rye
Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word rye. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word rye, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say rye in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word rye you have here. The definition of the word rye will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofrye, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.
See also: Rye
English
Etymology
From Middle English rie, reighe, from Old English ryġe, from Proto-West Germanic *rugi, from Proto-Germanic *rugiz, from Proto-Indo-European *Hrugʰís.
Germanic cognates include Dutch and West Frisian rogge, Low German Rogg, German Roggen, Rocken, Old Norse rugr (Danish rug, Swedish råg); non-Germanic cognates include Russian рожь (rožʹ) and Latvian rudzi.
Pronunciation
Noun
rye (countable and uncountable, plural ryes)
- A grain used extensively in Europe for making bread, beer, and (now generally) for animal fodder.
- The grass Secale cereale from which the grain is obtained.
- Rye bread.
- (US, Canada) Rye whiskey.
- 1925, John Dos Passos, Manhattan Transfer, New York, N.Y., London: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, 2nd section, page 146:
- “Gimme a shot of rye.” The whiskey stung his throat hot and fragrant.
- 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 159:
- I bought a pint of rye at the liquor counter and carried it over to the stools and set it down on the cracked marble counter.
- 1971, “American Pie”, in American Pie, performed by Don McLean:
- Them good old boys were drinkin’ whiskey ’n rye/Singin’, "This’ll be the day that I die."
- (US, Canada) A drink of rye.
- 1946, George Johnston, Skyscrapers in the Mist, page 17:
- It concerns the gnomelike quality of the average American at a party. I have been to many parties where staid American business men have been transformed by a few ryes or bourbons into unpredictable gremlins out for adventure.
- Caraway (from the mistaken assumption that the whole seeds, often used to season rye bread, are the rye itself)
- Ryegrass, any of the species of Lolium.
- A disease of hawks.
- 1486, Juliana Berners, Book of Saint Albans:
- And if it [vndeꝛ the peꝛch] be grene ſhe engenderith the Ry. The condicion of this euell is this, it wil ariſe in the hede and make the hede to ſwell, ⁊ the iyen all glaymous, and dyrke, and bot it haue helpe: it will downe in to the legges, and maake the legges to rancle, and if it goo fro the legges in to the hede a gayne, thi hawke is bot looſt.
- 1618, Symon Latham, Latham's Falconry:
- Of all the diseases that belongs to these Hawkes, there bee onely three that they bee most subiect vnto, which is the Rye, the Crampe, and the Craye.
Coordinate terms
- (Cereals) cereal; barley, fonio, maize/corn, millet, oats, rice, rye, sorghum, teff, triticale, wheat
Derived terms
Translations
the grass Secale cereale or its grains as food
|
rye whisky — see rye whisky
rye bread — see rye bread
carraway — see carraway
ryegrass — see ryegrass
Anagrams
Japanese
Romanization
rye
Middle English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From Old English ryge, from Proto-West Germanic *rugi.
Pronunciation
Noun
rye (plural ryes)
Descendants
References
- “rīe, n.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
Norwegian Nynorsk
Noun
rye f (definite singular rya, indefinite plural ryer, definite plural ryene)
Related terms
References
- “rye” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.