bay
an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf
How often you will meet it
Rank 1,955 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 9,210 times across 155,139 chapters — 0.004% of every word in the library.
What it means
noun
- an indentation of a shoreline larger than a cove but smaller than a gulf also: embayment
- the sound of a hound on the scent
- small Mediterranean evergreen tree with small blackish berries and glossy aromatic leaves used for flavoring in cooking; also used by ancient Greeks to crown victors also: true laurel, bay laurel, bay tree, Laurus nobilis
- a compartment on a ship between decks; often used as a hospital they put him in the sick bay
- a compartment in an aircraft used for some specific purpose he opened the bomb bay
- a small recess opening off a larger room also: alcove
verb
- utter in deep prolonged tones
bay in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
-
Sophie looked up quickly from the Bay of Naples.
Actions and reactions · Rudyard Kipling · Chapter 1
-
A city lay before him, a strange golden city edging the shore of a vast, semi-circular bay.
The Firelight Fairy Book · Henry Beston · Chapter 1
-
She forgot, in her interest over Jimmy, to remember that the bay window looked directly on to the village street.
The Palace Beautiful: A Story for Girls · L. T. Meade · Chapter 1
-
But the bay was as good as Frome’s word, and we pushed on to the Junction through the wild white scene.
Ethan Frome · Edith Wharton · Chapter 1
-
Who knows what goadings in their sterner way O'er jagged ice, relieved by granite gray, Blew round the men of Massachusetts Bay?
Pennsylvania Pilgrim, and other poems Part 6 From — Volume I · John Greenleaf Whittier · Chapter 1