rye
1a widely cultivated cereal grass, Secale cereale, having one-nerved glumes and two- or three-flowered spikelets.
the seeds or grain of this plant, used for making flour and whiskey, and as a livestock feed.
a straight whiskey distilled from a mash containing 51 percent or more rye grain.
Northeastern U.S. and Canada. a blended whiskey.
made with rye grain or flour: rye rolls.
Origin of rye
1Other definitions for rye (2 of 3)
a male Romani; Rom.
Origin of rye
2Other definitions for Rye (3 of 3)
a city in SE New York, on Long Island Sound.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use rye in a sentence
Yet although Ryer was rich, as wealth is reckoned in Drenthe, whence he had come, he was greedy for more.
Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks | William Elliot GriffisA few years before, Ryer had married a "queezel," as the Dutch call either a nun, or a maid who is no longer young.
Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks | William Elliot GriffisAfter this had happened several times, and Ryer had added a half acre to his holdings, his greed possessed him like a bad fairy.
Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks | William Elliot GriffisWhen sometimes bits of fen land, from his neighbor's farms, got loose and floated on the water, Ryer felt he was in luck.
Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks | William Elliot GriffisYet none of this impending trouble worried Ryer, whose greed grew by what it fed upon.
Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks | William Elliot Griffis
British Dictionary definitions for rye (1 of 3)
/ (raɪ) /
a tall hardy widely cultivated annual grass, Secale cereale, having soft bluish-green leaves, bristly flower spikes, and light brown grain: See also wild rye
the grain of this grass, used in making flour and whiskey, and as a livestock food
Also called: rye whiskey whiskey distilled from rye. US whiskey must by law contain not less than 51 per cent rye
US short for rye bread
Origin of rye
1British Dictionary definitions for rye (2 of 3)
/ (raɪ) /
dialect a gentleman
Origin of rye
2British Dictionary definitions for Rye (3 of 3)
/ (raɪ) /
a resort in SE England, in East Sussex: one of the Cinque Ports. Pop: 4195 (2001)
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
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