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Ray   /reɪ/   Listen
noun
Ray  n.  Array; order; arrangement; dress. (Obs.) "And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray."


Ray  n.  
1.
One of a number of lines or parts diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle; as, a star of six rays.
2.
(Bot.) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See Radius.
3.
(Zool.)
(a)
One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting the fins of fishes.
(b)
One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4.
(Physics)
(a)
A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or reflecting point; a single element of light or heat propagated continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray.
(b)
One of the component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See Illust. under Light.
5.
Sight; perception; vision; from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen. "All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze."
6.
(Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point, and regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions. See Half-ray.
Bundle of rays. (Geom.) See Pencil of rays, below.
Extraordinary ray (Opt.), that one of two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction.
Ordinary ray (Opt.) that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which follows the usual or ordinary law of refraction.
Pencil of rays (Geom.), a definite system of rays.
Ray flower, or Ray floret (Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite plants as the aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the disk flowers are tubular and five-lobed.
Ray point (Geom.), the common point of a pencil of rays.
Roentgen ray, Röntgen ray (Phys.), a form of electromagnetic radiation generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by an electrical discharge; now more commonly called X-ray. It is composed of electromagnetic radiation of wavelength shorter than that of ultraviolet light but longer than that of gamma rays. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects by which means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque objects are made, called X-rays, radiographs, sciagraphs, X-ray photographs, radiograms. So called from the discoverer, W. C. Röntgen.
X ray, the Röntgen ray; so called by its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.


Ray  n.  (Zool.)
(a)
Any one of numerous elasmobranch fishes of the order Raiae, including the skates, torpedoes, sawfishes, etc.
(b)
In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat, narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate.
Bishop ray, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray (Aetobatus narinari syn. Stoasodon narinari) of the Southern United States and the West Indies; also called the spotted eagle ray and white-spotted eagle ray.
Butterfly ray, a short-tailed American sting ray (Pteroplatea Maclura), having very broad pectoral fins.
Devil ray. See Sea Devil.
Eagle ray, any large ray of the family Myliobatidae, or Aetobatidae. The common European species (Myliobatis aquila) is called also whip ray, and miller.
Electric ray, or Cramp ray, a torpedo.
Starry ray, a common European skate (Raia radiata).
Sting ray, any one of numerous species of rays of the family Trygonidae having one or more large, sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also stingaree.


verb
Ray  v. t.  
1.
To array. (Obs.)
2.
To mark, stain, or soil; to streak; to defile. (Obs.) "The filth that did it ray."


Ray  v. t.  (past & past part. rayed; pres. part. raying)  
1.
To mark with long lines; to streak. (Obs.)
2.
To send forth or shoot out; to cause to shine out; as, to ray smiles. (R.)


Ray  v. i.  To shine, as with rays.





Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48


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"Ray" Quotes from Famous Books



... of the tapestry, I found myself in a dark recess or passage, at the end of which a ray of light from the lamp showed me a closed door. I listened, and heard on the other side of the door a shouting voice, accompanied by an extraordinary rumbling and whistling sound, traveling backward and forward, ...
— The Law and the Lady • Wilkie Collins
... that the sun was shining brightly outside. No ray of light pierced the blackness of the cavern, and the dead silence was unbroken by the first sound, though at that very moment the Gallas and the Abyssinians were probably waging a bloody battle almost ...
— The River of Darkness - Under Africa • William Murray Graydon
... of a rising ground, on which grew a grove of magnificent beeches, their large silvery boles rising majestically like columns into a lofty vaulting of branches, covered above with tender green foliage. Here and there the shade beneath was broken by the gilding of a ray of sunshine on a lower twig, or on a white trunk, but the floor of the vast arcades was almost entirely of the russet brown of the fallen leaves, save where a fern or holly bush made a spot of green. At the foot of the slope lay a stretch of pasture ground, some parts covered ...
— The Armourer's Prentices • Charlotte M. Yonge
... perfection; where, in the deluge represented by Bonati, one sees the eagle drooping from a weight of rain, majestic in his distress, and looking up to the luminous part of the picture as if hoping to discover some ray of that sun he never shall see again. How characteristic! how tasteful is the expression! The famous Virgin and Child too, so ...
— Observations and Reflections Made in the Course of a Journey through France, Italy, and Germany, Vol. I • Hester Lynch Piozzi
... bench for an hour or two before his eyes became sufficiently accustomed to the darkness to see anything, for but the feeblest ray of light made its way through so small a loophole in a wall of such ...
— The Cornet of Horse - A Tale of Marlborough's Wars • G. A. Henty


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