hay

¹

[ hey ]

noun

1. grass, clover, alfalfa, etc., cut and dried for use as forage.
2. grass mowed or intended for mowing.
3. Slang.
   1. a small sum of money:

      Twenty dollars an hour for doing very little certainly ain't hay.

   2. money:

      A thousand dollars for a day's work is a lot of hay!

4. Slang. marijuana.

verb (used with object)

1. to convert (plant material) into hay.
2. to furnish (horses, cows, etc.) with hay.

verb (used without object)

1. to cut grass, clover, or the like, and store for use as forage.

Hay

²

[ hey ]

noun

1. John Milton, 1838–1905, U.S. statesman and author.
2. a river in NW Canada, flowing NE to the Great Slave Lake. 530 miles (853 km) long.

Hay

¹

/ heɪ /

noun

1. HayWill18881949MBritishTHEATRE: comedianFILMS AND TV: actor Will. 1888–1949, British music-hall comedian, who later starred in films, such as Oh, Mr Porter! (1937)

hay

²

/ heɪ /

noun

1. a circular figure in country dancing
2. a former country dance in which the dancers wove in and out of a circle

hay

³

/ heɪ /

noun

1. 1. grass, clover, etc, cut and dried as fodder
   2. ( in combination )

      a hayfield

      a hayloft

2. hit the hay slang.
   to go to bed
3. make hay of
   to throw into confusion
4. make hay while the sun shines
   to take full advantage of an opportunity
5. roll in the hay informal.
   sexual intercourse or heavy petting

verb

1. to cut, dry, and store (grass, clover, etc) as fodder
2. tr to feed with hay

Other Words From

• hay·ey adjective
• un·hayed adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of hay¹

before 900; Middle English; Old English hēg; cognate with German Heu, Old Norse hey, Gothic hawi. See hew

Word History and Origins

Origin of hay¹

C16: of uncertain origin

Origin of hay²

Old English hieg; related to Old Norse hey, Gothic hawi, Old Frisian hē, Old High German houwi; see hew

Idioms and Phrases

Idioms

1. a roll in the hay, Slang. sexual intercourse.
2. hit the hay, Informal. to go to bed:

   It got to be past midnight before anyone thought of hitting the hay.

3. in the hay, in bed; retired, especially for the night:

   By ten o'clock he's in the hay.

4. make hay of, to scatter in disorder; render ineffectual:

   The destruction of the manuscript made hay of two years of painstaking labor.

5. make hay while the sun shines, to seize an opportunity when it presents itself: Also make hay.

   If you want to be a millionaire, you have to make hay while the sun shines.

More idioms and phrases containing hay

see hit the hay ; make hay while the sun shines ; roll in the hay ; that ain't hay .

Example Sentences

The Fetterman campaign thrashed Oz mercilessly and personally, for everything from his 10 houses to his out-of-state primary residence in New Jersey, to his use of the word crudité in a clumsy campaign stunt in which he tried to make hay out of the high price of groceries.

From Slate

“This is to some extent a negotiating dance,” said George Hay, a Cornell University law professor and antitrust expert.

From Los Angeles Times

Hay said he doesn’t anticipate Trump will pull the plug on the case, but the Justice Department could soften its proposed remedies.

From Los Angeles Times

A research team led by Madhavan, in collaboration with Torsten Falk, PhD, a research professor of neurology, is investigating PNA5, which was developed by Meredith Hay, PhD, a professor of physiology.

From Science Daily

When developing PNA5, Hay, in collaboration with Robin Polt, PhD, a professor of chemistry and biochemistry at the U of A's College of Science, made small tweaks to the structure of a chemical the body naturally makes, enhancing its ability to enter the brain and stay there longer.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• fodder
• grass