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Translingual
Etymology
From English ready, from the English-language sequence on your marks, ready, set, go, of which only "ready" is used translingually.
Interjection
ready
- (sports) The command to make ready, regardless of language of competitors, used in multiple sports to get contestants to their marks in preparation to start.
English
Etymology
From Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( + -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (“ready, prepared”), from Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (“ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ-, *h₂reh₁- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready". Cognate with Scots readie, reddy (“ready, prepared”), West Frisian ree (“ready”), Dutch gereed (“ready”), German bereit (“ready”), Danish rede (“ready”), Swedish redo (“ready, fit, prepared”), Norwegian reiug (“ready, prepared”), Icelandic greiður (“easy, light”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (garaiþs, “arranged, ordered”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)
- Prepared for immediate action or use.
The troops are ready for battle.
The porridge is ready to serve.
2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:Miranda: I'll admit it, Shepard. I'm impressed. You got us here. Are you ready?
Shepard: We're going in blind, and we don't even know if we'll survive the trip. No way in hell we're ready... but we don't have a choice.
- Inclined; apt to happen.
- Liable at any moment.
The seed is ready to sprout.
c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :My heart is ready to crack.
- Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.
- Synonyms: dexterous, prompt, easy, expert
a ready apprehension
ready wit
a ready writer or workman
1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], “The First Gun”, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., , →OCLC, page 16:Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
2013 August 10, Lexington, “Keeping the mighty honest”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8848:The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.
- Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. , London: [Samuel Simmons], , →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: , London: Basil Montagu Pickering , 1873, →OCLC, line 1097:Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way,
1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria:A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.
Synonyms
Antonyms
Hypernyms
Derived terms
- at the ready
- camera ready
- dinner's ready
- get ready
- my body is ready
- on the ready
- readily
- readiment
- readiness
- ready, aim, fire!
- ready, fire, aim
- ready, set, go!
- ready, steady, go
- ready, willing, and able
- ready about
- ready and waiting
- ready as Freddy
- ready as I'll ever be
- ready for prime time
- ready for primetime
- ready for the off
- ready-handed
- ready-handedness
- ready-made
- ready-meal
- ready meal
- ready-mix
- ready-mixed
- ready money
- ready or not
- ready-pole
- ready-reckoner
- ready reckoner
- ready room
- ready salted
- ready to be tied
- ready-to-drink
- ready to hand
- ready-to-wear
- ready up
- rough and ready
- rough-and-ready
- school-ready
- shovel ready
- single and ready to mingle
- unready
Translations
liable at any moment
- Finnish: valmis (fi), expressed with 5th infinitive of a verb
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not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception
at hand; opportune; convenient
Translations to be checked
Verb
ready (third-person singular simple present readies, present participle readying, simple past and past participle readied)
- (transitive) To prepare; to make ready for action.
Synonyms
Translations
to make prepared for action
- Arabic: جَهَّزَ (jahhaza)
- Egyptian Arabic: جهز (gahhiz), حضر (ḥaḍḍar)
- Bulgarian: подготвям (bg) (podgotvjam), подготвям (bg) (podgotvjam)
- Finnish: valmistaa (fi), valmistella (fi), varustaa (fi)
- French: rendre disponible
- German: bereit machen, fertig machen, klar machen, vorbereiten (de)
- Hungarian: készül (hu)
- Ido: prontigar (io)
- Italian: preparare (it)
- Kurdish:
- Central Kurdish: ئامادەکردن (amadekirdin)
- Malayalam: തയ്യാറെടുക്കുക (tayyāṟeṭukkuka), സജ്ജമാകുക (sajjamākuka)
- Maori: takataka
- Persian: آماده کردن (fa) (âmâde kardan)
- Portuguese: preparar (pt), aprontar (pt)
- Spanish: preparar (es), alistar (es)
- Turkish: hazırlamak (tr), anıklamak (tr)
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Noun
ready (countable and uncountable, plural readies)
- (slang) Ready money; cash.
1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “A Copy of Bull and Frog’s Letter to Lord Strutt”, in Law is a Bottomless-Pit. , London: John Morphew, , →OCLC, page 8:[H]e vvas not fluſh in Ready, either to go to Lavv or clear old Debts, neither could he find good Bail: […]
2008, Agnes Owens, The Group:[…] he was generous when he had the cash. Many a time he kept me going in drink through the week when I was stuck for the ready […]
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Translations
Anagrams