▪ I. hay, n.1
(heɪ)
Forms: 1 h{iacu}eᵹ, h{iacu}ᵹ, héᵹ, (heiᵹ, hoeᵹ), 2–4 hei, 3–7 hey(e, 4 hai, 4–5 heyȝ(e, 4–7 haye, 5 heiȝ(e, heygh, heey, 6–7 haie, 4– hay.
[Com. Teut.: OE. h{iacu}eᵹ, h{iacu}ᵹ, héᵹ, = OS. houwi, (MLG. hoi, houwe, MDu. hôy, hooi, hoey, Du. hooi), OHG. hęwi, houwi (properly, nom. hęwi, gen. houwes, MHG. höu, hou, houwe, G. heu), ON. hey (Sw., Da. hö), Goth. hawi (gen. haujis):—OTeut. *haujo{supm}, app. an adj. used subst. = (that) which can be mowed, f. stem of vb. *hauw-, OE. heaw- to hew, cut down, mow.]
1. a. Grass cut or mown, and dried for use as fodder; formerly (as still sometimes) including grass fit for mowing, or preserved for mowing.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter xxxvi[i]. 2 Swe swe heᵹ hreðlice adruᵹiað. c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. John vi. 10 Uæs..gærs vel heiᵹ micil on ðæm styd. c 975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. vi. 30 Þæt londes hoeᵹ þæt to dæᵹe is and to mærᵹen vel marne bið in ofne sended. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 178 On . vi. nihtne monan do þonne hiᵹ on þin beð. c 1205 Lay. 24441 Þer com hey, þer com gras. 1382 Wyclif Mark vi. 39 He comaundide to hem, that thei schulden make alle men sitte to mete aftir cumpenyes vpon greene hey. c 1400 Three Kings Cologne 126 Seynt Elene..founde þe same heiȝe þat crist was leyde in yn þe manger. c 1489 Caxton Sonnes of Aymon xx. 450 Ye be not worthe a botelle of heye. 1535 Coverdale 1 Kings xviii. 5 Go thorow the londe vnto all the welles of water & ryuers, yf happlye we maye finde hay. c 1645 Howell Lett. i. 47 They leave it dry many dayes like Hey. 1725 Swift Lett. Wks. 1841 II. 575, I gave over all hopes of my hay..for I reckoned the weather had ruined it. 1730–46 Thomson Autumn 1270 Amid the fragrant hay. 1830 Tennyson Owl i. 9 Rarely smells the new-mown hay. 1897 Grant Allen in Strand. Mag. Oct. 404/1 Mice, shrews and lizards..can conceal themselves less easily than they were wont to do in the long hay before the cutting. |
b. the hay:
colloq. phr. for ‘bed’;
esp. in phrases
to roll in the hay (sense 3);
to hit the hay (
hit v. 11 c).
| 1903 Ade People you Know 13 When he had put in a frolicsome Hour or so with the North American Review, he crawled into the Hay at 9.30 p.m. 1930 Wodehouse Very Good, Jeeves vi. 160 My experience of women has been that the earlier they leave the hay the more vicious specimens they are apt to be. 1959 N. Mailer Advts. for Myself (1961) 334 Al had the reputation of being great in the hay. |
2. Burgundian hay or
Burgundy hay, Lucerne, or Sainfoin: see
Burgundy,
Burgundian A.
camel's hay, an oriental grass or rush: see
camel n. 5.
3. Phrases and Proverbs.
to carry hay in one's horns: to be ill-tempered or dangerous (
Lat. fænum habet in cornu, Horace; from an ox apt to gore, whose horns were bound about with hay).
to look for a needle in a bottle (bundle) of hay: see
needle.
to make hay: (
a)
lit., to mow grass and dry it by spreading it about and exposing it to the sun's heat; (
b)
fig., to make confusion.
to make hay of: to throw into confusion, turn topsy-turvy, upset.
to make hay while the sun shines: to lose no time, to seize or profit by opportunities.
that ain't hay (
U.S. colloq.): that is a lot of money; similarly in other negative contexts.
to roll in the hay (
colloq.): to make love; hence
a roll in the hay, love-making; also
concr., a person making, or willing to make, love.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 6 Whan the sunne shinth make hay. 1648 Herrick Hesper., Oberon's Pal. (1869) 176 He's sharpe as thorn, And fretfull carries hay in 's horne. 1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 138 She..was resolv'd..to make Hay whilest the Sun shin'd. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 144 No Hay being here made. 1817 M. Edgeworth Rose, Thistle, etc. i. ii, Oh! father, how you are making hay of my things! 1886 Pall Mall G. 9 June 3/2 Sussex made hay of the Gloucestershire bowling. 1891 J. M. Dixon Dict. Idiomatic Eng. Phr. s.v., Between hay and grass, in an unformed state; hobble-de-hoy. F[amiliar]. An Americanism, said of youths between boyhood and manhood. 1943 R. Chandler Lady in Lake (1944) vii. 44 Job pays eighty a month, cabin, firewood... That ain't hay. 1945 ‘L. Lewis’ Birthday Murder (1951) iii. 39 He gets something out of it... Maybe just a good roll in the hay. 1948 C. Porter Always True to you in my Fashion (song) p. 4 Mis-ter Thorne once cor-nered corn—and that ain't hay. 1949 M. Miller Sure Thing (1950) 79, I thought here's a kind of pretty girl..and I bet she'd be a good roll in the hay. 1952 P. H. Bonner SPQR (1953) xxvi. 233, I had fancied her as a desirable bit for a roll in the hay. 1958 R. Stout Champagne for One (1959) iv. 42 Fresh figs in March, by air from Chile, are not hay. 1959 G. Fisher Hospitality for Murder xvii. 137 Just over a million bucks per day, to be exact—and that ain't hay. 1963 M. McCarthy Group xiv. 332 We had a few rolls in the hay... Then for him it was over. 1966 J. Porter Sour Cream xiii. 166 There she was, rolling around in the hay with enough evidence for a dozen divorces. 1968 Times 9 Nov. 23/3 Peterson's marriage is collapsing... He..rolls in the hay with..a plump little thing. 1969 ‘H. Pentecost’ Girl Watcher's Funeral (1970) ii. i. 73, I will come into a cool two and a half million dollars... I will also collect executor's fees which won't be hay. 1973 Times 9 Mar. 18/2 A quiet girl librarian, on vodka, has fantasy dreams of rolling in the hay in frilly drawers. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. attributive, as
hay-bale,
hay-bond (
dial.),
hay-bottle,
hay-bundle,
hay-farm,
hay-green,
hay-ground,
hay-land,
hay-market,
hay-mead,
hay-meadow,
hay-month,
hay-season,
hay-stalk,
hay-wisp; (used in the cultivation, carriage, storage, etc. of hay)
hay-basket,
hay-boat,
hay-cart,
hay-chamber,
hay-crook,
hay-hook,
hay-knife,
hay paddock (
Austral. and
N.Z.),
hay-press,
hay-shed,
hay-spade,
hay-wagon,
hay-wain,
hay-yard.
b. objective genitive (as name of a person, or of a mechanical contrivance), as
hay-baler (
U.S.),
hay-binder,
hay-carter,
hay-cutter (mechanical contrivance or person),
hay-dryer,
hay-farmer,
hay-loader,
hay-mower,
hay-pitcher,
hay-presser,
hay-raker,
hay-stacker,
hay-tedder,
hay-tier,
hay-tosser.
c. objective, as
hay-binding,
hay-carting,
hay-cutting (
orig. U.S.),
hay-pitching,
hay-tedding.
d. instrumental, as
hay-fed pa. pple.,
hay-feed v.
e. parasynthetic, as
hay-coloured,
hay-scented adjs.| 1851 A. O. Hall Manhattaner 5 It was a modest commercial plain..with bits of machinery, and ploughs, and oat bags, and *hay bales. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 14 Apr. 3/4 The sentence was duly carried out, the young Indian being bound to a stake with hay-bale wire. 1962 Times 31 May 14/7 We use haybales to build mothering-up pens. |
| 1895 M. Graham Stories of Foot-Hills 209 The song of the *haybalers and the whir of the threshing machine had died out of the valley. 1936 Scrutiny IV. iv. 443 Mark Twain's presentation of Mississippi pilots and Nevada pioneers is comparable with Davis's accounts of timber-line settlers and hay⁓balers. |
| 1726 Leoni tr. Alberti's Archit. I. 96/1 Your Cart..Harrow, Yoke, *Hay-baskets and the like utensils. |
| 1826–44 Loudon Encycl. Agric. 384 The *hay-binding machine is an invention by Beckway for weighing and binding straw or hay. |
| 18.. Whittier Countess, The heavy *hay-boats crawl. |
| 1874 Hardy Far from Madding Crowd x. 89 Tending thrashing-machine, and wimbling *haybonds. 1953 A. Jobson Household & Country Crafts xvi. 163 In the old days the thatcher made his own broaches, as he made his own hay-bonds. |
| 1552 Huloet, *Haye bottell, foenusculum. 1653 H. More Antid. Ath. iii. vi. §6 While he was making hay-bottles in the barn. |
| 1696–7 Act 8–9 Will. III, c. 17 Preamb., *Hay Cartes and Straw Cartes which are dayly brought into and stand in a Street..called the Hay-Markett. 1880 Jefferies Gt. Estate 159 We entered the meadows, where the men were at haycart. |
| 1705 Lond. Gaz. No. 4187/4 A..House, with..Barns, Stables, *Hay-Chambers. |
| 1887 Daily News 20 July 6/1 *Hay colour is the fashionable tint for the straw of rustic hats. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 37 As for stackes, they..cutte them eaven downe to the bottome with an hey-spade made for that purpose; but for pykes, they usually pull out the hey with *hey-crookes. |
| 1653 in Mayflower Descendant XI. 200 One *haycutter,..00-01-06. 1838 W. B. Dewees Lett. fr. Texas (1852) xxiii. 226 As it chanced there was a hay-cutter, who was at work a short distance from where the scene took place. 1867 J. N. Edwards Shelby xx. 352 Shelby marked the hay-cutters struggling over stubble and wind row. 1873 J. M. Bailey Life in Danbury 21 It did seem as if I never would get out from under that hay-cutter. 1972 Country Life 30 Mar. 769/1 The hay-cutter or hay-knife was the proper tool for cutting into a rick. |
| 1665 Rowley Rec. (Mass.) (1894) 163 John Trumble for *hay cutting. 1869 J. R. Browne Adv. Apache Country 443 Twenty settlers,..most of whom are engaged in stock-raising and hay-cutting. 1906 ‘Mark Twain’ Autobiogr. (1924) II. 48 Hay-cutting time was approaching. 1933 R. Tuve Seasons & Months iv. 165 The eleventh-century Julius A vi has..hay-cutting for July. |
| 1634 W. Wood New Eng. Prosp. (1865) 41 Very good arable grounds and *Hay-ground. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 334/2 The *Hay Hook is..for the pulling out of Hay made either in a Rick, Stack, or Mow. |
| 1828 Webster, *Hay-knife, a sharp instrument used in cutting hay out of a stack or mow. |
| 1690 Act 2 Will. & M. Sess. ii. c. 8 §15 Noe person..shall..suffer his..Waggon Cart or Carr to stand..in the place now called the *Hay Market neere Pickadilly..loaden with Hay or Straw..after two of the Clocke. |
| 1832 J. Bree St. Herbert's Isle 14 The merry *hay-month gone, now August threw Her golden mantle over every plain. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 230/1 *Hay-mower, fauchevr de foyn. |
| 1966 Teo Reo IX. 53 Is it not the case that wheat [in N.Z.] is grown in a wheatfield but hay is grown in a *hay paddock? 1967 Landfall XXI. 127 The cock pheasant strutting in a hay paddock. |
| 1831 Howitt Seasons (1837) 145 *Hay-scented fields. 1862 Ansted Channel Isl. ii. viii. (ed. 2) 182 The delicate hay-scented fern (Lastræa æmula). |
| 1508 Fisher 7 Penit. Ps. cii. Wks. (1876) 146 It shall perysshe and weder awaye as a floure in the *hey season. |
| 1865 Atlantic Monthly XV. 516, I used to notice her..about Easter day, proclaiming her arrival..from the peak of the barn or *hay-shed. 1920 Glasgow Herald 12 Nov. 8 Farmhouses and haysheds were also fired between Killarney and Tralee. 1936 Brit. Birds XXX. 108 The other Martins' nests were in haysheds or under eaves. |
| 1641 *Hay-spade [see hay-crook]. 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. s.v. Hay-knife, The hay-spade has a sharp blade, a handle, and a tread. |
| Ibid., *Hay-stacker, a portable derrick for the suspension of tackle in the use of the horse hay-fork in stacking. |
| 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 214 As small as an *Hay-stalk. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Hay-tedder, a machine to scatter hay to the sun and air. |
| 1826–44 Loudon Encycl. Agric. 420 The *hay-tedding machine, invented about 1800, by Salmon of Woburn. |
| 1891 Daily News 28 Dec. 3/3 A farm labourer, *hay tier, and thatcher. |
| 1641 Best Farm. Bks. (Surtees) 37 It is very behoovefull to see that an *haywaine bee well raked. 1847–8 H. Miller First Impr. xv. (1857) 260 The hay-wains..pass and repass to and from the hay-field. |
| 1798 Beresford in Ld. Auckland's Corr. (1862) III. 403 Robbing, plundering, and burning houses, *hay-yards, corn, &c. |
5. Special combs.:
hay-bag slang, a woman;
hay-barrack (
U.S.)
= barrack 1 b;
hay-bearded a., having a beard of the colour or texture of hay;
hay-box, (
a)
dial. a hay-loft; (
b) a box filled with hay in which food after being brought to boiling-point in a saucepan is placed to finish cooking; also
attrib.; (
c) a box containing hay;
hay-cap, a piece of canvas or tarpaulin put on the top of a haycock or haystack to protect it from rain;
hay-crome, an old kind of hay-rake (
cf. crome); see also
quot. 1825;
† hay-dust, hay-seed;
hay-goaf (
† golph,
† gulfe), a hay-mow;
hay-grass, grass preserved for hay;
hay-harvest, the season when hay is made, hay-making time;
hay-home supper, a meal to celebrate the successful bringing home of the hay;
cf. harvest home;
hay-hut [
tr. G.
heuhütte], a wooden hut covering a hay-stack on the mountainside;
hay-man, a man who sells hay, a hay-salesman;
hay-pack, a large bundle of hay packed in a sheet;
hay-plant, an umbelliferous plant of Tibet,
Prangos pabularia;
hay-press U.S., a press for baling hay;
hayride U.S., a pleasure ride in a hay-wagon;
hay-rig,
-rigging, a framework projecting from the sides of a wagon so as to increase its carrying capacity, a shelving (
U.S.);
hay-rope, a rope twisted of hay, a hay-band;
hay-scales U.S., a public weighing-machine for weighing loads of hay, etc.;
hay-tallat, a hay-loft;
hay-tea, a decoction of hay used for cattle;
hay-time, the season at which hay is made and carried;
hay-worm, a worm or caterpillar bred in hay.
| 1851 Mayhew Lond. Labour I. 217/2 *Haybag, a woman. 1925 F. G. Bond Flatboating on Yellowstone, 1877 12, I asked a passing corporal the way to the haybag quarters. He was a married man and lived in haybag row. 1931 D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) viii. 159 She is nothing but an old haybag. 1939 Abbott & Smith We pointed them North 143 A woman they called Big Ox, who was one of those old haybags that used to follow the buffalo camps. 1967 Spectator 10 Nov. 565/3 The weary certainty that one more stranger has paused to inspect her casually and to depart calling her a haybag. |
| 1807 Vancouver Agric. Devon (1813) 129 This contrivance is called a *hay-barrack, in Pennsylvania, where they are equally used for the protection of hay as well as of corn. |
| 186–. O. W. Holmes Hunt after ‘the Captain’ in Pages fr. Old Vol. Life (1891) 29 A grave, hard, honest, *hay-bearded face. |
| 1885 B. Brierley Tales Lancs. Life iii. 45 There's a *hay-boax theere ut I've bin in afore. 1908 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 119/2 The receptacle with its boiling contents is placed in the hay-box. 1915 Queen 13 Nov. 897/2 Boiled beef should be allowed thirty minutes' boiling for a large joint and three to four hours in the hay-box. 1927 Daily Express 6 Aug. 9/4 To feed the personnel of the force by means of new mobile hay-box cookers. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 19 Jan. Suppl. 39/2 The hay-box fold is most useful for carrying on chicks during the spring and summer months. |
| 1858 Thoreau Maine W. (1894) 116 The white *hay-caps, drawn over small stacks of beans or corn in the fields on account of the rain. |
| 1599 Nashe Lenten Stuffe 40 They fell downe on their mary-bones and lift vp their *haycromes vnto him. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Hay-crome. No rustic implement is now literally called by this name, but a metaphorical use of the word is very common. The characters scrawled by an awkward penman are likened to ‘hay-cromes and pitchforks’. |
| 1607 Topsell Serpents (1658) 1715 The seed of grasse, commonly called *Hay-dust, is prescribed against the biting of Dragons. |
| 1563–87 Foxe A. & M. (1684) III. 744 The poor man and woman were compelled to step into an *Hay-golph to hide themselves from their cruelty. 1604 Parsons 3 Convers. iii. xv. 254 They two being taken togeather in a hay gulfe..were carryed to the assises at Berry. 1895 East Anglian Gloss., Hay-goaf, hay mow. |
| 1601 Holland Pliny II. 286 Among the kinds of *hey-grasse. 1883 Sunday Mag. July 446/1 What a leap from the grass of an English meadow..to the hay-grass in Bengal! |
| 1552 Huloet, *Hay harvest, foenisecium. 1824 Miss Mitford Village Ser. i. (1863) 178 His master..had begun the hay-harvest that very morning. |
| 1860 C. M. Yonge Friarswood Post-Office ii. 34 Mrs. King would not let him go to the *hay-home supper in the barn. 1943 F. Thompson Candleford Green iv. 69 That was the hay-home supper, a survival, though perhaps not more ancient than a couple of hundred years or so. |
| 1903 Daily Chron. 23 Mar. 3/7 One sees the bright green mountain where the *hay-huts hang like birds' nests on the steep slope. 1912 D. H. Lawrence Let. 2 Sept. (1932) 56 We take rucksacks.., cook our meals by some stream—and twice we have slept in hay-huts. c 1912 ― Love among Haystacks (1930) 63 There must be a hay hut somewhere near. We can't sleep here. |
| 1800 G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 285 The *haymen..who sell the Kentish wheat. |
| 1841 Lever C. O'Malley cii, Already some *hay-packs were thrown in. 1892 Pall Mall G. 10 Feb. 3/1 We came in sight of some men, with hay-packs ready for the downward leap. |
| 1840 Penny Cycl. XVIII. 490/1 The Prangos *Hay-plant is herbaceous and perennial..The crop consists of the leaves, which..have a highly fragrant smell, extremely similar to that of very good new clover hay. |
| 1829 20th Congress 2 Sess. State P. No. 59, 3 [Improvement] in the *hay press [patented Jan.] 26 [1828 by] Moses B. Bliss. 1835 J. H. Ingraham South-West II. 221 A large building resembling a northern hay-press. 1872 E. Eggleston Hoosier Schoolmaster xxvi. 127 To see his new red barn with its large ‘Mormon’ hay-press..consumed, was too much for the Hawkins' heart to stand. 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 151/3 Our {pstlg}235,000 Belt Power Hay Press. |
| [1856 Spirit of Times 8 Nov. 154/2 The invitations he had at first received to join pic-nics, boating excursions on the river, and *haywagon rides, after a while became intermittent.] 1896 Advance (Chicago) 19 Mar. 414/2 Everybody being as comfortable as hay-ride etiquette permitted, the word was given, and away they went. 1906 ‘Mark Twain’ Autobiogr. (1924) II. 50 The remembrance of poor Susy's lost hay-ride still brings me a pang. 1915 J. Webster Dear Enemy (1916) 274 We have had hay-rides and skating-parties and candy-pulls. 1966 Punch 21 Dec. 921/2 Hay-rides, an American indulgence by no means confined to Texas, are laid on by riding academies and picnic area operators. 1973 Sat. Rev. Soc. May 64/1 She's..become a steady patron of..hayrides..and Ladies' Nights. |
| 1896 Advance (Chicago) 19 Mar. 414/1 Two great farm wagons, provided with those wide projecting frames, technically known as *hay-rigs. |
| 1865 Thoreau Cape Cod i. (1894) 4 We met several *hay-riggings and farm-wagons..each loaded with three large, rough deal boxes. |
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §38 Bynde her heed with a *heye rope..to the syde of the penne. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle ii. (1661) 123 If your horse be sprained..then bind him round in a hay rope. |
| 1773 Rec. Early Hist. Boston (1893) XXIII. 204 The Ground on which the *Hay Scales stands. 1844 G. W. Kendall Narr. Santa Fé Exped. II. xvii. 327 They might as well say that the natives can tell the time by consulting..a pair of hay-scales. 1855 M. M. Thomson Doesticks v. 34 The writer,..wearied of..the same unvarying prospect of ox-teams, hay-scales,..took the roving fever. 1893 Citizen Guide to Brooklyn & Long Island 8 The old hay-scales stood there, and on its roof was the first fire⁓bell owned by Brooklyn. |
| 1686 N. Cox Gentl. Recreat. iv. (ed. 2) 29 To tuck it out of the Rick by little and little, as you have occasion to use it, makes it spend much better than it would otherwise do out of the *Hay-tallet. 1869 Blackmore Lorna D. xix, Being forced to dress in the hay-tallat. |
| 1826 Loudon Encycl. Agric. (1844) 905 To make *hay-tea. |
| 1530 Palsgr. 230/1 *Heytyme, temps de fener. 1776 Adam Smith W.N. i. x. i. (1869) I. 121 The demand for country labour is greater at hay-time. |
| 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp. s.v., It [hay] is a proper nidus of itself, sometimes, for a much larger species of insect called the *hay-worm, whose origin and changes have not, as yet, been properly observed. |
▪ II. hay, n.2 Now
arch. or
dial. Forms: 1
heᵹe, (
heiᵹe,
heaᵹe), 3
heie, 4–7
haie,
hey, 5
heyȝ,
heȝe, 6–7
heye, 4–
haye, 5–
hay.
[OE. hęᵹe (:—*hagi-z) a deriv. of the same root as haᵹa haw n.1, hag n.2, and hedge. In its ME. form the word became more or less identified with Fr. haie:—OLG. haga (cf. MDu. hāge) hedge, a word of cognate origin.] 1. A hedge, a fence. (In some 17th c. writers distinguished as a ‘dead hedge’.)
| c 725 Corpus Gloss. 606 Crates, heᵹas. 845 Charter in O.E. Texts 437 Et jacit be norðan heᵹe. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 448 Wiðutan minum heᵹum. a 1250 Owl & Night. 817 The vox kan crope bi the heie. a 1300 E.E. Psalter lxxxviii[i]. 41 [40] Þou for-dide his haies. 1412–20 Lydg. Chron. Troy iii. xxiv, Both on hayes and in freshe greues. 1562 Act 5 Eliz. c. 13 §7 The Heyes, Fences, Dikes or Hedges next adjoining..any high or common fairing Way. 1598 J. Manwood Lawes Forest xx. §5 (1615) 172/2 The wild beasts..must have their free passage..without any forestalling or foresetting of them..either with dogges, gunne, crosbow, longbow, dead hey, quick hey, or any maner of engin or let whatsoeuer. 1607 Norden Surv. Dial. in Harrison's England ii. Suppl. 196 A hedge implieth quickset and trees: but a hay a dead fence, that may be made one yeere, and pulled downe another. 1801 Strutt Sports & Past. i. i. 17 The game was usually enclosed with a haye or fence-work of netting. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Hay, a hedge; more particularly a clipped quickset hedge. 1867 J. Ingelow Story Doom ii. 235 The golden bilhook, wherewithal He wont to cut his way, when tangled in The matted hayes. 1880 Harting Brit. Anim. Extinct ii. 224 Great tracts of forest were..inclosed within a pale, haye, or wall. |
2. An enclosed space; an enclosure; a park.
| c 1630 Risdon Surv. Devon §107 (1810) 108 (Exeter) Another [religious house] was for..Nuns, which is now the kalender⁓hay. 1679 Blount Anc. Tenures 57 This Hay of Hereford was a great Woodland ground near the City, and heretofore reputed a forest. 1686 Plot Staffordsh. 38 The Plains or Hays below in great part being covered only with..Ling. 1837 Howitt Rur. Life v. iii. (1862) 381 Five hays, or royal parks, each fenced in, and furnished with its lodge. 1881 Daily News 19 Nov. 2/1 The sale of 1,270 acres to one of the Dukes of Kingston out of the hays of Bilhagh and White Lodge..[in] Sherwood Forest. |
† 3. Mil. An extended line of men.
Obs. [
Cf. F.
haie.]
| 1684 R. H. School Recreat. 55 Then draw up in Hay to the Rear. 1753 Execution Dr. A. Cameron (Tower Rec.), The Yeoman Warders were formed into a Hay. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Hay, a straight rank of men drawn up exactly in a line. |
4. Comb. † hay-brier heybrere, hedge-brier;
haymaids, ground-ivy;
† hay-saule, a hedge-stake. Also
haybote,
hayward.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. cliii. (1495) 704 Sudes..is an heysaule other a stake sharped at eyther ende. 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 568/25 Bodarius, heybrere. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. v. xciii. 677 Wee in English [call it]..Gill creepe by the ground, Catsfoote, Haymaides, and Alehoofe. |
▪ III. † hay, n.3 Obs. Forms: 4–7
haie, 5–8
haye, 6–7
hey(e, 5–
hay.
[AFr. haie: origin uncertain. A conjecture is that it may have been an extension of
hay n.2 (
cf. sense 1 there,
quot. 1598), or of the equivalent F.
haie; but evidence is wanting.]
A net used for catching wild animals,
esp. rabbits, being stretched in front of their holes, or round their haunts.
| 1389 Act 13 Rich. II, Stat. i. c. 13 §1 Nene use furettes haies rees hare pipes ne cordes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 220/2 Haye, net to catche conys wythe [1499 Pynson hay net, W. hanet]. 1531 Elyot Gov. ii. xiv, He which entendeth to take the fierse and mighty lyon pytcheth his haye or nette in the woode, amonge great trees and thornes. 1659 T. Pecke Parnassi Puerp. 139 A Rabbet, who having escap'd a Weasel, fell into the Hayes. 1710 Act 9 Anne c. 27 §5 The pernicious Practice of driving and taking them with Hayes, Tunnells and other Nets, in the Fens, Lakes, and broad Waters. 1774 Ms. Redsham Manor, Suff., Game⁓keeper to destroy hays, nets, and snares. 1821 Sporting Mag. IX. 11 Hays, nets, low-bells, hare-pipes. |
| fig. 1611 Speed Hist. Gt. Brit. viii. iv. §4. 389 Harold..tooke counsel how he might traine into his Haye the sonnes of Queene Emma. a 1643 W. Cartwright Lady Errant v. i, How'l you then subdue them? By policy; set Hays, and Traps, and Springs, And pitfals for 'em. |
b. Comb. hay-net, in same sense.
| 1499 [see above]. 1813 Sporting Mag. XLII. 214 In his pocket were found several bag nets and a hay net. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Hay-net, a hedge-net. A long low net, to prevent hares or rabbits from escaping to covert, in or through hedges. |
▪ IV. hay, hey, n.4 Forms: 6
heye, 6–8
haye, 7
haie, 6–
hay, 7–
hey.
[Of uncertain origin: haye d'allemaigne is used in 15th c. Fr. by Marot.] 1. A country dance having a winding or serpentine movement, or being of the nature of a reel.
| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Garnesche 170, I cannot let thè the knave to play To dauns the hay and run the ray. 1549 Compl. Scot. vi. 66 Thai dancit al cristyn mennis dance, the northt of scotland..ihonne ermistrangis dance, the alman haye, the bace of voragon, [etc.]. 1596 Davies Orchestra lxiv. in Arb. Garner V. 39 He taught them Rounds and winding Heyes to tread. 1609 C. Butler Fem. Mon. v. (1623) L ij, They doe most nimbly bestirre themselves, sporting and playing in and out as if they were dancing the Hey. 1656 Davenant Siege Rhodes iv. Dram. Wks. 1873 IV. 418 Scourge him As boys do tops; or make him dance The Irish hey over a field of thistles Naked. 1753 Hogarth Anal. Beauty xvii. 237 One of the most pleasing movements in country-dancing..is what they call ‘the hay’: the figure of it, altogether, is a cypher of S's, or a number of serpentine lines interlacing or intervolving each other. ? 1810 M. Edgeworth M. Lewis (1849) 151 He..danced the Hays round two elbow chairs. 1881 Besant & Rice Chapl. Fleet ii. iv, The hymns they sang might have been a hey or a jig in a country dance. |
b. transf. and
fig. to dance the hay or hays: to perform winding or sinuous movements (around or among numerous objects); to go through varied evolutions like those of a dance.
| 1597 C. Leigh in Hakluyt Voy. III. 200 Through variety of iudgements and euill marinership we were faine to dance the hay foure dayes together. 1607 Chapman Bussy D'Ambois Plays 1873 II. 14 The King and subiect, Lord and euerie slaue Dance a continuall Haie. 1718 Entertainer No. 28 ¶12 To make him thus dance the Hay of Scepticism and Latitude. 1813 Hansard Parl. Debates XXVI. 614 Lord Ellenborough considered the Bill as a most arbitrary measure; it tended to make property dance the hays, and to alter every description of tenure. 1887 Browning Parleyings, D. Bartoli xv, To be duchess was to dance the hays Up, down, across the heaven amid its host. |
c. Comb. hay-fashion adv.| 1777 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 196 He..made his horse dance in and out by every other tree, Hay fashion. |
† 2. hay-de-guy,
-guise. Forms: 6
hay the gy,
haydeguies,
-guyes,
hey-day guise,
heidegyes, 6–7
heydeguies, 7
haydegues,
-digyes,
hey-de-gay,
-gey,
-guize,
hydegy,
hy-day-gies,
erron. hadegynes. [
lit. Hay of Guy or ?
Guise.] A particular kind of hay or dance, in vogue in 16th and early 17th c.
Obs.| a 1529 Skelton Agst. Venom. Tongues 13 Enforce me Nothing to write but hay the gy of thre. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. June 27 With Heydeguyes, and trimly trodden traces. c 1580 Robin Goodfellow 101 in Percy Rel. (1765) III. 205 By wells and rills in meadowes greene, We nightly dance our hey-day guise. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. v. Argt., Whilst the nimble Cambrian rills Dance hy-day-gies amongst the hills. a 1618 J. Davies Eglogues Wks. (1772) 112 With an heydeguies, pipt by Tom-piper, or a lorrel-lad. 1633 J. Fisher Fuimus Troes iii. ix. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 507 Be bonny, buxom, jolly, Trip haydegues belive. 1638 Ford Fancies iv. i, Not in a hey-de-gay of scurvy gallantry. 1694 Ladies Dict. 217 Hadegynes, a Country dance. |
▪ V. † hay, int. and n.5 Obs. [a. It. hai (pron. ai) thou hast (it).
Cf. L.
habet, exclaimed when a gladiator was wounded.]
A. int. An exclamation of hitting on opponent.
| 1598 B. Jonson Ev. Man in Hum. iv. vii, O, it must be done like lightning, hay! |
B. n. A home-thrust.
| 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. ii. iv. 27 Ah the immortall Passado, the Punto reuerso, the Hay. |
▪ VI. hay, n.6 [tr. F. foin.] The choke of an artichoke.
| 1877 E. S. Dallas Kettner's Bk. of Table 43 Some French cooks, before sending the artichoke to table, are careful to remove the choke, or as they call it, the hay. 1958 W. Bickel tr. Hering's Dict. Classical & Mod. Cookery 558 Artichoke Béarnaise style, blanched, hay removed, braised in white wine, [etc.]. 1960 News Chron. 6 July 6/6 In the middle of the vegetable is the hay or choke (what would be the flower itself if it were not an artichoke but a thistle). |
▪ VII. hay, v.1 [f. hay n.1] 1. trans. To furnish or supply with hay; to put (land) under hay.
| 1708 Lond. Gaz. No. 4409/4 An Estate to be sold..well Hay'd and Wooded. 1857 B. Taylor North. Trav. (1858) 143 The postillion stopped..to hay his horses. 1861 Times 27 Sept., Part of the land is hayed, the hay put in large cocks of about four tons each. |
2. intr. To make hay. (Chiefly in
gerund or
pres. pple.)
| 1556–1677 [see haying vbl. n.]. 1828 Webster, Hay, to dry or cure grass for preservation. 1886 Pall Mall G. 21 July 1/2 A great many of the Irish voters in towns go regularly haying, harvesting, hopping. |
3. trans. To make into hay.
| 1884 W. Barrows Oregon 332 The bunch grass..is hayed by the sun uncut. 1893 Times 11 July 4/1 In making hop bines into hay the bines must be got together directly they are ‘hayed’. |
▪ VIII. † hay, v.2 Obs. [OE. hęᵹian, f. haᵹa haw, hęᵹe hay n.2] trans. To enclose or fence in by a hedge; to hedge.
| a 1050 Liber Scintillarum xvi. (1889) 80 Heᵹa [sepi] earan þine mid þornum. c 1425 MS. Bibl. Reg. 12 B 1 lf. 78 Sepio..to heghyn. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey ii. ii. 49 Collaterage Actiue, as siding, furrowing, balking..haying, hedging or shawing. Ibid., Compound Contiguall Boundage is more significant, as side-haying, head-shawing, etc. |
▪ IX. † hay, v.3 Obs. [f. hay n.3] intr. To set ‘hays’ or nets for rabbits, etc.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 221/1 Hayyn for conys, cassio. 1552 Huloet, Hayen for conyes, cassio. 1572 Lease Manor Hawsted, Suffolk in Promp. Parv. 221 note, Hawking, haying [= rabbit-netting]. 1613 Beaum. & Fl. Coxcomb i. iii, We shall scout here, as though we went a-haying. |
▪ X. † hay, v.4 Obs. [f. hay n.4] intr. To dance the hay. Hence
haying vbl. n.| 1768–74 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1852) I. 492 What pretty country-dancings, and hayings, your five million of million of corpuscles make! 1777 F. Burney Early Diary (1889) II. 199 We danced round the room, Hayed in and out with the chairs, and all that. |
▪ XI. hay obs. or
dial. form of
have.
▪ XII. hay obs. var. heigh,
hey; see also
haye.