ray

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ray1

▶noun

• 1 each of the lines in which light seems to stream from the sun or any luminous body, or pass through a small opening.

  ■ the straight line in which light or other electromagnetic radiation travels to a given point.

  ■ (rays) a specified form of non-luminous radiation: ultraviolet rays.

  ■ (rays) informal, chiefly N. Amer. sunlight considered in the context of sunbathing.

• 2 an initial or slight indication of a positive or welcome quality: a ray of hope.

• 3 Mathematics any of a set of straight lines passing through one point.

• 4 Botany any of the individual strap-shaped florets around the edge of the flower of a daisy or related plant.

• 5 Zoology each of the long slender bony supports in the fins of most bony fishes.

• 6 Zoology each radial arm of a starfish.

▶verb

• 1 spread from or as if from a central point.

• 2 literary radiate (light).

– phrases
ray of sunshine informal a person who brings happiness to others.

– derivatives
-rayed adjective,
rayless adjective.

– origin ME: from OFr. rai, based on L. radius ‘spoke, ray’.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ray2

▶noun a broad flat cartilaginous fish with wing-like pectoral fins and a long slender tail. [Order Batiformes: many species.]

– origin ME: from OFr. raie, from L. raia.

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
ray3 (also re)

▶noun Music (in tonic sol-fa) the second note of a major scale.

■ the note D in the fixed-doh system.

– origin ME re, representing (as an arbitrary name for the note) the first syllable of resonare, taken from a Latin hymn.