dey's

Meanings

1. 1
   contraction

   eye dialect: there is, there are, or they are

   Dey's two boats waiting by the shore.

2. 2
   noun

   plural of dey, a historical title for a ruler or official in parts of North Africa

   Several deys governed Algiers during the Ottoman period.

The literary contraction records a regional pronunciation of there is, there are, or they are. The unrelated noun is the plural of dey, a title borrowed through French from Ottoman Turkish dayı, originally meaning a maternal uncle and later an officer or ruler.

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