TRAY

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does tray mean? 

• TRAY (noun)
  The noun TRAY has 1 sense:

1. an open receptacle for holding or displaying or serving articles or food

  Familiarity information: TRAY used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TRAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An open receptacle for holding or displaying or serving articles or food

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

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

receptacle (a container that is used to put or keep things in)

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

alms dish; alms tray (a tray for collecting the offering from a congregation)

cafeteria tray (a tray for carrying your food in a cafeteria)

cheese tray; cheeseboard (tray on which cheeses are served)

icetray (a tray for making cubes of ice in a refrigerator)

inkstand (a tray or stand for writing implements and containers for ink)

salver (a tray (or large plate) for serving food or drinks; usually made of silver)

tea tray (a tray that accommodates a tea service)

lazy Susan; turntable (a revolving tray placed on a dining table)

 Context examples 

When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to you.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

They were on his tray this morning.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

At half-past five, under his directions, I set the table in the cabin, with rough-weather trays in place, and then carried the tea and cooked food down from the galley.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

I rang the bell and ordered away the tray.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

I had the tea-tray in my hand.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

You will kindly deposit your ash in the small Japanese tray on the bamboo table which stands at your left elbow.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The horse immediately ordered a white mare servant of his family to bring me a good quantity of oats in a sort of wooden tray.

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

A tray of small glasses and pewter mugs stood beside them.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

So a tray was fitted out before anyone began, and taken up with the cook's compliments.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

When the evening was pretty far spent, and a tray of glasses and decanters came in, Steerforth promised, over the fire, that he would seriously think of going down into the country with me.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)