Library / English Dictionary

RAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cartilaginous fishes having horizontally flattened bodies and enlarged winglike pectoral fins with gills on the underside; most swim by moving the pectoral fins

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

elasmobranch; selachian (any of numerous fishes of the class Chondrichthyes characterized by a cartilaginous skeleton and placoid scales: sharks; rays; skates)

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

crampfish; electric ray; numbfish; torpedo (any sluggish bottom-dwelling ray of the order Torpediniformes having a rounded body and electric organs on each side of the head capable of emitting strong electric discharges)

sawfish (primitive ray with sharp teeth on each edge of a long flattened snout)

guitarfish (primitive tropical bottom-dwelling ray with a guitar-shaped body)

stingray (large venomous ray with large barbed spines near the base of a thin whiplike tail capable of inflicting severe wounds)

eagle ray (powerful free-swimming tropical ray noted for 'soaring' by flapping winglike fins; usually harmless but has venomous tissue near base of the tail as in stingrays)

devilfish; manta; manta ray (extremely large pelagic tropical ray that feeds on plankton and small fishes; usually harmless but its size make it dangerous if harpooned)

skate (large edible rays having a long snout and thick tail with pectoral fins continuous with the head; swim by undulating the edges of the pectoral fins)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any of the stiff bony spines in the fin of a fish

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

spine (a sharp rigid animal process or appendage; as a porcupine quill or a ridge on a bone or a ray of a fish fin)

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

fin (organ of locomotion and balance in fishes and some other aquatic animals)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The syllable naming the second (supertonic) note of any major scale in solmization

Synonyms:

ray; re

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

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

solfa syllable (one of the names for notes of a musical scale in solmization)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A column of light (as from a beacon)

Synonyms:

beam; beam of light; irradiation; light beam; ray; ray of light; shaft; shaft of light

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

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

light; visible light; visible radiation ((physics) electromagnetic radiation that can produce a visual sensation)

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

low beam (the beam of a car's headlights that provides illumination for a short distance)

laser beam (a beam of light generated by a laser)

sunbeam; sunray (a ray of sunlight)

moon-ray; moon ray; moonbeam (a ray of moonlight)

high beam (the beam of a car's headlights that provides distant illumination)

heat ray (a ray that produces a thermal effect)

Derivation:

ray (emit as rays)

Sense 5

Meaning:

A group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation

Synonyms:

beam; electron beam; ray

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

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

electromagnetic radiation; electromagnetic wave; nonparticulate radiation (radiation consisting of waves of energy associated with electric and magnetic fields resulting from the acceleration of an electric charge)

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

cathode ray (a beam of electrons emitted by the cathode of an electrical discharge tube)

particle beam (a collimated flow of particles (atoms or electrons or molecules))

Derivation:

ray (expose to radiation)

Sense 6

Meaning:

A branch of an umbel or an umbelliform inflorescence

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

pedicel; pedicle (a small stalk bearing a single flower of an inflorescence; an ultimate division of a common peduncle)

Sense 7

Meaning:

(mathematics) a straight line extending from a point

Classified under:

Nouns denoting two and three dimensional shapes

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

vector (a straight line segment whose length is magnitude and whose orientation in space is direction)

Domain category:

math; mathematics; maths (a science (or group of related sciences) dealing with the logic of quantity and shape and arrangement)

Derivation:

ray (extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Expose to radiation

Example:

irradiate food

Synonyms:

irradiate; ray

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

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

process; treat (subject to a process or treatment, with the aim of readying for some purpose, improving, or remedying a condition)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "ray"):

bombard (direct high energy particles or radiation against)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

ray (a group of nearly parallel lines of electromagnetic radiation)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Extend or spread outward from a center or focus or inward towards a center

Example:

This plants radiate spines in all directions

Synonyms:

radiate; ray

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

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

extend; go; lead; pass; run (stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

ray ((mathematics) a straight line extending from a point)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Emit as rays

Example:

That tower rays a laser beam for miles across the sky

Classified under:

Verbs of raining, snowing, thawing, thundering

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

emit; give off; give out (give off, send forth, or discharge; as of light, heat, or radiation, vapor, etc.)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

ray (a column of light (as from a beacon))

Credits

 Context examples: 

We tried all the rooms as we went along, and in the dining-room, dimly lit by rays of light through the shutters, found four servant-women lying on the floor.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

The results of the trial showed that participants who were screened with spiral CT scans had about a 20% lower risk of dying from lung cancer than those who were screened with chest x-rays.

(National Lung Screening Trial, NCI Dictionary)

An x-ray of the spinal cord after an injection of dye into the space between the lining of the spinal cord and brain.

(Myelogram, NCI Dictionary)

The X-ray examination of the blood vessels or chambers of the heart.

(Angiography, NCI Thesaurus)

A device that uses x-rays instead of visible light to form images of very small structures, such as the insides of blood vessels and cells.

(Nanoprobe, NCI Dictionary)

A procedure to x-ray blood vessels.

(Angiography, NCI Dictionary)

Your doctor might do a variety of tests to make the diagnosis, including a chest x-ray, CT scan of the lungs, and an examination of tissues for signs of the fungus.

(Aspergillosis, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)

Treatment of disease by exposure to light, especially by variously concentrated light rays or specific wavelengths.

(Phototherapy, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

You give me some ray of hope?

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The term derives from the chest X-ray image of the tiny (1-5 mm) tuberculosis lesions which are seen through out the lung parenchyma.

(Miliary Tuberculosis, NCI Thesaurus)