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• ray
  ray

  noun

  a narrow beam of light.
• Ray
  Ray

  noun

  John, 1627?–1705, English naturalist.

ray

¹ American  

[rey] / reɪ /

noun

1. a narrow beam of light.

2. a gleam or slight manifestation.

   a ray of hope.

3. a raylike line or stretch of something.

4. light or radiance.

5. a line of sight.

6. Physics, Optics.

   1. any of the lines or streams in which light appears to radiate from a luminous body.

   2. the straight line normal to the wave front in the propagation of radiant energy.

   3. a stream of material particles all moving in the same straight line.

7. Mathematics.

   1. one of a system of straight lines emanating from a point.

   2. Also called half-line.  the part of a straight line considered as originating at a point on the line and as extending in one direction from that point.

8. any of a system of parts radially arranged.

9. Zoology.

   1. one of the branches or arms of a starfish or other radiate animal.

   2. one of the bony or cartilaginous rods in the fin of a fish.

10. Botany.

    1. ray flower.

    2. one of the branches of an umbel.

    3. vascular ray.

    4. (in certain composite plants) the marginal part of the flower head.

11. Astronomy. one of many long, bright streaks radiating from some of the large lunar craters.

12. a prominent upright projection from the circlet of a crown or coronet, having a pointed or ornamented termination.

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verb (used without object)

rays, present (3rd person singular) rayed, past participle, past raying present participle

1. to emit rays.

2. to issue in rays.

verb (used with object)

rays, present (3rd person singular) rayed, past participle, past raying present participle

1. to send forth in rays.

2. to throw rays upon; irradiate.

3. to subject to the action of rays, as in radiotherapy.

4. Informal. to make a radiograph of; x-ray.

5. to furnish with rays or radiating lines.

idioms

1. get / grab some rays, to relax in the sun, especially to sunbathe.

ray ² American  

[rey] / reɪ /

noun

1. any of numerous elasmobranch fishes, adapted for life on the sea bottom, having a flattened body and greatly enlarged pectoral fins with the gills on the undersides.

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Ray ³ American  

[rey, rahy] / reɪ, raɪ /

noun

1. John, 1627?–1705, English naturalist.

2. Man 1890–1976, U.S. painter and photographer.

3. Satyajit 1921–92, Indian film director.

4. Cape, a promontory at the SW extremity of Newfoundland, Canada, on the Cabot Strait, at the entrance of the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

5. a male given name, form of Raymond.

6. Also Raye a female given name, form of Rachel.

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ray ¹ British  

/ reɪ /

noun

1. a narrow beam of light; gleam

2. a slight indication, esp of something anticipated or hoped for

   a ray of solace

3. maths a straight line extending from a point

4. a thin beam of electromagnetic radiation or particles

5. any of the bony or cartilaginous spines of the fin of a fish that form the support for the soft part of the fin

6. any of the arms or branches of a starfish or other radiate animal

7. astronomy any of a number of bright streaks that radiate from the youngest lunar craters, such as Tycho; they are composed of crater ejecta not yet darkened, and extend considerable distances

8. botany any strand of tissue that runs radially through the vascular tissue of some higher plants See medullary ray

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verb

1. (of an object) to emit (light) in rays or (of light) to issue in the form of rays

2. (intr) (of lines, etc) to extend in rays or on radiating paths

3. (tr) to adorn (an ornament, etc) with rays or radiating lines

Ray ² British  

/ reɪ /

noun

1. John . 1627–1705, English naturalist. He originated natural botanical classification and the division of flowering plants into monocotyledons and dicotyledons

2. Man , real name Emmanuel Rudnitsky . 1890–1976, US surrealist photographer

3. Satyajit (ˈsætjədʒɪt). 1921–92, Indian film director, noted for his Apu trilogy (1955–59)

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ray ³ British  

/ reɪ /

noun

1. music (in tonic sol-fa) the second degree of any major scale; supertonic

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ray ⁴ British  

/ reɪ /

noun

1. any of various marine selachian fishes typically having a flattened body, greatly enlarged winglike pectoral fins, gills on the undersurface of the fins, and a long whiplike tail. They constitute the orders Torpediniformes ( electric rays ) and Rajiformes

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Ray ⁵ British  

/ reɪ /

noun

1. a promontory in SW Newfoundland, Canada

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ray Scientific  

/ rā /

1. A thin line or narrow beam of light or other radiation.

2. A geometric figure consisting of the part of a line that is on one side of a point on the line.

3. See ray flower

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Synonym Usage

See gleam.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• raylike
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Participles

• raying
  present
• rayed
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• ray
  simple
• rays
  simple
• have rayed
  perfect
• has rayed
  perfect
• am raying
  progressive
• are raying
  progressive
• is raying
  progressive
• have been raying
  perfect progressive
• has been raying
  perfect progressive

Past

• rayed
  simple
• had rayed
  perfect
• was raying
  progressive
• were raying
  progressive
• had been raying
  perfect progressive

Future

• will ray
  simple
• will have rayed
  perfect
• will be raying
  progressive
• will have been raying
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of ray¹

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English rai, raie, raye, from Old French rai “beam of light; spoke of a wheel,” from Latin radius radius

Origin of ray²

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English rai(e), raye, (from Old French rai ) or directly from Latin raia

Explanation

A ray is a beam of light or radiation. Even on cloudy days, you sometimes see a ray of sunlight shine through the clouds. In physics, a ray is a line or column of light, heat, or electromagnetic radiation (like an x-ray), while in math a ray is a line that passes through a specific point. A marine biologist would define a ray as a big fish that's related to sharks and has a wide, flat body and a long tail. The root of the first two kinds of rays is the Latin word radius, "spoke" or "staff."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

ray Ray rays rayed raying

Once abundant along Ghana's shores, esene, or guitarfish -- with the flattened body of a ray and the tail of a shark -- have become increasingly difficult to find.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

The team also tested whether the proposed blazar population would produce too many gamma rays compared with the known extragalactic gamma ray background measured by Fermi.

From Science Daily ● May 24, 2026

For economists looking on, the budgetary measures present a ray of hope that a more extensive reform agenda is taking shape—one that will boost the economy’s ability to grow faster without fueling inflation.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 12, 2026

He texted his friend: "First sleep over. I wanted to put him in the field with the cows," but went on to describe Preston as a "ray of sunshine".

From BBC ● Apr. 28, 2026

Another ray passed, and Justin reached in so fast that he splashed water all over Sarah Johnston, the new girl, who was standing next to him.

From "The Thing About Jellyfish" by Ali Benjamin

Brown’s dreamlike visions of the climate and uniquely structured scenes—often with barely there foregrounds that emphasize the abstracted weather surrounding them—owe much to his mentor Ray Yoshida, as well as to Joseph Yoakum.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Granted, one of the people the series follows, Ray Christian, is a Black veteran from North Carolina who finds community with a welcoming camp from his area.

From Salon ● Jul. 24, 2026

Tributes have been paid to Ray King, one of the most influential singers in the ska and 2 Tone music genres, following the announcement of his death.

From BBC ● Jul. 20, 2026

With “Harlem Shuffle,” Whitehead begins his crime trilogy in the 1960s in a furniture store with stylish midcentury stock whose owner, Ray Carney, is trying not to be a fence.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026

When the hokey pokey is done, I slip out to the back patio to see if Ray is around and if he got anything off Mom’s run-over phone.

From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko

Its principal task was to show that the gravitational pull of the sun increased the wavelength of light rays, the so-called red shift, which would help verify Einstein’s theory of relativity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

"We came to these communities and saw piles of sharks, rays and guitarfish being landed without any thought about conservation," Seidu told AFP.

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

Zinc oxide is widely used in mineral sunscreen because it blocks UVA rays, which contribute to skin aging, as well as UVB rays, which cause sunburn and increase the risk of skin cancer.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 20, 2026

The gray skies part, the clouds lift and a warm maternal comfort spreads across the film, creeping in like the sun’s rays falling on cobblestones still shining from a sudden downpour.

From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026

With his right hand he shook a torch whose rays spread out in all directions lighting the depths of the waters and penetrating into the bowels of the earth.

From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton

The initiative seeks to restore the rayed bean mussel, which has not been found in Kentucky waters in more than 40 years.

From Washington Times ● Sep. 15, 2020

Some of the brighter craters are rayed, like Tycho and Copernicus on the Moon, and many have central peaks.

From Textbooks ● Oct. 13, 2016

Instead, our results imply that derived colour-pattern elements have introgressed recently between both rayed and postman forms of and .

From Nature ● Jul. 4, 2012

For a reciprocal test, we used the same H. melpomene races as the ingroup to compare with rayed Heliconius timareta florencia at the B/D region.

From Nature ● Jul. 4, 2012

The little girl fingered the corner of the apron of coarse cloth covering her petticoat of whitish cloth rayed with wide black stripes; the young boy convulsively grasped his cap of brown wool.

From A Romance of the West Indies by Sue, Eugène

Ever since Colonel Lindbergh flew one across the Atlantic in 1927, most U. S. aeronautical engineers have been developing air-cooled, radial engines with cylinders raying out like huge wheel-spokes around a short, chunky crankshaft.

From Time Magazine Archive

She was looking around the hem to see if the quilt maker had stitched in her initials, but the edges were all raying away.

From "A Long Way from Chicago" by Richard Peck

Couldst thou but see how thou appearest to me, what a wonderful form penetrates thy shape, and everywhere is raying towards me, thou wouldst not fear age.

From Henry of Ofterdingen: A Romance. by Hardenberg, Friedrich von

A garish appeal, no doubt: a few raying spokes of colour, and the vision has gone.

From From a Cornish Window A New Edition by Quiller-Couch, Arthur Thomas, Sir

This appetizing gum is no other than a fatal stick-fast, the raying pins closing in its aid the more certainly to secure a hapless prisoner.

From Little Masterpieces of Science: The Naturalist as Interpreter and Seer by Iles, George

Related Words

• glimmer
• light
• radiation