Ray word meaning and definition

[noun] cartilaginous fishes having horizontally flattened bodies and enlarged winglike pectoral fins with gills on the underside; most swim by moving the pectoral fins
[noun] any of the stiff bony rods in the fin of a fish
[noun] the syllable naming the second (supertonic) note of any major scale in solmization
[noun] a column of light (as from a beacon)
[noun] a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation
[noun] a branch of an umbel or an umbelliform inflorescence
[noun] (mathematics) a straight line extending from a point
[verb] expose to radiation; "irradiate food"
[verb] extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center; "spokes radiate from the hub of the wheel"; "This plants radiates spines in all directions"
[verb] emit as rays; "That tower rays a laser beam for miles across the sky"

\Ray\, v. t. [An aphetic form of array; cf. {Beray}.] 1. To array. [Obs.] --Sir T. More. 2. To mark, stain, or soil; to streak; to defile. [Obs.] ``The fifth that did it ray.'' --Spenser.
\Ray\, n. Array; order; arrangement; dress. [Obs.] And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray. --Spenser.
\Ray\, n. [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray, staff, rod, spoke of a wheel. Cf. {Radius}.] 1. One of a number of lines or parts diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle; as, a star of six rays. 2. (Bot.) A radiating part of the flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See {Radius}. 3. (Zo["o]l.)
(a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting the fins of fishes.
(b) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran. 4. (Physics)
(a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or reflecting point; a single element of light or heat propagated continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray.
(b) One of the component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See Illust. under {Light}. 5. Sight; perception; vision; -- from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen. All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze. --Pope. 6. (Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point, and regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions. See {Half-ray}. {Bundle of rays}. (Geom.) See {Pencil of rays}, below. {Extraordinary ray} (Opt.), that one or two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction. {Ordinary ray} (Opt.) that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which follows the usual or ordinary law of refraction. {Pencil of rays} (Geom.), a definite system of rays. {Ray flower}, or {Ray floret} (Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite plants as the aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the disk flowers are tubular and five-lobed. {Ray point} (Geom.), the common point of a pencil of rays. {R["o]ntgen ray}(Phys.), a kind of ray generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by the electrical discharge. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects by which means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque objects are made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs
\Ray\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. {Rayed}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Raying}.] [Cf. OF. raier, raiier, rayer, L. radiare to irradiate. See {Ray}, n., and cf. {Radiate}.] 1. To mark with long lines; to streak. [Obs.] --Chaucer. 2. [From {Ray}, n.] To send forth or shoot out; to cause to shine out; as, to ray smiles. [R.] --Thompson.
\Ray\, v. t. To shine, as with rays. --Mrs. Browning.
\Ray\, n. [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. {Roach}.] (Zo["o]l.)
(a) Any one of numerous elasmobranch fishes of the order Rai[ae], including the skates, torpedoes, sawfishes, etc.
(b) In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat, narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See {Skate}. {Bishop ray}, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray ({Stoasodon n[`a]rinari}) of the Southern United States and the West Indies. {Butterfly ray}, a short-tailed American sting ray ({Pteroplatea Maclura}), having very broad pectoral fins. {Devil ray}. See {Sea Devil}. {Eagle ray}, any large ray of the family {Myliobatid[ae]}, or {[AE]tobatid[ae]}. The common European species ({Myliobatis aquila}) is called also {whip ray}, and {miller}. {Electric ray}, or {Cramp ray}, a torpedo. {Starry ray}, a common European skate ({Raia radiata}). {Sting ray}, any one of numerous species of rays of the family {Trygonid[ae]} having one or more large, sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also {stingaree}.

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