- 1a narrow line of light, heat or other energy the sun’s rays ultraviolet rays The windows were shining in the reflected rays of the setting sun. Wordfindersundaylight, eclipse, equinox, ray, rise, solar, solstice, the sun, twilight, the universe see also cosmic rays, gamma rays, X-ray Oxford Collocations Dictionary adjectivepowerful, blinding, bright, … verb + rayemit, give off, send out, … ray + verbfilter through something, pass through something, penetrate something, … prepositionin the rays of phrasesa ray of light, a ray of sunlight, a ray of sunshine, … See full entry See related entries: Energy and physical forces, The sun and the moon
- 2ray of something a small amount of something good or of something that you are hoping for synonym glimmer There was just one small ray of hope.
- 3 a sea fish with a large broad flat body and a long tail, that is used for food See related entries: Fish
- 4 (also re) (music) the second note of a major scale Word Originsenses 1 to 2 Middle English: from Old French rai, based on Latin radius ‘spoke, ray’.sense 3 Middle English: from Old French raie, from Latin raia.sense 4 Middle English re, representing (as an arbitrary name for the note) the first syllable of resonare, taken from a Latin hymn.Extra examples A ray of sunlight fell on the table. Her brooch caught the rays of the setting sun. My nephew is a little ray of sunshine. The last of the sun’s rays shone on the grass. The moon cast pale rays of light on the ground. The one ray of light in this whole affair is that justice has been done. They basked in sun’s warm golden rays. Ultraviolet rays damage the skin. When the sun’s rays hit the earth, a lot of heat is reflected back into space. a blinding ray of light a stream sparkling in the rays of the June sun creams which filter out the sun’s harmful ultraviolet rays gamma rays given off by plutonium sunscreens which filter out harmful ultraviolet rays the dying rays of a winter sun the invention of the cathode ray tube the moon’s rays filtering through the treesIdioms
ray
nounBrE BrE//reɪ//; NAmE NAmE//reɪ//
Fish, Energy and physical forces, The sun and the moon(informal) to sit or lie in the sun, especially in order to get a suntan
(informal) a person or thing that makes life brighter or more cheerful
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