hay

Meanings

Noun

• Grass cut and dried for use as animal fodder.
• Any mix of green leafy plants used for fodder.
• Cannabis; marijuana.
• A net set around the haunt of an animal, especially a rabbit.
• A hedge.
• A net placed around the lair or burrow of an animal.
• An enclosure, haw.
• A circular country dance.
• The letter for the h sound in Pitman shorthand.

Verb

• To cut grasses or herb plants for use as animal fodder.
• To lay snares for rabbits.

Origin

• From Middle English hey, from Old English hīeġ, from Proto-West Germanic *hawi, from Proto-Germanic *hawją (compare West Frisian hea, Dutch hooi, German Heu, Norwegian høy), from *hawwaną. More at hew.
• From Middle English haye, heye, a conflation of Old English heġe and Old English ġehæġ.
• From the sound it represents, by analogy with other letters such as kay and gay. The expected form in English if the h had survived in the Latin name of the letter "h", hā.