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to hay

to hay

2 6.7
To cut and dry grass to make food for animals
  • verb
  • /heɪ/
translation icon : hacer heno
  • They'll be done haying by midafternoon.

Examples

  • I keep the fire going to heat the house and hay the horses.

    Blog text (18)
  • Karmanns started haying last week, and as you pass, think of the snap beans.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • I would help them hay.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Griswold had just hayed his fields.

    Fiction book (2001)
  • Some work only the men did together, like haying and harvesting the corn.

    Fiction book (1992)
  • The Weitzels are out haying, the smaller boy atop the wagon with a fork.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Mary hayed the cattle and the sheep and had Martha water and haul the hog trough full.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Haying crews of the local youth were Vermont's House of Lords—a grand anachronism.

    Fiction book (1995)
  • Every summer, farmers often hay their fields to prepare for the winter months.

  • The workers started to hay the grass early in the morning before the sun got too hot.

Synonyms

to crop
vsto hay
1 2.3

To cut back plants to make them grow better

focuses on cutting and drying grass to make stored animal feed

Idioms

to hit the hay
  • Informal
8 6.0

To go to bed to sleep after a long day

to make hay
  • Informal
5 6.6

To use a good chance to get an advantage

1 9.7

Something valuable and important

Act while a good chance is still there

1 9.2

A short, casual time when two people have sex

To have sex briefly in a casual way

Compounds

6 2.7

An allergy that makes your nose and eyes itchy and runny in spring and summer

4 2.5

A large, tightly packed bundle of dried grass used as animal feed

1 3.0

A ride in a wagon filled with hay for fun on a farm

hay bacillus
  • Specialized
5.3

A common soil bacterium that breaks down dead plants and sometimes makes antibiotics

hay conditioner
  • Specialized
8.4

A farm machine that crushes new hay to help it dry faster

7.7

A plant that has a smell like dry hay

A plant with pale green feathery leaves that smells like hay when touched

Surface Forms

hay infinitive
hayed past
hayed past participle
haying present participle
hays third person singular

Etymology

The verb hay comes from the same old English word for 'cut grass' as the noun, and it simply means to cut and dry grass to make animal feed, as when farmers make a haystack.