quay

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See also: quây, quấy, quầy, quẩy, quậy, and Quay

English

WOTD – 24 June 2008
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the straightened Scheldt quay at Antwerp

Etymology 1

The current spelling replaced the spelling key in the 1690s to emulate the spelling but (at least originally) not the pronunciation of the equivalent modern French quai. From Middle English kay, key, kaye, keye, from Old French kay, cail, from Gaulish *kagyum, cagiíun (“enclosure”), from Proto-Celtic *kagyom (“pen, enclosure”) (compare Welsh cae (“field”)), from Proto-Indo-European *kagʰyóm (“enclosure”). Doublet of hedge.

Alternative forms

Pronunciation

Noun

quay (plural quays)

  1. (nautical) A stone or concrete structure on navigable water used for loading and unloading vessels; a wharf.
    moor up in the quay
    • 1879, F. D. Morice, Pindar, chapter 10, pp. 166-167:
      […] its harbour was filled with stately ships; and its quays, swarming with foreign traders and loaded with bales of costly merchandise […]
Derived terms
Descendants
  • → Scottish Gaelic: cidhe
  • → Bulgarian: кей (kej)
  • → Macedonian: кеј (kej)
  • → Serbo-Croatian: кеј
  • → Serbo-Croatian: kej
Translations

Verb

quay (third-person singular simple present quays, present participle quaying, simple past and past participle quayed)

  1. To land or tie up at a quay or similar structure, especially used in the phrase "quay up".

See also

Etymology 2

Adjective

quay (comparative quayer, superlative quayest)

  1. (MLE) Alternative spelling of qway (“far”)

Adverb

quay (comparative quayer, superlative quayest)

  1. (MLE) Alternative spelling of qway (“far”)

References

  • “quay”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

Anagrams

Vietnamese

Etymology

From Proto-Vietic *kweː.

Pronunciation

Verb

quay • (𢮿, 虧, 𢵴, 乖, 怪, 外)

  1. to turn; to revolve; to swivel
    Synonym: xoay
  2. to whirl; to reverse; to turn back
  3. to spit roast
  4. (by extension) to film
  5. (by extension, transitive) to dial (a phone number)
    quay số 9-1-1 ― to dial 9-1-1

Derived terms

Derived terms
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