Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.

Definition: Bray |
BrayNoun1. The cry of an ass. Verb1. Braying characteristic of donkeys. 2. Reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading; "grind the spices in a mortar"; "mash the garlic". 3. Laugh loudly and harshly. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "bray" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1050. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | Hearing an ass bray, is significant of unwelcome tidings or intrusions. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Literature | Bray (See Vicar. ). Source: Brewer's Dictionary. |
Slang in 1811 | BRAY. A vicar of Bray; one who frequently changes his principles, always siding with the strongest party: an allusion to a vicar of Bray, in Berkshire, commemorated in a well-known ballad for the pliability of his conscience. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
The river Dargle enters the sea here.
Bray Head is the highest point in the locality. On the coast, Shankill, county Dublin is to the north, and Greystones, county Wicklow is to the south.
Inland from Bray and Shankhill can be seen the landmark ruin of a lead-smelter on a hilltop - the defunct Leadmines at Ballycorus.
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Bray is a town located in Stephens County, Oklahoma. As of the 2000 census, the town had a total population of 1,035.Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Bray."
Synonyms: BraySynonyms: comminute (v), crunch (v), grind (v), hee-haw (v), mash (v). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Pulverulence | Reduce to powder, grind to powder; pulverize, comminute, granulate, triturate, levigate; scrape, file, abrade, rub down, grind, grate, rasp, pound, bray, bruise; contuse, contund; beat, crush, cranch, craunch, crunch, scranch, crumble, disintegrate; attenuate . |
Servility | Sycophant, parasite; toad, toady, toad-eater; tufthunter; snob, flunky, flunkey, yes-man, lapdog, spaniel, lickspittle, smell-feast, Graeculus esuriens, hanger on, cavaliere servente, led captain, carpet knight; timeserver, fortune hunter, Vicar of Bray, Sir-Pertinax, Max Sycophant, pickthank; flatterer; doer of dirty work; ame damnee, tool; reptile; slave; (servant); courtier; beat, dead beat, doughface , heeler, homme de cour, sponger, sucker, tagtail, truckler. |
Tergiversation | Time server, time pleaser; timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter;time server, time pleaser; timist, Vicar of Bray, trimmer, ambidexter; weathercock; (changeable); Janus. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Bray |
| English words defined with "bray": Brayed, Braying. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "bray": Cat Proverbs ♦ Data Management Language ♦ King's Cross ♦ Parson Trulliber ♦ Vicar of Bray. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "bray": Brae. (references) |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Come anywhere near Bray or Brady and I will scratch your eyes out (The Tribe; writing credit: Andrés Spinoza) | |
Movie/TV Titles | Rendez-vous Bray (1971) The Vicar of Bray (1937) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title |
Books | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
![]() | Presidential Range from Bray Hill, Jefferson, White Mountains. Credit: Library of Congress. | ![]() | John Bray, half-length portrait, standing with hand on shoulder, Amelia, Louisiana. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
| "Bray" is generally used as a noun (proper) -- approximately 82.67% of the time. "Bray" is used about 150 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (proper) | 82.67% | 124 | 28,785 |
| Noun (singular) | 12.67% | 19 | 80,337 |
| Lexical Verb (infinitive) | 2% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 2% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (common) | 0.67% | 1 | 339,140 |
| Total | 100.00% | 150 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "bray" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Bray | Last name | 15,000 | 819 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
1. Bray, OK (town, FIPS 8550) |
Expressions using "bray": bray of donkeys ♦ bray out ♦ the vicar of bray. Additional references. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
bray renaud | 195 | bray co | 7 |
bray | 110 | bray international | 7 |
deanne bray | 82 | bray hotel | 6 |
bray scarff | 66 | john bray | 6 |
bray valve | 37 | bray john l | 5 |
bray rhiannon | 29 | bray butterfly valve | 5 |
bray renault | 27 | jim bray | 5 |
bray and scarf | 26 | archie bray | 5 |
bray librairie renaud | 20 | bray chris | 5 |
erin bray | 15 | scogin elam and bray | 5 |
bray ireland | 13 | patricia bray | 4 |
bray control | 13 | bray scraff | 4 |
bray deanna | 12 | thom bray | 4 |
bray island | 11 | bray imaging | 4 |
bray company | 10 | archie bray foundation | 4 |
bray island plantation | 8 | bray trailer | 4 |
bray librairie renault | 8 | bray stephen | 4 |
bray.com renaud | 8 | bray michael | 4 |
bray dune | 7 | bray dewitt jane peter | 4 |
beast bray road | 7 | bray singletary | 4 |
bray david | 4 | ||
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "bray"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | Bluaj (crush, digest, flour, grind, mill, turn over), Ulërij (bark, bellow, bluster, cry out, howl, scream, ululate, yell), Pallmë, Pëllitje, Pëllas (bellow, heehaw, low, moo). (various references) | |
Arabic | نهيق (braying, hee haw), نهق (squawk), نشر الحبر. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | Остър Неприятен Звук, Пращя, Магарешки ев, Счуквам, ева. (various references) | |
Czech | Hýkat, Hýkání (hee haw, heehaw). (various references) | |
Danish | mikrofoneffekt(Wever,Bray) (Bray-Wever phenomenon), cochleapotential (Bray-Wever phenomenon). (various references) | |
Dutch | balken (bellow, bleat, neigh). (various references) | |
Esperanto | iai, azenbleki. (various references) | |
Farsi | عرعرکردن , عرعر. (various references) | |
Finnish | kiljua (roar, yell). (various references) | |
French | Braire, Braiment (braying), Résonner. (various references) | |
German | zerreiben (crumble, crush, grind, pulverize, to bray, to triturate, triturate), Wiehern (bellow, bleat, neigh, neighing, to neigh, whinny), Schreien (bawl, call, call out, clamor, clamour, crow, cry, cry out, cry up, crying, honk, hoot, howl, moan, scream, scream out, screech, shout, shouting, shriek, squall, squeal, to clamour, to scream, to screech, to squall, vociferate, wail, whoop, yell, yell out), Schrei (call, crow, cry, honk, hoot, howl, scream, screech, shout, shriek, squall, squeal, yell), Schmettern (belt out, blare, clash, dashing, hit a smash, slam, smash, to clash), iahen (hee haw), Gewieher. (various references) | |
Greek | Ογκένισμα, Ογκανίζω, γκαρίζω, "κάρισμα, "καρίζω, ίοπανίζω. (various references) | |
Hebrew | ּ "וק, ׀עירת ִחמור, ׀"ק". (various references) | |
Hungarian | trombitarecsegés, trombitaharsogás, szamárordítás, Szamárbõgés, szamárbőgés, lármás tiltakozás, Iázik (heehaw), hangos tiltakozás, hangos ostoba beszéd. (various references) | |
Indonesian | ringkikan, meringkik (neigh, whinny), menggerus (crush, grind). (various references) | |
Italian | Raglio (braying), Ragliare (heehaw). (various references) | |
Korean | 소음 (Noise). (various references) | |
Manx | caayney (beg, chant, drawl, whine), caayn (lay, lay poetry, song, whine), beihll (grind, pulverization, pulverize). (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aybray.(various references) | |
Portuguese | zurro (heehaw), zurrar (heehaw), triturar (basil, break, bruise, champ, crunch, crush, disintegrate, grind, lead on, mash, masticate, mill, pound, powder, scrunch, spall, talcum, triturate), esmagar (bash, basil, break, bruise, crush, jam, kibble, lead on, mash, meal, overwhelm, pound, press, pulverize, shatter, smash, squash, squelch, suppress, triturate, whelm), diluir (adulterate, attenuate, dilute, merge, water). (various references) | |
Romanian | Zbieret De Mãgar, Zbiera (bawl, bellow, bluster, cry, cry out, roar), Sunet De Trompetã (blare, flourish), Rosti Zbierând, Rage (bellow, howl, low, roar), Pisa (bother, contuse, grind, pestle, pound, pulp), Mãcina (bruise, crush, eat, fester, flour, grain, grind, mill). (various references) | |
Russian | реветь (rave, roared), Кричать, Крик Осла, езкий Звук. (various references) | |
Scottish | pronn (bran, foon, mash, pound). (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | njakati (heehaw), njakanje (hee haw, heehaw). (various references) | |
Spanish | Rebuznar (bellow, bleat, heehaw, neigh), rebuzno (braying, heehaw). (various references) | |
Swedish | Skria (cry, cry out, heehaw, scream, shout). (various references) | |
Turkish | Kulak Tırmalayıcı Ses (piping), Ezmek (comminute, crunch, crush, domineer, grind, hold down, knock over, mangle, mash, oppress, overbear, overwhelm, pound, pulverize, quash, run down, run over, scrunch, smash, squash, squeeze, squelch, squish, stamp, stave in, steamroller, stump, swat, trample, trample down, tread, tread under foot, tyrannize, weigh down), Dövmek (bash up, baste, batter, beat, beat out, beat up, belabor, belabour, bruise, cane, castigate, chastise, club, cudgel, drub, dust smb.'s jacket, flail, flog, forge, give a beating, give smb. a thrashing, give the stick, hammer, hide, knock about, knock around, Lam, lam into, lambaste, larrup, lather, lay in, lay into, lick, Mall, maul, pelt, pound, punish, scutch, slog, sock, spifflicate, spiflicate, swage, swinge, tan, thrash, thwack, trounce, wallop, whale, whip, whop), anirmak, Anırmak (hee haw, heehaw), Anırma (braying, hee haw, heehaw), Anırır Gibi Bağırmak. (various references) | |
Ukrainian | Нестямно епетувати, Непри"мний ізкий Звук, Товкти, "оворити "урниці. (various references) | |
Welsh | briwio, brefu (bleat, low), bref (bleat, lowing), pwyo (batter, beat, pound), nadu (blubber, cry out, hinder, howl, stop), malurio (crumble, molder, pound). (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | oncare, rudis. (various references) |
| Old French | 900-1400 | braire. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Language | Date | Source | Proverbs Chapter 27, Verse 22 |
| Latin | 405 | Vulgate | Si contuderis stultum in pila quasi tisanas feriente desuper pilo non auferetur ab eo stultitia eius |
| Middle English | 1395 | Wyclif | If thou bete togidere a fool in a morter, as hoolid barli smytende there vp on the pestel; shal not ben take awei fro hym his folie. |
| Jacobean English | 1611 | King James | Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him. |
| Victorian English | 1833 | Webster | Though thou shouldst bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet his foolishness will not depart from him. |
| Basic English | 1964 | Ogden | Even if a foolish man is crushed with a hammer in a vessel among crushed grain, still his foolish ways will not go from him. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Proverbs Chapter 27, Verse 22 |
| Cebuano | ¶ Bisan pa ikaw magadugmok sa usa ka buang sa usa ka lusong pinaagi sa usa ka alho lakip sa linubok nga trigo, Apan ang iyang binuang dili gayud mobiya gikan kaniya. |
| Chinese | 雖 " 杵 、 將 愚 妄 人 與 " 碎 的 麥 子 一 同 搗 在 臼 中 、 他 的 愚 妄 還 是 離 不 了 他 。 |
| Croatian | Da bezumnika stuèeš tuèkom u stupi, ne bi ga ostavila ludost njegova. |
| Danish | Om du knuste en Dåre i Morter med Støder midt imellem Gryn, hans Dårskab veg dog ej fra ham. |
| Dutch | Al stiet gij den dwaas in een mortier met een stamper, in het midden van het gestoten graan, zijn dwaasheid zou van hem niet afwijken. |
| Finnish | Survo hullua huhmaressa, petkelellä surveitten seassa: ei erkane hänestä hänen hulluutensa. |
| French | Quand tu pilerais l`insensé dans un mortier, Au milieu des grains avec le pilon, Sa folie ne se séparerait pas de lui. |
| German | Wenn du den Narren im Mörser zerstießest mit dem Stämpel wie Grütze, so ließe doch seine Narrheit nicht von ihm. |
| Hungarian | Ha megtörnéd is a bolondot mozsárban mozsártörõvel a megtört gabona között, nem távoznék el õ tõle az õ bolondsága. |
| Indonesian-Bahasa Sehari-hari | Sekalipun orang bodoh dipukul sekeras-kerasnya, tak akan lenyap kebodohannya. |
| Indonesian-Terjemahan Lama | Jikalau kiranya orang bodoh ditumbuk dalam lesung bersama-sama dengan segala beras sekalipun, maka tiada juga bodohnya akan bercerai dari padanya. |
| Italian | Anche se tu pestassi lo stolto nel mortaio tra i grani con il pestello, non scuoteresti da lui la sua stoltezza. |
| Maori | ¶ Ahakoa i tukua e koe te wairangi ki te tuki i roto i te kumete i waenga i nga witi pepe, e kore tona whakaarokore e riro. |
| Norwegian | Om du støter dåren i morteren med støteren midt iblandt grynene, så viker hans dårskap allikevel ikke fra ham. |
| Portuguese | Ainda que pisasses o insensato no gral entre grãos pilados, contudo não se apartaria dele a sua estultícia. |
| Rumanian | Pe nebun chiar dacq l-ai pisa cu pisqlogul kn piuq, kn mijlocul grqunyelor, nebunia tot n`ar iewi din el. - |
| Russian | фПМЛЙ ЗМХ ПЗП Ч УФХ Е ЕУФПН ЧНЕУФЕ У ЪЕТОПН, ОЕ ПФ"ЕМЙФУС ПФ ОЕЗП ЗМХ ПУФШ ЕЗП. |
| Swedish | Om du stötte den oförnuftige mortel med en stöt, bland grynen, så skulle hans oförnuft ändå gå ur honom. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "bray": brayed, brayer, brayers, braying, brays. (additional references) | |
Words ending with "bray": chambray. (additional references) | |
Words containing "bray": chambrays. (additional references) | |
| |
"Bray" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: Arby, barai, baray, barby, bari, barty, Barway, bary, beay, Berjaya, Bernay, Bhai, Borsay, braai, bracy, Braf, bragy, brah, braiw, braty, Brau, brax, braya, Braye, brayn, breay, Bregy, brei, bresy, brevy, brewy, Brey, briay, brigy, Brij, brity, briy, broy, Broyd, Brrap, buay, Burway, Ebrey, Rba. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
| # of Phoneme Matches | Pronunciation | Word(s) rhyming with "bray" (pronounced brā") |
| 3 | b r ā" | Brae. |
| 2 | -r ā" | astray, betray, defray, dray, fray, Gray, grey, hooray, hurray, portray, pray, prey, puree, Ray, re, soiree, spray, stray, tray, Trey. |
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits. | ||
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
| Words within the letters "a-b-r-y" | |
-1 letter: aby, arb, bar, bay, bra, ray, rya, yar. | |
-2 letters: ab, ar, ay, ba, by, ya. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-b-r-y" | |
+1 letter: ambry, barky, barmy, barny, barye, boyar, braky, braxy, brays, yerba. | |
+2 letters: ambary, ambery, bakery, barely, barfly, barley, barony, baryes, baryon, baryta, baryte, bawdry, bayard, betray, bewray, binary, bleary, boyard, boyars, braggy, brainy, brandy, branny, brashy, brassy, bratty, brawly, brawny, brayed, brayer, bready, briary, byroad, carboy, crabby, daubry, drably, eyebar, grabby, marbly, nearby, redbay, yabber, yerbas. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Usage Frequency | 9. Names: Frequency 10. Cities 11. Expressions 12. Expressions: Internet | 13. Translations: Modern 14. Translations: Ancient 15. Bible Trace 16. Derivations | 17. Rhymes 18. Anagrams 19. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.