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

Hay

²

/ 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

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.
   hit the hay to go to bed
3. make hay of
   make hay of to throw into confusion
4. make hay while the sun shines
   make hay while the sun shines to take full advantage of an opportunity
5. roll in the hay informal.
   roll in the hay 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

We grew up bailing hay and chasing cows around and riding four wheelers and digging holes into the ground.

From Ozy

Other politicians make hay out of their opposition to mandated mask-wearing, using those mandates — themselves a function of the density of people who otherwise refuse to wear one — as a way to trumpet their liberty bona fides.

From Washington Post

Some SSPs will struggle if they’re unable to afford proposed commercial terms and have to sit back and do nothing while their competitors make hay.

From Digiday

It was refreshing but not perfumy, with notes of hay and earth that I’d never smelled in a shower product.

From Outside Online

Yet it feels like the bulk of the hay is in the barn when it comes to the at-large field.

From Washington Post

But I sent him some hay and some information and he turned it around.

From The Daily Beast

The less scrupulous have made financial hay out of a diagnosis that promises easy access to stimulants.

From The Daily Beast

“I think this is part of the inside game that junkies make hay out of,” he said.

From The Daily Beast

After that, who knows how many innocent straws of hay will start to look like needles under the gaze of unseen algorithms.

From The Daily Beast

The straw and hay piled around the tent only exacerbated the situation.

From The Daily Beast

The grass had a delightful fragrance, like new-mown hay, and was neatly wound around the tunnel, like the inside of a bird's-nest.

From Project Gutenberg

The challenge was accepted and the hay-wagon driven round and the trial commenced.

From Project Gutenberg

As she left the wood she saw a big hay-stack, as firm and shapely of outline as a house, not a loose wisp anywhere.

From Project Gutenberg

Some of the half-made hay in the meadows looks as though it had been standing out to bleach for the last fortnight.

From Project Gutenberg

Mr. Rushmere had been called away to the town on business, and the lovers had been working all day in the hay-field.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• fodder
• grass