| English Dictionary |
ALLAY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
| IPA (US): |  |
Dictionary entry overview: What does allay mean?
• ALLAY (verb)
The verb ALLAY has 2 senses:
1. lessen the intensity of or calm
2. satisfy (thirst)
Familiarity information: ALLAY used as a verb is rare.
Dictionary entry details
| Conjugation: |
... he / she / it allays Past simple: allayed
Past participle: allayed
-ing form: allaying
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lessen the intensity of or calm
Classified under:
Verbs of feeling
Synonyms:
Context example:
still the fears
Hypernyms (to "allay" is one way to...):
comfort; console; solace; soothe (give moral or emotional strength to)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "allay"):
abreact (discharge bad feelings or tension through verbalization)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Sentence example:
The good news will allay her
Derivation:
allayer (a person who reduces the intensity (e.g., of fears) and calms and pacifies)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Satisfy (thirst)
Classified under:
Verbs of eating and drinking
Synonyms:
Context example:
The cold water quenched his thirst
Hypernyms (to "allay" is one way to...):
conform to; fill; fit; fulfil; fulfill; meet; satisfy (fill, satisfy or meet a want or need or condtion ro restriction)
"Allay" entails doing...:
consume; have; ingest; take; take in (serve oneself to, or consume regularly)
Sentence frames:
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Context examples
The tumult of Elizabeth's mind was allayed by this conversation.
(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)
To allay it, I shall to-day search entire ship carefully from stem to stern.
(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)
The muskeg berries did not allay this gnawing, while they made his tongue and the roof of his mouth sore with their irritating bite.
(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)
Truth is truth, and nothing which you can report can affect it in any way, though it may excite the emotions and allay the curiosity of a number of very ineffectual people.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
They were of sobering tendency; they allayed agitation; they composed, and consequently must make her happier.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
"No; that does not satisfy me!" I exclaimed: and indeed there was something in the hasty and unexplanatory reply which, instead of allaying, piqued my curiosity more than ever.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The ladies knew better how to allay it.
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
The other's suspicion was allayed.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Evening meditation and morning work somewhat allayed her fears, and having decided that she wouldn't be vain enough to think people were going to propose when she had given them every reason to know what her answer would be, she set forth at the appointed time, hoping Teddy wouldn't do anything to make her hurt his poor feelings.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
I raised my voice in a cheery shout to allay their fears.
(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
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