ray
pronunciation
How to pronounce ray in British English:
UK [reɪ]
How to pronounce ray in American English:
US [reɪ]
-
- Noun:
- a column of light (as from a beacon)
- a branch of an umbel or an umbelliform inflorescence
- (mathematics) a straight line extending from a point
- a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation
- the syllable naming the second (supertonic) note of any major scale in solmization
- any of the stiff bony rods in the fin of a fish
- cartilaginous fishes having horizontally flattened bodies and enlarged winglike pectoral fins with gills on the underside; most swim by moving the pectoral fins
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- Verb:
- emit as rays
- extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center
- expose to radiation
Word Origin
- ray
- ray: Ray the ‘beam of light or energy’ [14] and ray the fish-name [14] are two different words. The former comes from rai, the Old French descendant of Latin radius ‘spoke of a wheel, ray’ (source also of English radiant, radio, radius, etc). The textile term rayon was coined from it in the early 1920s. Ray the fish-name comes via Old French raie from Latin raia, a word of unknown origin.=> radio, radius
- ray (n.1)
- "beam of light," c. 1300, from Old French rai (nominative rais) "ray (of the sun), spoke (of a wheel); gush, spurt," from Latin radius "ray, spoke, staff, rod" (see radius). Not common before 17c. [OED]; of the sun, usually in reference to heat (beam being preferred for light). Science fiction ray-gun is first recorded 1931 (but the Martians had a Heat ray weapon in H.G. Wells' "War of the Worlds," 1898).
- ray (n.2)
- type of fish related to sharks, early 14c., from French raie (13c.), from Latin raia, of unknown origin.
Example
- 1. The previously known most distant object was a short-lived gamma ray burst .
- 2. Though promising as a nonlethal weapon , the pain ray has some serious limits .
- 3. Going this deep would help reduce the background signals from cosmic ray muon particles .
- 4. Fov is fairly simple to visualize by simply following the ray trace in the optical system .
- 5. This ray tracing , as dr ng calls it , derives directly from computer graphics .