▪ I. bray, n.1
(breɪ)
[f. bray v.1, or a. OF. brai, brait ‘cry’, f. braire.]
† 1. Outcry; a loud cry, a shriek. Obs.
| a 1300 K. Alis. 2175 So gret bray, so gret crieyng Ffor the folk there was dyeyng. c 1450 Merlin xviii. 300 The lady vndirstode the brayes and the cries that the bretheren made a-boute hir. 1552 Edw. VI. Lett. lxii. (Roxb.) 87 You cannot yet ask leave to return..till this bray do cease. 1558 Phaër æneid iv. Liij b, Thrise she sounding fell, and there upon she gaue a braye. 1596 Spenser F.Q. iv. viii. 62 The Tyrant selfe came forth with yelling bray. |
2. The cry peculiar to some animals, esp. the ass; humorously of the human voice.
| 1650 T. Bayly Herba Parietis 37 No brayes of asses, nor of bulls. 1728 Pope Dunciad ii. 251 Sore sighs Sir Gilbert, starting, at the bray..So swells each wind-pipe; Ass intones to Ass. 1798 Wordsw. Peter Bell i. 55 The Ass sent forth A long and clamorous bray! 1834 H. Ainsworth Rookwood i. iii, A snorting bray [of a buck] was heard. 1870 Lowell Among my Bks. i. (1873) 338 The solemn bray of one pedagogue was taken up and prolonged in a thousand echoes. |
3. transf. A loud harsh sound produced by natural agencies, brass musical instruments, etc.
| 1593 Shakes. Rich. II, i. iii. 135 With harsh resounding Trumpets dreadfull bray. 1813 Scott Trierm. iii. xvii, And with rude crash and jarring bray The rusty bolts withdraw. 1821 J. Baillie Met. Leg., Wallace lxxxi. 9 The white churned foam with angry bray. 1884 J. Colborne With Hicks Pasha 121 Unearthly shrieks and brays from brass instruments and horns. |
4. fig.
| 1929 E. Sitwell Gold Coast Customs 17 The bray Of the eyeless mud. 1953 C. Day Lewis Ital. Visit i. 21 A great Elgarian clash and bray of sunshine. |
▪ II. † bray, n.2 Obs.
[f. bray v.2]
A baker's pestle.
| c 1440 Promp. Parv. 46 Bray or brakene, baxteris instrument, pinsa. |
▪ III. bray, n.3 Her.
(breɪ)
Also brey.
[a. OF. braie, braye, *breie, now broie.]
1. A semicircular figure representing a barnacle or bit to restrain a restive horse.
| 1863 C. Boutell Man. Her. 45 Breys, barnacles for a horse's nose, used in breaking the animal. 1864 ― Her. Hist. & Pop. (ed. 3) xv. 175 Three breys or barnacles in pale or. |
2. (Corresponding to Fr.) A tool used for breaking hemp, used as a bearing.
| 1882 Cussans Handbk. Her. 109 A Hemp-brey is really the same instrument as a Horse-brey, except that they were used for different purposes, and that the former is in Armory always represented as being upon a wooden stand. |
▪ IV. bray, v.1
(breɪ)
Also 4–7 brai(e, braye.
[ME. braie, braye, a. F. brai-re (11th c. in Littré) ‘to cry’ (now only of the ass), = Pr. braire to cry, Rumansch bragir, med.L. bragire (Diez): perh. of Celtic origin, f. a stem brag- cogn. with L. fragor; cf. OIr. braigim ‘pedo’ (Thurneysen). The original sense would thus be ‘to make a crackling, grating, or jarring noise’.]
† 1. intr. To cry out, to utter a loud harsh cry; esp. of grief or pain. Obs.
| a 1300 Cursor M. 22607 He sal here it [heaven] cri to wonder, bath cri and brai for dute and drede. 1413 Lydgate Pylgr. Sowle ii. xliv. (1859) 50 Now, wepeth, yellyth, cryeth, brayeth, as besyly as ye can. 1502 Ord. Crysten Men v. ii. (1506) 358 For to cry & to braye in wepynge & in playnynge. 1513 Douglas æneis i. v. 120 The horrible tirrant wth bludy mouth sall bray. 1552 Huloet, Bray or cry lamentably. 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. viii. 11 The Gyant..loudly brayd with beastly yelling sound. 1613 R. C. Table Alph. (ed. 3) Exclaime, bray, or cry out. |
b. predicated of the cry.
| 1596 Spenser F.Q. i. vi. 7 Her shrill outcryes and shrieks so loud did bray. |
2. Of animals: formerly the cry of horses, oxen, deer, etc.; now chiefly used of the ass.
| 1380 Sir Ferumb. 3669 Þat hors..faste gan neye and loud braye. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 144 And though him lacke vois of speche..He [Nebuchadnezzar] kneleth in his wise and braieth To seche mercy. 1481 Caxton Myrr. ii. vi. 77 Thenne he [an elephant] begynneth for to braye, crye and waylle. 1534 Ld. Berners Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. (1546) Q, There is not so croked a hors, but yf he see a mare, he wille braie ones or twise. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Ps. xlii. 1 As the Hart brayeth for the riuers of water [cf. 1611 marg.]. 1614 Raleigh Hist. World iii. iv. §4 The first Horse that brayed. 1633 P. Fletcher Purple Isl. i. xvii, What cares an asse for arts: he brayes at sacred Muses. 1697 Dryden Virg. Georg. iii. 575 Stags..pitifully bray. 1715 Gay Trivia ii. (R.) Before proud gates attending asses bray. 1726 Thomson Winter 824 As..they [deer]..piteous bray. 1877 A. B. Edwards Up Nile iv. 91 The donkey kicks up his heels and brays. |
b. contemptuously of the human voice.
| 1635 A. Stafford Fem. Glory (1869) 90 Hee vehemently braies out against my Rhetoricall flowers. 1642 H. More Song of Soul i. ii. cxxxii. 1692 Washington tr. Milton's Def. Pop. v. (1851) 159 None ever brayed so learnedly. 1876 Blackie Songs Relig. & Life 229 With fervid wheels pursue, Though thousands bray around thee. |
3. transf. Of wind, thunder, musical instruments, etc. (now esp. of the trumpet): To make a loud harsh jarring sound.
| 1340 Ayenb. 73 Þer þou sselt yzy..ver bernynde, brenston stinkinde, tempeste brayinde. 1485 Caxton Chas. Gt. (1880) 165 A ryuer..whyche..renneth so fast and brayeth. 1570 B. Googe Pop. Kingd. iii. 928 Till in the loftie heauens darke, the thunder bray no more. 1695 Blackmore Pr. Arthur viii. 375 Swords clash with Swords, Bucklers on Bucklers bray. 1757 Gray Bard ii. iii, Heard ye the din of battle bray? 1805 Scott Last. Minstr. i. vi, They watch to hear the war-horn braying. 1812 J. & H. Smith Rej. Addr. xvii. (1873) 162 Brays the loud trumpet, squeaks the fiddle sharp. 1852 Seidel Organ 180 The reed-registers must not rattle or bray. 1872 Blackie Lays Highl. 79 Little reck they, how the storm may bray. |
b. Of a place: To resound in like manner.
| 1607 Shakes. Timon ii. ii. 169 Euery roome Hath blaz'd with Lights, and braid with Minstrelsie. 1728 Pope Dunciad ii. 260 Walls, steeples, skies bray back to him again. |
4. trans. To utter harshly (cries, sounds, etc.). Often with out.
| c 1325 E.E. Allit. P. A. 346 Braundysch & bray þy braþez breme. 1531 Elyot Gov. ii. vi, Roryng and braiying out wordes despyteful. 1579 Fulke Heskins' Parl. 4 What asse of Acarnania wold braye out suche a reason? 1588 Greene Pandosto (1843) 23 Pandosto..in a fury brayed out these bitter speeches. 1602 Shakes. Ham. i. iv. 11 The kettle Drum and Trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his Pledge. 1667 Milton P.L. vi. 209 Arms on Armour clashing bray'd Horrible discord. 1854 Thackeray Newcomes II. 286 His men of brass..who were accustomed to bray ‘See the Conquering Hero comes’. 1860 Sat. Rev. X. 421 A Brass band brayed welcome at the terminus. |
b. To give forth with a cry or bray.
| 1567 J. Studley Seneca's Hippol. (1581) 56 Where Zephyrus most milde Out brayes his baumy breath. 1596 Spenser F.Q. ii. i. 38 As gentle hynd..Braies out her latest breath. |
▪ V. bray, v.2
(breɪ)
Also 5–7 braie, braye.
[ME. brayen, a. OF. breie-r (mod.F. broyer), corresp., according to Diez, with Pr. and Sp. bregar, It. brigare. Storm would derive the Romanic words from Teut. brek-an to break.]
1. trans. To beat small; to bruise, pound, crush to powder; usually in a mortar.
| 1382 [see brayed ppl. a.] c 1420 Liber Cocorum (1862) 26 Take, bray tho brawne of aȝt capon. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 47 Brayyn, or stampyn in a mortere, tero. c 1470 Bk. Quintessence 11 Take þat blood..and braie it wiþ þe .10. part of comen salt. 1525 Ld. Berners Froiss. II. lxii. [lxv.] 212 The Englysshmen were fayne to gather the thystelles in the feldes, and braye them in a morter. 1610 Markham Masterp. ii. c. 383 Stoppe the foot with nettles and salt braid together. c 1615 Chapman Odyss. x. 268 That foul Cyclop that their fellows bray'd Betwixt his jaws. 1703 Maundrell Journ. Jerus. (1732) 86 The Kernels of this Fruit the Arabs bray in a Mortar. 1850 Thackeray Pendennis lv. (1884) 541 So she was to be turned out of doors—or brayed alive in the double gilt pestle and mortar. |
b. fig.; freq. with ref. to Prov. xxvii. 22.
| 1535 Coverdale Prov. xxvii. 22 Though thou shuldest bray a foole with a pestell in a morter like otemeell, yet wil not his foolishnesse go from him. 1583 Stubbes Anat. Abus. ii. 78 The word of God is not preached vnto them, and as it were braied, punned, interpreted and expounded. 1610 B. Jonson Alch. ii. iii, Sir, with an Argument, He'll bray you in a mortar. 1626 T. H. Caussin's Holy Crt. 302 We must bray togeather, the matters of prayer, as Aromatique spices, with the discussion of our understanding. 1664 Butler Hud. ii. Heroic Epist. 35 Nor being..bray'd so often in a Mortar, Can teach you wholesom Sense, and Nurture. 1855 Browning Men & Women, Pretty Woman, But for loving, why, you would not, sweet, Though we prayed you, Paid you, brayed you In a Mortar. |
2. Technical uses: † a. To crush flax or hemp with a brake. [F. broyer le chanvre.] Obs.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xvii. xcvii. (1495) 663 Flexe is..beten and brayd and carflyd. 1530 Palsgr. 462/2, I bray in a brake, as men do hempe. |
b. To temper and spread printing-ink.
| 1688 [see brayer2]. 1706 in Phillips. Hence in Bailey, etc. |
c. To pound and scour (woollen cloth).
| 1879 Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 342/1 The newly-woven cloth requires to be scoured or brayed in order to remove the oil..and the size. |
3. To beat, thrash. dial.
| 1808 Cumbr. Ballads xxxiv. 77 She brays the lasses, starves the lads. 1864 Atkinson Whitby Gloss. s.v., I'll bray thy back for thee. |
▪ VI. † bray, v.3 Obs. rare.
[a. F. bray-er to pitch (a ship), f. brai pitch, resin.]
To pitch (a ship).
| 1600 Hakluyt Voy. (1810) III. 383 Our men sought all meanes to recouer rosen in the woodes..to bray the vessel. |
▪ VII. bray, v.4 S. Afr.
(breɪ)
Also ‖ brei, brey.
[ad. Afrikaans brei, f. Du. breien braid v.1]
trans. To prepare, dress (the skin of an animal).
| [1822 W. J. Burchell Trav. I. xv. 351 The trunk of a tree is fixed up near the hut, for the purpose of preparing (or, as they call it, breyen) leathern reims.] a 1835 J. Goldswain Chron. (1946) 20 Six or eight sheep skins wich they bray or rub them in thear hands. 1840 W. C. Harris Game & Wild Animals S. Afr. i. 4 The hide, when brayed, is employed by the Colonists for riems, or thongs. 1897 ‘F. Macnab’ On Veldt & Farm Bechuanaland iv. 53 They..were always busy braying a skin, sewing a karross [etc.]. 1925 S. C. Cronwright-Schreiner in Centenary Bk. S. Afr. Verse 61 The hardy Boer..cut the strip And brei'd and rolled and hammered it round to make the Wagon-whip. 1934 R. Campbell Broken Record vii. 170, I shot two seals,..brayed their skins and sold them to tourists for motoring coats. 1934 ‘N. Giles’ Ridge of White Waters i. ix. 109 Their clothes, patched from skins they breyed themselves. 1952 S. Cloete Curve & Tusk (1953) ix. 85 A kilt of breyed skin. 1955 E. A. Ritter Shaka Zulu xvii. 203 Everyone lay down to sleep—the maidens on their mats with well brayed skins as blankets. |
▪ VIII. † bray
In phr. at a bray, app. for at a braid = on a sudden, unawares; see braid.
| 1549–62 Sternhold & H. Ps. cxix. 110 Although the wicked layd their nets, To catch me at a bray. |
▪ IX. bray(e
obs. form of brae.