hay

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Grass that is cut and dried to feed animals.

   The farmer stored bales of hay in the barn for winter.

2. 2
   verb

   To cut and dry grass for use as animal feed.

   They hayed the meadow before the rains came.

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Simplified etymology

Hay is an ancient English word recorded in Old English from about AD 800. The compound haywire arose in late 19th-century North America from the wire used to bind bales of hay and corn; its later figurative senses developed from the wire's use in makeshift repairs.

From Middle English hey, from Old English hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją, from *hawwaną (“to hew, cut down”). Cognate with West Frisian hea (“hay”), Alemannic German Heuw (“hay”), Cimbrian höobe (“hay”), Dutch hooi (“hay”), German Heu (“hay”), Luxembourgish Hee (“hay”), Mòcheno hei (“hay”), Yiddish היי (hey, “hay”), Danish hø (“hay”), Faroese hoyggj (“hay”), Gutnish hoy (“hay”), Icelandic hey (“hay”), Norwegian Bokmål, Norwegian Nynorsk høy (“hay”), Swedish hö (“hay”), Gothic 𐌷𐌰𐍅𐌹 (hawi, “grass, hay”). More at hew.

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