Meanings
present singular third person renays · participle present renaying · participle past renayed · past renayed · alternative reney · alternative reny
- obsoletetransitiveTo renounce (one’s faith or god), to apostasize from.
1 more example
[…] Mammolukes and Geniſaries about yͤ Turk and Sowdã [Sowdan, i.e., Sudan], haue vſed to chriſten their children of purpoſe, that by the renayĩg [renaying] of their fayth, after, they might be made Mammolukes or Geniſaries, as theyr fathers were, and may be had the more in eſtimacion & fauour about the greate Turke, […]
1528, Thomas More, “A Dialogue Concernynge Heresyes & Matters of Religion […]. Chapter 15. That Princes be Boundẽ [Bounden] to Punish Heretykes, and that Fayre Handelyng Helpeth Litle with Many of Them.”, in Wyllyam Rastell [i.e., William Rastell], editor, The Workes of Sir Thomas More Knyght, […], London: […] Iohn Cawod, Iohn Waly, and Richarde Tottell, published 30 April 1557, →OCLC, book IV, page 279, column 2
Origin
- Latinre-“re-”
- Frenchrenier
- Old Frenchreneier
- Middle Englishreneye
- Englishrenay
From Middle English reneye, from Old French reneier, French renier, renier, from Latin re- (“re-”) + negare (“to deny”). See renegade. Doublet of renege and related to deny.
More words from Middle English, Old French, French
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with renay
All rhymes →Anagrams
Cite this entry
renay. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/renay
“renay.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/renay. Accessed November 2, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “renay,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/renay.
Source: renay on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.