2 more examples

   It seems a very nest—warm and snug, and green—for human life; with the twilight haze of time about it, almost consecrating it from the aching hopes and feverish expectations of the present. Who would think that the bray and roar of multitudinous London sounded but some sixty miles away?

   1843, [Douglas William Jerrold], “A Gossip at the Reculvers [from The Chronicles of Clovernook]”, in Douglas [William] Jerrold, editor, The Illuminated Magazine, volume I, London: Published for the proprietors, […], →OCLC, page 143, column 2

   [...] Mr. [Edmund] Gosse's blank verse is sweet and varied, and full mostly of a graceful melody. If it has not the trumpet's power, neither has it the trumpet's bray, but rather a flute-like tone of its own.

   1876 April, “Gosse’s King Erik: King Erik. By Edmund W. Gosse. London: Chatto and Windus. 1876. [book review]”, in The London Quarterly Review, volume XLVI, number XCI, London: Published for the proprietors, at the Wesleyan Conference Office, […], →OCLC, page 257

present singular third person brays · participle present braying · participle past brayed · past brayed

1. archaictransitiveTo crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar.

   Though thou ſhouldeſt bray a fool in a morter among wheate with a peſtell, yet will not his fooliſhneſſe depart from him.

   1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 27:22

   2 more examples

   Their heads and ſhoulders are painted red with the roote Pocone brayed to powder, mixed with oyle, this they hold in ſommer to preſerue them from the heate, and in winter from the cold.

   1624, Iohn [i.e., John] Smith, “The Commodities in Virginia, or that May Be Had by Industrie”, in The Generall Historie of Virginia, New-England, and the Summer Isles: […], London: […] I[ohn] D[awson] and I[ohn] H[aviland] for Michael Sparkes, →OCLC, 2nd booke, page 30

   They boyle it alſo, and after dry it and bray it, and of this bran, with egges, hony, milke, and butter of Cocos, they make Florentines, and verie good belly-timber.

   1625, Samuel Purchas, “Their Cocos and other fruits and food, their Trades and trading, Creatures profitable and hurtfull. Of Male their principall Iland. Their Houſes, Candou, Languages, Apparell.”, in Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. In Five Bookes. … The Second Part., volume II, London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone, […], →OCLC, page 1643 [sic: 1653]

2. UKYorkshirebroadlytransitiveTo hit (someone or something).

   If anything he brayed him all the harder – the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over.

   2011, Sarah Hall, “Butcher’s Perfume”, in The Beautiful Indifference, London: Faber and Faber, →ISBN, page 25

plural Brays

1. A surname.
2. A place name:
   1. A village and civil parish in Windsor and Maidenhead borough, Berkshire, England (OS grid ref SU9079).
   2. A river in Devon, England, which flows south to join the River Mole at Meethe; in full, the River Bray.
   3. A coastal town in County Wicklow, Ireland (Irish grid ref O 2617).
   4. A commune in Saône-et-Loire department, Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, France.
   5. A commune in Eure department, Normandy, France.
   6. A township in Pennington County, Minnesota, United States, named after an early settler.
   7. A town in Stephens County, Oklahoma, United States.
   8. A village in Kgalagadi district, Botswana, opposite Bray, South Africa.
   9. A village in Kagisano-Molopo local municipality, North West province, South Africa, opposite Bray, Botswana.
   10. A locality in Robe council area and Wattle Range council area, South Australia.