bray

Etymology 1

table The verb is derived from Middle English brayen, brai, bray, braye (“of a person or animal: to vocalize loudly; of the weather: to make a loud sound, howl, roar”), from Old French brai, braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to cry or shout out”) (modern French braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”)), possibly from Vulgar Latin *bragiō, from Gaulish *bragu (compare Breton breugiñ (“to bray”), brammañ (“to flatulate”), Cornish bramma, brabma (“to flatulate”), Old Irish braigid (“to flatulate”)), from Proto-Celtic *brageti, *bragyeti (“to flatulate”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreHg- (“to flatulate; to stink”); cognate with Latin fragrō (“to smell”). Alternatively, the word could be from a Germanic source, ultimately from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), and cognate with frangere (“to break, shatter”). The noun is derived from the verb, or from Middle English brai, brait (“shriek; outcry”), from Old French brai, brait (“a cry”), from braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”); see above.

verb

1. (intransitive) Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.
   Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.
   Henry [IV of France], paſſing through a little town, ſaw ſeveral deputies coming up to harangue him. One of them having commenced his diſcourſe, was interrupted by an aſs, who began to bray. "Gentlemen," cried the King, "one at a time, if you pleaſe." 1792 July, “Art. II. Interesting Anecdotes of Henry IV. of France. Containing Sublime Traits and Lively Sallies of Wit of that Monarch;[…]. Translated from the French. Crown 8vo. 2 Vols. 6s. Boards. Debrett. 1792. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume VIII, London: Printed for R[alph] Griffiths; and sold by T[homas] Becket,[…], published 1794, →OCLC, page 249
   The horse neighs, but the ass brays: the last is performed by a very loud, long, disagreeable, discordant cry, consisting of discords alternately sharp and flat. He seldom brays but when pressed with hunger or love. … When gelded, the ass brays with a low voice; and, though he makes the same efforts and the same motions of the throat, yet the sound reaches to no great distance. 1812, Count de Buffon [i.e., Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon], “The Ass”, in William Smellie, transl., Natural History, General and Particular,[…]. The History of Man and Quadrupeds: Translated, with Notes and Observations,[…] In Twenty Volumes, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Cadell and W[illiam] Davies,[…], →OCLC, page 174
2. (intransitive, by extension) To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray.
   He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.
   Heard ye the din of battle bray, / Lance to lance, and horſe to horſe? / Long Years of havock urge their deſtined courſe, / And thro' the kindred ſquadrons mow their way. 8 August 1757, [Thomas] Gray, “The Bard. A Pindaric Ode.”, in Poems by Mr. Gray, London: Printed for J[ames] Dodsley,[…], published 1768, →OCLC, stanza II.3, page 64
   "But, Jack, it's all so circumstantial—you said so yourself," Brammel brayed, never stronger than when demonstrating that two positives made a negative. 1986, John le Carré [pseudonym; David John Moore Cornwell], A Perfect Spy, London: Hodder & Stoughton; 1st Pocket Books trade paperback edition, New York, N.Y.: Pocket Books, January 2003, page 400
3. (transitive) To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.

noun

1. The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.
2. (by extension) Any discordant, grating, or harsh sound.
   It seems a very nest—warm and snug, and green—for human life; with the twilight haze of time about it, almost consecrating it from the aching hopes and feverish expectations of the present. Who would think that the bray and roar of multitudinous London sounded but some sixty miles away? 1843, [Douglas William Jerrold], “A Gossip at the Reculvers [from The Chronicles of Clovernook]”, in Douglas [William] Jerrold, editor, The Illuminated Magazine, volume I, London: Published for the proprietors,[…], →OCLC, page 143, column 2
   … Mr. [Edmund] Gosse's blank verse is sweet and varied, and full mostly of a graceful melody. If it has not the trumpet's power, neither has it the trumpet's bray, but rather a flute-like tone of its own. 1876 April, “Gosse’s King Erik: King Erik. By Edmund W. Gosse. London: Chatto and Windus. 1876. [book review]”, in The London Quarterly Review, volume XLVI, number XCI, London: Published for the proprietors, at the Wesleyan Conference Office,[…], →OCLC, page 257
   At full volume, Doreen's whinnying laugh could shatter glass. Even at half volume, her high-pitched brays rattled teeth. 2005, Merline Lovelace, The Last Bullet (Cleo North Trilogy; 3), Ontario: Mira Books, page 15

Etymology 2

table From Middle English brayen (“to break or crush into pieces”), from Anglo-Norman breier, Old French breie, breier, broiier (modern French broyer (“to crush, grind”)), possibly from Frankish *brekan (“to break”), from Proto-Germanic *brekaną (“to break”), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰreg- (“to break”); thus making the English word a doublet of break.

verb

1. (transitive, archaic) To crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar.
   They boyle it alſo, and after dry it and bray it, and of this bran, with egges, hony, milke, and butter of Cocos, they make Florentines, and verie good belly-timber. 1625, Samuel Purchas, “Their Cocos and other fruits and food, their Trades and trading, Creatures profitable and hurtfull. Of Male their principall Iland. Their Houſes, Candou, Languages, Apparell.”, in Pvrchas his Pilgrimes. In Five Bookes. … The Second Part., volume II, London: Printed by William Stansby for Henrie Fetherstone,[]] at the signe of the Rose">…], →OCLC, [https://books.google.com/books?id=XRZZAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA653 page 1643 [sic: 1653]]
2. (transitive, Britain, chiefly Yorkshire, by extension) To hit (someone or something).
   If anything he brayed him all the harder – the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over. 2011, Sarah Hall, “Butcher’s Perfume”, in The Beautiful Indifference, London: Faber and Faber, page 25