beray

C2+ Topic:Plants & Agriculture

US /bɪˈreɪ/ UK /bɪˈreɪ/ See IPA manual

Homophones

bewray /bɪˈreɪ/

Minimal pairs

Sounds like belay /l/ vs /r/

verb

Meanings

1

verb
to befoul, defile, or soil thoroughly

The frightened hound managed to beray the whole carpet before they could catch it.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 verb · to befoul, defile, or soil... befoul defile besmear bemire soil besmirch

Opposites

cleanse purify

Word family

Related forms array

Etymology

From be- (intensive) + ray ('to defile, soil'), an aphetic form of array in its obsolete sense 'to disorder, befoul,' from Old French areer.

be- Old English areer Old French

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Plants & Agriculture Word Formation & Derivatives

# beray

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** verb
**IPA (US):** bɪˈreɪ
**IPA (UK):** bɪˈreɪ

## Meanings
1. to befoul, defile, or soil thoroughly

## Examples
- The frightened hound managed to beray the whole carpet before they could catch it.

## Synonyms
- befoul
- defile
- besmear
- bemire
- soil
- besmirch

## Antonyms
- cleanse
- purify

## Related Forms
- array

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: be-
- Root: areer

## Etymology
From be- (intensive) + ray ('to defile, soil'), an aphetic form of array in its obsolete sense 'to disorder, befoul,' from Old French areer.

## AI Etymology
Beray is from be- (intensive) + ray ('to defile, soil'), an aphetic form of array in its obsolete sense 'to disorder, befoul,' from Old French areer. Important recorded forms include be- (Old English) and areer (Old French). Morphologically, the word is a built form whose named elements carry part of the historical sense. The current sense covers to befoul, defile, or soil thoroughly. The wider family includes related words such as array.

## Topics
- Plants & Agriculture
- Word Formation & Derivatives

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beray

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