bray

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to laugh loudly and harshly

   They brayed loudly at the cruel joke.

2. 2
   verb

   to reduce to small pieces or particles by pounding or abrading

   The geologist brayed the large slab of granite.

3. 3
   verb

   to braying characteristic of donkeys

   I brayed comically to entertain the kids.

4. 4
   verb

   Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.

   Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.

The verb is derived from Middle English brayen, brai, bray, braye (“of a person or animal: to vocalize loudly; of the weather: to make a loud sound, howl, roar”), from Old French brai, braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to cry or shout out”) (modern French braire (“of an animal: to bray; of a person: to shout; to cry, weep”)), possibly from Vulgar Latin *bragiō, from Gaulish *bragu (compare Breton breugiñ (“to bray”), brammañ (“to flatulate”), Cornish bramma, brabma (“to flatulate”), Old Irish braigid (“to flatulate”)), from Proto-Celtic *brageti, *bragyeti (“to flatulate”), from Pro...

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