And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray.
Spenser.
Ray, n. [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray, staff, rod,
spoke of a wheel. Cf. Radius.] 1. One of a number of lines or parts
diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle;
as, a star of six rays.
2. (Bot.) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets
of a compound flower, as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels
of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See Radius.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting
the fins of fishes. (b) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially
one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4. (Physics) (a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or
reflecting point; a single element of light or heat propagated
continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray. (b) One of the
component elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or
limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red ray; the violet ray. See
Illust. under Light.
5. Sight; perception; vision; -- from an old theory of vision, that
sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.
All eyes direct their rays On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they
gaze.
Pope.
6. (Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point,
and regarded as extending indefinitely in both directions. See
Half-ray.
Bundle of rays. (Geom.) See Pencil of rays, below. -- Extraordinary ray
(Opt.), that one of two parts of a ray divided by double refraction
which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction. -- Ordinary ray
(Opt.), that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction
which follows the usual or ordinary law of refraction. -- Pencil of
rays (Geom.), a definite system of rays. -- Ray flower, or Ray floret
(Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite
plants as the aster, goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an
elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the disk flowers
are tubular and five-lobed. -- Ray point (Geom.), the common point of a
pencil of rays. -- Röntgen ray (rnt"gn) (Phys.), a kind of ray
generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by the electrical
discharge. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to
light, and producing photographic and fluorescent effects by which
means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque objects are
made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs.. So called from the
discoverer, W. C. Röntgen. -- X ray, the Röntgen ray; -- so called by
its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an
algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.
Ray, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rayed (rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Raying.] [Cf. OF.
raier, raiier, rayer, L. radiare to irradiate. See Ray, n., and cf.
Radiate.] 1. To mark with long lines; to streak. [Obs.] Chaucer.
2. [From Ray, n.] To send forth or shoot out; to cause to shine out;
as, to ray smiles. [R.] Thomson.
Ray, v. i. To shine, as with rays. Mrs. Browning.
Ray, n. [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. Roach.] (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of numerous
elasmobranch fishes of the order Raiæ, including the skates, torpedoes,
sawfishes, etc. (b) In a restricted sense, any of the broad, flat,
narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate.
Bishop ray, a yellow-spotted, long-tailed eagle ray (Stoasodon
nàrinari) of the Southern United States and the West Indies. --
Butterfly ray, a short-tailed American sting ray (Pteroplatea Maclura),
having very broad pectoral fins. -- Devil ray. See Sea devil. -- Eagle
ray, any large ray of the family Myliobatidæ, or Ætobatidæ. The common
European species (Myliobatis aquila) is called also whip ray, and
miller. -- Electric ray, or Cramp ray, a torpedo. -- Starry ray, a
common European skate (Raia radiata). -- Sting ray, any one of numerous
species of rays of the family Trygonidæ having one or more large,
sharp, barbed dorsal spines on the whiplike tail. Called also
stingaree.
||Ra"yah (r"y or rä"y), n. [Ar. ra'iyah a herd, a subject, fr. ra'a to
||pasture, guard.] A person not a Mohammedan, who pays the capitation
||tax. [Turkey]
Ray" grass` (r" grs`). [Etymol. of ray is uncertain.] (Bot.) A
perennial European grass (Lolium perenne); -- called also rye grass,
and red darnel. See Darnel, and Grass.
Italian ray, or rye, grass. See Darnel, and Grass.
Ray"less (r"ls), a. Destitute of rays; hence, dark; not illuminated;
blind; as, a rayless sky; rayless eyes.
Ray"on (r"n), n. [F.] Ray; beam. [Obs.] Spenser.
Ray"on*nant (r"n*nnt), a. [F.] (Her.) Darting forth rays, as the sun
when it shines out.
Raze (rz), n. [See Race.] A Shakespearean word (used once) supposed to
mean the same as race, a root.
Raze, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Razed (rzd); p. pr. & vb. n. Razing.] [F.
raser. See Rase, v. t.] [Written also rase.] 1. To erase; to efface; to
obliterate.
Razing the characters of your renown.
Shak.
2. To subvert from the foundation; to lay level with the ground; to
overthrow; to destroy; to demolish.
The royal hand that razed unhappy Troy.
Dryden.
Syn. -- To demolish; level; prostrate; overthrow; subvert; destroy;
ruin. See Demolish.
Razed (rzd), a. Slashed or striped in patterns. [Obs.] "Two Provincial
roses on my razed shoes." Shak.
Ra*zee" (r*z"), n. [F. vaisseau rasé, fr. raser to raze, to cut down
ships. See Raze, v. t., Rase, v. t.] (Naut.) An armed ship having her
upper deck cut away, and thus reduced to the next inferior rate, as a
seventy-four cut down to a frigate. Totten.
Ra*zee", v. t. [imp. & p. p. Razeed (r*zd"); p. pr. & vb. n. Razeeing.]
To cut down to a less number of decks, and thus to an inferior rate or
class, as a ship; hence, to prune or abridge by cutting off or
retrenching parts; as, to razee a book, or an article.
Ra"zor (r"zr), n. [OE. rasour, OF. rasur, LL. rasor: cf. F. rasoir, LL.
rasorium. See Raze, v. t., Rase, v. t.] 1. A keen-edged knife of
peculiar shape, used in shaving the hair from the face or the head.
"Take thee a barber's razor." Ezek. v. 1.
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