▪ I. † tray, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 treᵹa, 2 treȝe, 3 treiȝe, 3–4 treie, 4 trei, treye, trai, traie, 4–5 trey, tray, 5 trye, 5–6 traye, 6 Sc. tra.
[OE. treᵹa (wk. masc.) trouble, pain = ON. tregi (wk. masc.), Goth. trigô (wk. fem.):—OTeut. *treᵹ-on-, -ôn-, f. *treᵹ-: see tray v.1]
Pain, grief, affliction, trouble, vexation; esp. in alliterative phr. tray and teen, teen and tray.
| c 700 Cædmon's Gen. 2274 (Gr.) Ic fleah wean,..treᵹan and teonan. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. v. 42 Forðæm þa tweᵹen treᵹan teoð tosomne. c 1020 Rule St. Benet iv. (Logeman) 20/10 Treᵹan debemus, ᵹedonne dæde ᵹeþyldelice ah forþyldian. a 1200 Moral Ode 371 Þer is blisse abuten treȝe [v.r. treiȝe]. a 1240 Ureisun 61 in Cott. Hom. 193 Muruhðe moniuold wið -ute teone and treie. 1357 Lay Folks Catech. 26 With-outen travaile or trey [v.r. tray] or passyng of tyme. c 1450 Life St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 112 Tene and tray of tormentoures. 1560 Rolland Seven Sages 17 Sum gettis plesure, vthers gettis tray and tene. |
▪ II. tray, n.2
(treɪ)
Forms: 1 *trieᵹ, triᵹ, 4–7 trey, (pl. 4 treyes), 6 treie, traie, (7 trea), 4– tray (pl. 4 -es, 4– -s).
[OE. *trieᵹ, tr{iacu}ᵹ = ON. *tr{obar}y, OSw. (Dalecarl.) tr{obarmac} a corn-measure of definite capacity:—OTeut. *traujo{supm}. For the form-history cf. hay n.1, formerly (3–7) hey, OE. h{iacu}ᵹ, ON. *h{obar}y, hey, OSw. h{obarmac}:—OTeut. *haujo{supm}. The base trau- is in ablaut-relation with treu-, whence Goth. triu, OE. treow tree, so that the primary sense may have been ‘wooden (vessel)’.
It is remarkable that the word should appear so rarely in OE. and should be so common later. See on the etymol. Holthausen Indog. Forsch. XIX. 294, E. Lidén ibid. XVIII. 413.]
1. a. A utensil of the form of a flat board with a raised rim, or of a shallow box without a lid, made of wood, metal, or other material, of various sizes and shapes (round, oval, quadrilateral with rounded corners, etc.); now used for carrying plates, dishes, cups and other vessels, cards, etc., for containing and exhibiting small articles, as jewellery, natural history specimens, etc., and for various other purposes, as in mining, photography, chemistry, or other arts and sciences. (Often with defining word expressing its purpose, as bread-tray, card-tray, tea-tray, etc.: see these words.) Formerly more widely applied to shallow open vessels generally. In 13–14th c., app. also, as in OSwedish, name of a measure of capacity.
| 10.. Lǽceboc in Sax. Leechd. II. 340 Nim þæt reade ryden, do on triᵹ, hæt þonne stanas swiþe hate, leᵹe on þæt triᵹ innan. 1270 in Sel. Cas. Law Merchant (Selden Soc.) I. 7 Detinuerunt ei quinque marcas et quinque solidos..pro xj. treys [h]ordei sibi venditis. 1317 Ibid. 105 Cum simul emissent xx. treys carbonis maris. 13.. Coer de L. 1490 Bye us vessel gret plente, Dysschys, cuppys, and sawsers, Bolles, treyes, and platers. 1374 Acc. John de Sleford (Acc. Exch. K.R. 397/10, P.R.O.), Pro iiij trays de ligno precii pecie .iij. d. c 1475–1500 Inv. in Noakes Worcester Mon. (1866) 173 In duobus vasis de navo factis, vocatis trayes. 1494 Fabyan Chron. iv. lxix. 48, xii. Cophyns or Treys full of Erth he bare away vpon his shulders. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 18 They..haue theyr meate in great disshes or treys of copper. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 659 Of a..healthy stock of Hornets..they have gathered three or four trays or baskets full of combes. 1639 Horn & Rob. Gate Lang. Unl. xl. §434 Implements of a kitchin are..a trivet, a grater, treas, boles, water pitchers, platters. 1674 tr. Scheffer's Lapland 93 A kind of trey made of birch. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair vi, Sambo came into the room..with..a note on a tray. 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Supp. 893/1 Thomson Battery (Electricity), a modification of Menotti's battery, in which a copper tray replaces the copper plate, and contains the sulphate of copper crystals, and the superstratum of wet sawdust upon which rests the zinc element. 1885 R. Buchanan Annan Water vii, He soon returned carrying the tray, with teapot, cups, and saucers, [etc.]. |
(b) spec. a tray of food brought to one not able or not wishing to eat at table; hence (loosely), a light snack.
| 1914 L. S. Woolf Wise Virgins xiv. 296 I'll ask them to bring you up a tray. What would you like? A little beef-tea and fish—or chicken? 1939 E. F. Benson Trouble for Lucia ix. 199 My maid would bring me a tray instead of dinner. 1951 L. Hellman Autumn Garden ii. ii. 88 You have had no dinner? I have made a tray for you. 1982 J. S. Borthwick Case of Hook-Billed Kites (1983) xxiv. 72 Mrs. Brent and Miss Fellows had had trays in their room. |
b. In other uses: † (a) A mason's hod or vessel for mortar (obs.); (b) A butcher's tray: see quot. 1665; (c) A pig's trough.
| 1350–1 MS. Acc. Exchequer K.R. Bundle 492. 27 (P.R.O.) Pro vj trayes emptis pro mortero imponendo iij s. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 37 A lath hammer, trowel, a hod, or a traie. 1573–80 Baret Alv. T 353 A Treie, or such hollowe vessell..that Laborers carrie morter in to serue Tilers, or Plasterers. 1611 Cotgr., Oiseau..also, a Hodd; the Tray wherein Masons, &c., carrie their Mortar. 1665 Hooke Microgr. xlvi. 197 Those hollow Trayes, in which Butchers carry meat. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week, Friday 65 No more her care shall fill the hollow tray, To fat the guzzling hogs with floods of whey. |
c. Ordnance. See quot.
| 1911 Webster, Tray..a flat or curved piece of metal used to hold ammunition or any part of the mechanism of a gun; specif., in heavy cannon, a brass or steel part (called also plugtray) of the breech mechanism hinged on the rear. |
d. = sand-box 2 e.
| 1938 F. MacCunn Cats ii. 33 The tray, or pan, should have a low side all round it; put it in a dark corner—not close to the cat's bed. 1948 P. M. Soderberg Cat Breeding 178 Once the use of the tray has been taught in the house it is an excellent plan to encourage the kitten to go outdoors. 1969 ‘A. Gilbert’ Missing from Home vii. 103 You really can't have a cat in the flat, there's no outlet, and I think..a tray is unhygienic. I don't care how often it's changed. |
e. Austral. The part of a truck on which goods are carried.
| 1960 ‘N. Shute’ Trustee from Toolroom v. 100 The semi-trailer stood by the aircraft with the sausage-like component on the tray swathed in hessian. 1980 P. Davis Australians on Road xiv. 125/2 Ford management conceived the idea of producing a vehicle which could be said to be an essential part of farm equipment, yet was still comfortable enough for the farmer to take his wife out for an evening in town. The result was a passenger-type cab, married to an enclosed load tray; it was called the coupé utility, later corrupted to ‘ute’. |
2. dial. A hurdle.
| 1829 [J. R. Best] Pers. & Lit. Mem. 256 The hurdles or trays as we [in Lincolnshire] call them, in which the sheep are to be penned. 1832 Stamford Mercury 27 Jan. 2/5, 4 dozen of fence trays. 1851 Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc. XII. ii. 402 The field..should be partitioned by ‘trays’ (or hurdles). |
3. Part of the life-guard used on tram-cars and similar vehicles, a flat grid on which obstructions are picked up.
| 1910 (April) Board of Trade Mem., Tramways [etc.] on Public Roads. (4) (c) The tray of the guard should be provided with a spring so as to hold the front edge down to the surface of the roadway when the tray is dropped. 1913 E. T. Ruthven-Murray Let., If the car strikes anything on the track, the gate is pushed backwards and releases a ‘trigger’ (a catch sustaining the tray) which allows the tray to fall so that it slides along on the road and scoops up the obstruction. |
4. attrib. and Comb., as tray-board, tray-load, tray-man, tray-monger; tray-like adj.; tray-battery Electr. (see quot.); tray-buggy U.S., a buggy having a flat tray-like body; tray-cloth, a cloth or napkin placed upon a tray on which dishes, etc. are carried; tray-galley, in printing, a tray to which the type is transferred from the composing-stick; tray lunch(eon), lunch served on a tray; a light lunch; traymobile Austral. and N.Z. [-mobile], a small wheeled table or stand on which food, etc., may be transported; a tea-trolley; tray-sheet, a sheet of sheet-iron to be made into a tray; tray stand, a small table on which to rest a tray; tray supper, supper served on a tray; a light supper; tray top, (a) a rimmed table top which can be removed and used separately as a tray; (b) Austral. a truck with a pick-up body.
| 1884 Knight Dict. Mech. Suppl., *Tray Battery (Electricity), one in which the tray forms one of the elements of the combination. |
| 1875 T. Seaton Fret Cutting 42 The *tray-board should be five-eighths of an inch. |
| 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right xviii, A quiet horse and a light *tray buggy. |
| 1889 Cent. Dict., *Tray-cloth. c 1909 D. H. Lawrence Collier's Friday Night (1934) iii. 59 Beatrice Wyld sits in the armchair, and Nellie Lambert on the sofa, the latter doing drawn-thread work on a white tray-cloth. 1971 Islander (Victoria, B.C.) 25 Dec. 5/2 The very best cups and saucers..were set on a hemstitched linen traycloth in a large, round wicker tray. |
| 1897 Westm. Gaz. 25 Jan. 2/1 The poor fellow was borne to his rest on the shoulders of his friends, in a shallow, open *tray-coffin, the dead young face lying among flowers. |
| 1896 T. L. De Vinne Moxon's Mech. Exerc., Printing 407 The long *tray-galley of wood. |
| 1906 R. Whiteing Ring in New 115 A small cabinet of *tray-like drawers. |
| 1908 H. Wales Old Allegiance i. 13 When the servant had disappeared with the last *tray-load [of supper things]. |
| 1970 V. Canning Great Affair iv. 58 The steward..served our *tray lunches. |
| 1936 P. Bottome Level Crossing xvi. 193 After what Nelly called a ‘*tray luncheon’, she suggested showing Deidre the house. |
| 1948 V. Palmer Golconda xx. 169 Her attention was on the *traymobile the girl had wheeled in beside her. She began to pour out the tea. 1965 G. McInnes Road to Gundagai v. 79 Against the vacant wall is the ‘dumb waiter’ or ‘traymobile’ on which food and crockery come in from the kitchen. |
| 1764 Poll Knts. of Shire Chelmsford 13th & 14th Dec. 1763, Robert Dolphin *Traymonger. |
| 1891 Daily News 9 Nov. 2/6 *Tray sheets for stamping purposes. |
| 1844 T. Webster Encycl. Domestic Econ. 241 A *tray-stand..formed of two frames and girth to fold up. 1895 Army & Navy Co-op. Soc. Price List 15 Sept. 311 Cairo Tray Stand. |
| 1825 H. Wilson Mem. I. 43 Amy gave us merely a *tray-supper, in one corner of the drawing-room. 1933 H. Edwards All Night at Mr. Stanyhurst's 23 Me and you were going to the play, and coming home to a tray supper. 1962 M. Carleton Dread Sunset (1963) ii. 36 Her own tray suppers looked deceptively simple. |
| 1934 Webster, *Tray-top table. 1951 Catal. Exhibit, South Bank Exhib., Festival of Britain 144/1 Occasional table with removable tray top. 1969 Northern Territory News (Darwin) Focus '69 97/3 It is a relief for the semi or tray top crews when they reach Alice—and the bitumen of the Stuart Highway. 1979 Truck & Bus Transportation (N.S.W.) Sept. 46/1 The general cartage fleet comprises..three Albions with tray⁓top bodies. |
Hence ˈtraylet (nonce-wd.), a diminutive tray.
| 1825 Blackw. Mag. XVII. 222 A small napkin-covered traylet, containing a cold sheep's head. |
Add: [1.] f. A drawer in which a body is stored within a refrigerated cabinet or chamber at a mortuary. U.S.
| 1964 ‘J. Melville’ Murderers' Houses xiii. 171 Velia lay still on her refrigerated tray. 1984 S. Shagan Discovery (1985) x. 79 Two white-clad attendants rolled a low-slung metal stretcher over and gently lifted Laura's body onto the tray. |
▪ III. † tray, n.3 Obs. rare.
[app. f. tray v.2]
Deceit, stratagem, ambush, trick.
| c 1430 Syr Gener. (Roxb.) 7150 That we wer homward, I you pray, For euer I drede me of som fals tray. c 1440 York Myst. xxix. 60 Oure knyghtis þai are furth wente To take hym with a traye. |
▪ IV. tray, n.4 Venery.
Also trez.
[The same word as trey three, in dice, cards, etc.; re-spelt after bay n.6 Believed to go back in oral use to 18th c. at least.]
The third branch of a stag's horn. Also tray antler, tray tine.
| 1812 Ld. Graves Let. (June 2) to Ld. Ebrington in ref. to Stag-hunting Establmt. of Devon (Exeter 1814) 14 His brow, bay, and tray antlers are termed his Rights. 1838 Scrope Art Deer-stalking 2,3 The stag's brow, bay and tray antlers are called his rights... A warrantable stag has brow, bay and tray, and two points on the tops of both horns. Note. I have taken my nomenclature from the Devonshire Hunt, as the best authority. It has been founded considerably above a century. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. ii. 62 You may know..what his rights mean, if he has them, brow, bay, tray, and points. 1884 Jefferies Red Deer iv, Close to the head a point springs from the beam and is curved upwards; this is called the brow point. Just over it a second starts,..this is called the bay. There is then an interval, till some way up the beam, or main stem, a third—the tray—appears. 1893 Lydekker Horns & Hoofs 269 The third the trez, tray, or royal tine. Ibid. 320 [The elk's] antlers.. rise from the sides of the skull by a narrow beam..without either brow, bez, or trez-tine. |
▪ V. † tray, v.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 treᵹian, 3 treȝe; pa. tense 3 traied, 4 traid; pa. pple. 3 treyde, 4 trayed.
[OE. treᵹian (wk.), = OS. tregan (strong vb.) to rue, ON. trega (str.) to grieve:—OTeut. *treᵹ-: cf. tray n.1]
trans. To pain, grieve, trouble, vex, afflict.
| a 1000 Eadwine's Cant. Psalter iii. 1 Drihten to hwi ᵹemanifalde synt þa þe treᵹiað oððe swencað me [qui tribulant me]. 1104 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.), Eall þis wæs God mid to gremienne and þas arme leode mid to treᵹienne. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 3975 Quað balaam, ‘for ðu treȝest me; Had ic an swerd, ic sluȝe ðe’. a 1300 E.E. Psalter v. 12 Out-put þam þar þai sal be, Lauerd for þai traied þe. 13.. K. Alis. 3046 (Bodl. MS.) Ich am so trayed þat neeȝ ich wepe! |
▪ VI. † tray, v.2 Obs.
Forms: 3–5 traye, (3 trayȝe), 3–6 traie, 4–6 tray (4 trai, 4–5 treie).
[ad. OF. traïr (Roland 11th c.), F. trahir to betray:—late pop.L. *tradīre, for L. trādĕre to deliver over, f. tra- (trans-) + dare to give.]
trans. To betray.
| c 1275 Passion our Lord 194 in O.E. Misc. 42 Mid þine valse cosse þu trayest monnes sune. a 1300 Cursor M. 15277 (Cott.) Þat i ha luued, he sal me trai [Fairf. tray]. 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. iii. 123 Truste of hire tresore treieth ful manye. c 1400 Laud Troy Bk. 18053 Thei swore bothe to traye the toun. 1559 Mirr. Mag. (1563) F iv, [To] punysh such as had my brother trayed. 1568 T. Howell Newe Sonets (1879) 117 A canckred poyson..Full closely coucht in pleasant bayte, with that poore soule to tray. |
▪ VII. tray, v.3
see trey, tray v.
▪ VIII. † tray, int. Obs.
[Exclamatory use of OF. trai, tray, pa. pple. of traïr to betray: see Godef. Compl.]
Betrayed! Treachery! Treason!
| c 1440 Lovelich Merlin xiv. 14130 And evere he cride: ‘Tray, tray, tray!’ 1600–1 in Hatfield Papers (Hist. MSS. Comm.) XI. 46 But Orrell..did run and leap in the forefront with Sir Christopher Blount and Mr. Busshell, their weapons drawn, crying, ‘Saw, Saw, Saw, Saw, tray, tray’. |
▪ IX. tray
obs. form of trey, trow v.