Category:Bay

Bay, a. Etym: [F. bai, fr. L. badius brown, chestnutcolored; -- used only of horses.]

Defn: Reddish brown; of the color of a chestnut; -- applied to the color of horses. Bay cat (Zoöl.), a wild cat of Africa and the East Indies (Felis aurata).

-- Bay lynx (Zoöl.), the common American lynx (Felis, or Lynx, rufa).

Bay, n. Etym: [F. baie, fr. LL. baia. Of uncertain origin: cf. Ir. & Gael. badh or bagh bay harbor, creek; Bisc. baia, baiya, harbor, and F. bayer to gape, open the mouth.]

1. (Geol.)

Defn: An inlet of the sea, usually smaller than a gulf, but of the same general character.

Note: The name is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve; as, Hudson's Bay. The name is not restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but is used foe any recess or inlet between capes or headlands; as, the Bay of Biscay.

2. A small body of water set off from the main body; as a compartment containing water for a wheel; the portion of a canal just outside of the gates of a lock, etc.

3. A recess or indentation shaped like a bay.

4. A principal compartment of the walls, roof, or other part of a building, or of the whole building, as marked off by the buttresses, vaulting, mullions of a window, etc.; one of the main divisions of any structure, as the part of a bridge between two piers.

5. A compartment in a barn, for depositing hay, or grain in the stalks.

6. A kind of mahogany obtained from Campeachy Bay. Sick bay, in vessels of war, that part of a deck appropriated to the use of the sick. Totten.

Bay, n. Etym: [F. baie a berry, the fruit of the laurel and other trees, fr. L. baca, bacca, a small round fruit, a berry, akin to Lith. bapka laurel berry.]

1. A berry, particularly of the laurel. [Obs.]

2. The laurel tree (Laurus nobilis). Hence, in the plural, an honorary garland or crown bestowed as a prize for victory or excellence, anciently made or consisting of branches of the laurel. The patriot's honors and the poet's bays. Trumbull.

3. A tract covered with bay trees. [Local, U. S.] Bay leaf, the leaf of the bay tree (Laurus nobilis). It has a fragrant odor and an aromatic taste.

Bay, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bayed (p. pr. & vb. n. Baying.] Etym: [ OE. bayen, abayen, OF. abaier, F. aboyer, to bark; of uncertain origin.]

Defn: To bark, as a dog with a deep voice does, at his game. The hounds at nearer distance hoarsely bayed. Dryden.

Bay, v. t.

Defn: To bark at; hence, to follow with barking; to bring or drive to bay; as, to bay the bear. Shak.

Bay, n. Etym: [See Bay, v. i.]

1. Deep-toned, prolonged barking. "The bay of curs." Cowper.

2. Etym: [OE. bay, abay, OF. abai, F. aboi barking, pl. abois, prop. the extremity to which the stag is reduced when surrounded by the dogs, barking (aboyant); aux abois at bay.]

Defn: A state of being obliged to face an antagonist or a difficulty, when escape has become impossible. Embolden'd by despair, he stood at bay. Dryden. The most terrible evils are just kept at bay by incessant efforts. I. Taylor

Bay, v. t. Etym: [Cf. OE. bæwen to bathe, and G. bähen to foment.]

Defn: To bathe. [Obs.] Spenser.

Bay, n.

Defn: A bank or dam to keep back water.

Bay, v. t.

Defn: To dam, as water; -- with up or back.

---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Bay - Denotes the estuary of the Dead Sea at the mouth of the Jordan (Joshua 15:5; Joshua 18:19), also the southern extremity of the same sea (Joshua 15:2). The same Hebrew word is rendered "tongue" in Isaiah 11:15, where it is used with reference to the forked mouths of the Nile. BAY In Zechariah 6:3, Zechariah 6:7 denotes the color of horses, but the original Hebrew means strong, and is here used rather to describe the horses as fleet or spirited.