From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishrayray /reɪ/ ●○○ noun [countable] 1 LIGHTa straight narrow beam of light from the sun or moon The room darkened as a cloud hid the sun’s rays.ray of Rays of light filtered through the trees.2 TPHPa beam of heat, electricity, or other form of energy → cosmic ray, gamma ray, X-ray13 → a ray of hope/light etc4 → a ray of sunshine5 → catch some/a few rays6 HBFa large flat sea fish with a long pointed tail
Examples from the Corpus
ray• If mutagens like cosmic rays are present then all normal mutation rates are boosted.• The first rays of the sun pierced the canopy of leaves above us, and the forest began to wake up.• Use a sunscreen to protect your skin against the sun's harmful rays.• a gun that fires invisible rays• A conventional lens maps each light ray to a particular point on an image plane.• Like the sun's rays, sunbeds accelerate ageing and increase the chances of getting skin cancer.• On a sunny evening you can stay to catch the last of the sun's rays highlighting Scafell's famous buttresses.• the sun's raysray of• Rays of light filtered through the pine trees.Origin ray 1. (1300-1400) Old French rai, from Latin radius; → RADIUS2. (1300-1400) Old French raie, from Latin raia