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View synonyms for hay

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)
“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


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
“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

hay

3

/ heɪ /

noun

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

      a hayfield

      a hayloft

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

verb

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

  • hay·ey adjective
  • un·hayed adjective
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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
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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
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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 .
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Example Sentences

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

The 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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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Related Words

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from 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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