ray

Etymology 1

Via Middle English, borrowed from Old French rai, from Latin radius (“staff, stake, spoke”). Doublet of radius.

noun

1. A beam of light or radiation.
   I saw a ray of light through the clouds.
2. (zoology) A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
3. (zoology) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4. (botany) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, such as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius.
5. (obsolete) Sight; perception; vision; from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.
6. (mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.
7. (colloquial) A tiny amount.
   Unfortunately he didn't have a ray of hope.

verb

1. (transitive) To emit something as if in rays.
   I had no particular woman in my mind; certainly never intended to personify wisdom, philosophy, or any other abstraction; and the orb, raying colour out of whiteness, was altogether a fancy of my own. 1889, Robert Browning, letter to Dr. Furnivall
2. (intransitive) To radiate as if in rays.
3. (transitive) To expose to radiation.
   Rats' eyes with ulcus serpens were successfully treated; one second of raying stopped the progress of the ulcer, which healed uninterruptedly. 1928, Archives of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, page 219

Etymology 2

From Middle English raye, rayȝe, from Old French raie, from Latin raia, of uncertain origin. Compare Middle English reyhhe, reihe, reȝge (“ray, skate”), from Old English reohhe (“ray”).

noun

1. A marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail.

Etymology 3

Shortened from array.

verb

1. (obsolete) To arrange.
2. (now rare) To dress, array (someone).
3. (obsolete) To stain or soil; to defile.

noun

1. (obsolete) Array; order; arrangement; dress.

Etymology 4

From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.

noun

1. The letter ⟨/⟩, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.

Etymology 5

Alternative forms.

noun

1. (music) Alternative form of re