hay
grass, clover, alfalfa, etc., cut and dried for use as forage.
grass mowed or intended for mowing.
Slang.
a small sum of money: Twenty dollars an hour for doing very little certainly ain't hay.
money: A thousand dollars for a day's work is a lot of hay!
Slang. marijuana.
to convert (plant material) into hay.
to furnish (horses, cows, etc.) with hay.
to cut grass, clover, or the like, and store for use as forage.
Idioms about hay
a roll in the hay, Slang. sexual intercourse.
hit the hay, Informal. to go to bed: It got to be past midnight before anyone thought of hitting the hay.
in the hay, in bed; retired, especially for the night: By ten o'clock he's in the hay.
make hay of, to scatter in disorder; render ineffectual: The destruction of the manuscript made hay of two years of painstaking labor.
make hay while the sun shines, to seize an opportunity when it presents itself: If you want to be a millionaire, you have to make hay while the sun shines.: Also make hay.
Origin of hay
1Other words from hay
- hayey, adjective
- un·hayed, adjective
Words Nearby hay
Other definitions for Hay (2 of 2)
John Milton, 1838–1905, U.S. statesman and author.
a river in NW Canada, flowing NE to the Great Slave Lake. 530 miles (853 km) long.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use hay in a sentence
We grew up bailing hay and chasing cows around and riding four wheelers and digging holes into the ground.
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.
The gas shortage is another recent example of Americans making things worse for one another | Philip Bump | May 12, 2021 | Washington PostSome 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.
BT is the latest advertiser to take a ‘fixed fee’ programmatic path | Seb Joseph | April 29, 2021 | DigidayIt was refreshing but not perfumy, with notes of hay and earth that I’d never smelled in a shower product.
Yet it feels like the bulk of the hay is in the barn when it comes to the at-large field.
NCAA tournament bracketology: Potential bid snatchers to watch on Friday | Patrick Stevens | March 12, 2021 | Washington Post
But I sent him some hay and some information and he turned it around.
Amy Sedaris Is Hollywood's Beloved Rabbit-Loving Comedian Crafter | Kevin Fallon | August 28, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe less scrupulous have made financial hay out of a diagnosis that promises easy access to stimulants.
“I think this is part of the inside game that junkies make hay out of,” he said.
Prosecutors Allege ‘Criminal Scheme’ Involving Gov. Scott Walker | David Freedlander | June 20, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAfter that, who knows how many innocent straws of hay will start to look like needles under the gaze of unseen algorithms.
The NSA Can ‘Collect-it-All,’ But What Will It Do With Our Data Next? | Joshua Kopstein | May 16, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe straw and hay piled around the tent only exacerbated the situation.
Thrills and Too Many Spills: The Dangers of the Circus | Marina Watts | May 5, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTThe grass had a delightful fragrance, like new-mown hay, and was neatly wound around the tunnel, like the inside of a bird's-nest.
Davy and The Goblin | Charles E. CarrylThe challenge was accepted and the hay-wagon driven round and the trial commenced.
The Book of Anecdotes and Budget of Fun; | VariousAs she left the wood she saw a big hay-stack, as firm and shapely of outline as a house, not a loose wisp anywhere.
Ancestors | Gertrude AthertonSome of the half-made hay in the meadows looks as though it had been standing out to bleach for the last fortnight.
Glances at Europe | Horace GreeleyMr. Rushmere had been called away to the town on business, and the lovers had been working all day in the hay-field.
The World Before Them | Susanna Moodie
British Dictionary definitions for hay (1 of 3)
/ (heɪ) /
grass, clover, etc, cut and dried as fodder
(in combination): a hayfield; a hayloft
hit the hay slang to go to bed
make hay of to throw into confusion
make hay while the sun shines to take full advantage of an opportunity
roll in the hay informal sexual intercourse or heavy petting
to cut, dry, and store (grass, clover, etc) as fodder
(tr) to feed with hay
Origin of hay
1British Dictionary definitions for hay (2 of 3)
hey
/ (heɪ) /
a circular figure in country dancing
a former country dance in which the dancers wove in and out of a circle
Origin of hay
2British Dictionary definitions for Hay (3 of 3)
/ (heɪ) /
Will. 1888–1949, British music-hall comedian, who later starred in films, such as Oh, Mr Porter! (1937)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with hay
see hit the hay; make hay while the sun shines; roll in the hay; that ain't hay.
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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