BAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bay mean? 

• BAY (noun)
  The noun BAY has 7 senses:

1. an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf

2. the sound of a hound on the scent

3. small Mediterranean evergreen tree with small blackish berries and glossy aromatic leaves used for flavoring in cooking; also used by ancient Greeks to crown victors

4. a compartment on a ship between decks; often used as a hospital

5. a compartment in an aircraft used for some specific purpose

6. a small recess opening off a larger room

7. a horse of a moderate reddish-brown color

  Familiarity information: BAY used as a noun is common.

• BAY (adjective)
  The adjective BAY has 1 sense:

1. (used of animals especially a horse) of a moderate reddish-brown color

  Familiarity information: BAY used as an adjective is very rare.

• BAY (verb)
  The verb BAY has 2 senses:

1. utter in deep prolonged tones

2. bark with prolonged noises, of dogs

  Familiarity information: BAY used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

bay; embayment

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

body of water; water (the part of the earth's surface covered with water (such as a river or lake or ocean))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bay"):

Guantanamo Bay (an inlet of the Caribbean Sea; a United States naval station was established on the bay in 1903)

bight (a broad bay formed by an indentation in the shoreline)

Instance hyponyms:

Korea Bay (an inlet of the Yellow Sea between the Liaodong Peninsula in China and western Korea)

Hangzhou Bay (a bay formed by an inlet of the East China Sea)

Massachusetts Bay (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean off of eastern Massachusetts extending from Cape Ann on the north to Cape Cod on the south)

Minamata Bay (a bay on the west coast of Kyushu; in the 1950s industrial wastes caused mercury poisoning among the Japanese people who ate fish from Minamata Bay)

Mobile Bay (a bay of the Gulf of Mexico; fed by the Mobile River)

Monterey Bay (an inlet of the Pacific Ocean in western California)

Moreton Bay (an arm of the Tasman Sea forming a bay to the east of Brisbane)

Narragansett Bay (a deep inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in Rhode Island)

New York Bay (a bay of the North Atlantic; fed by the Hudson River)

Osaka Bay (a bay of the western Pacific in southern Honshu)

Penobscot Bay (an inlet of the Atlantic in eastern Maine)

Prudhoe Bay (a bay on the northern coast of Alaska where oil was discovered in 1968)

San Diego Bay (a bay of the Pacific in southern California)

San Francisco Bay (a bay of the Pacific in western California)

Sea of Azof; Sea of Azoff; Sea of Azov (a bay of the Black Sea between Russia and the Ukraine)

Tampa Bay (an arm of the Gulf of Mexico in west central Florida)

Galway Bay (a bay of the North Atlantic on the west coast of Ireland)

Abukir; Abukir Bay (a bay on the Mediterranean Sea in northern Egypt)

Andaman Sea (part of the Bay of Bengal to the west of the Malay Peninsula)

Bay of Bengal (an arm of the Indian Ocean to the east of India)

Bay of Biscay (an arm of the Atlantic Ocean in western Europe; bordered by the west coast of France and the north coast of Spain)

Bay of Fundy (a bay of the North Atlantic between New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; noted for rapid tides as great as 70 feet)

Bay of Naples (an arm of the Tyrrhenian Sea at Naples)

Biscayne Bay (a narrow bay formed by an inlet from the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern Florida)

Bo Hai; Po Hai (an inlet of the Yellow Sea, on the coast of Eastern China)

Buzzards Bay (an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean in southeastern Massachusetts)

Cape Cod Bay (the southern part of Massachusetts Bay)

Chesapeake Bay (a large inlet of the North Atlantic between Virginia and Maryland; fed by Susquehanna River)

Delaware Bay (an inlet of the North Atlantic; fed by the Delaware River)

Galveston Bay (an arm of the Gulf of Mexico in Texas to the south of Houston)

James Bay (the southern extension of Hudson Bay in Canada between western Quebec and northeastern Ontario)

Holonyms ("bay" is a part of...):

sea (a division of an ocean or a large body of salt water partially enclosed by land)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The sound of a hound on the scent

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

cry (the characteristic utterance of an animal)

Derivation:

bay (bark with prolonged noises, of dogs)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Small Mediterranean evergreen tree with small blackish berries and glossy aromatic leaves used for flavoring in cooking; also used by ancient Greeks to crown victors

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

bay; bay laurel; bay tree; Laurus nobilis; true laurel

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

laurel (any of various aromatic trees of the laurel family)

Meronyms (parts of "bay"):

bay leaf (dried leaf of the bay laurel)

Holonyms ("bay" is a member of...):

genus Laurus; Laurus (small evergreen trees or shrubs with aromatic leaves)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A compartment on a ship between decks; often used as a hospital

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

they put him in the sick bay

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

compartment (a partitioned section, chamber, or separate room within a larger enclosed area)

Holonyms ("bay" is a part of...):

ship (a vessel that carries passengers or freight)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A compartment in an aircraft used for some specific purpose

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Context example:

he opened the bomb bay

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

compartment (a partitioned section, chamber, or separate room within a larger enclosed area)

Holonyms ("bay" is a part of...):

aircraft (a vehicle that can fly)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A small recess opening off a larger room

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

alcove; bay

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

niche; recess (an enclosure that is set back or indented)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bay"):

carrel; carrell; cubicle; stall (small individual study area in a library)

Sense 7

Meaning:

A horse of a moderate reddish-brown color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("bay" is a kind of...):

Equus caballus; horse (solid-hoofed herbivorous quadruped domesticated since prehistoric times)

Derivation:

bay ((used of animals especially a horse) of a moderate reddish-brown color)

• BAY (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

(used of animals especially a horse) of a moderate reddish-brown color

Similar:

colored; colorful; coloured (having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination)

Derivation:

bay (a horse of a moderate reddish-brown color)

• BAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bay    ... he / she / it bays   
Past simple: bayed   
Past participle: bayed   
-ing form: baying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Utter in deep prolonged tones

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "bay" is one way to...):

mouth; speak; talk; utter; verbalise; verbalize (express in speech)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Bark with prolonged noises, of dogs

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

bay; quest

Hypernyms (to "bay" is one way to...):

bark (make barking sounds)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

bay (the sound of a hound on the scent)

 Context examples 

In that moment he abandoned the idea of the valley and the bay, the grass- walled castle and the trim, white schooner.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

As our tandem came alongside of the four-in-hand, with the two bonny bay mares gleaming like shot-silk in the sunshine, a murmur of admiration rose from the crowd.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Then the bay tried me with a second word, much harder to be pronounced; but reducing it to the English orthography, may be spelt thus, Houyhnhnm.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Air temperatures over the bay, though they had generally warmed over past decades, they hadn't spiked markedly in 2008 to 2012.

(Wind, Warm Water Revved Up Melting Antarctic Glaciers, NASA)

Owing to the cant of the vessel, the masts hung far out over the water, and from my perch on the cross-trees I had nothing below me but the surface of the bay.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Away they drove down the long green glade—bay horses, black and gray, riders clad in every shade of velvet, fur, or silk, with glint of brazen horn and flash of knife and spear.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Some hounds share the distinct ability to produce a unique sound known as baying.

(Hound Breed, NCI Thesaurus)

Bay oil is used in parfumery and also in medicinal preparations.

(Bay Oil (Pimenta Racemosa), NCI Thesaurus)

Bay fruit oil can be used for its anti-rheumatism effects.

(Bay Fruit Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Bay leaf oil can be used to ease muscular aches and pain.

(Bay Leaf Oil, NCI Thesaurus)