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

In recent years, one of the farm’s employees, Juan Ramirez, has crafted giant minions out of hay bales that are visible from the freeway.

From Los Angeles Times

Remnants of desiccated hay crunched underfoot, and the sun-baked soil was fragmented with deep cracks.

From Los Angeles Times

That was the one she doesn’t remember in much detail other than it was with a beautiful, kind, red-haired young man named Massimiliano in a hay field in her mother's hometown.

From Salon

Here too, people did not try to make hay out of assassinations or assassination attempts.

From Salon

Soon, farm animals are brought indoors for the seasons where the wildflowers and herbs they spent the spring eating are replaced by hay and feed.

From Salon

Related Words

• fodder
• grass