use-icon

HOW TO USE THE DICTIONARY

To look up an entry in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, use the search window above. For best results, after typing in the word, click on the “Search” button instead of using the “enter” key.

Some compound words (like bus rapid transit, dog whistle, or identity theft) don’t appear on the drop-down list when you type them in the search bar. For best results with compound words, place a quotation mark before the compound word in the search window.

guide to the dictionary

use-icon

THE USAGE PANEL

The Usage Panel is a group of nearly 200 prominent scholars, creative writers, journalists, diplomats, and others in occupations requiring mastery of language. Annual surveys have gauged the acceptability of particular usages and grammatical constructions.

The Panelists

open-icon

AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY APP

The new American Heritage Dictionary app is now available for iOS and Android.

scroll-icon

THE AMERICAN HERITAGE DICTIONARY BLOG

The articles in our blog examine new words, revised definitions, interesting images from the fifth edition, discussions of usage, and more.

100-words-icon

See word lists from the best-selling 100 Words Series!

Find out more!

open-icon

INTERESTED IN DICTIONARIES?

Check out the Dictionary Society of North America at http://www.dictionarysociety.com

bay 1 (bā)
Share:
n.
1. A body of water partially enclosed by land but with a wide mouth, affording access to the sea: the Bay of Biscay.
2. An area of land, such as an arm of prairie partially enclosed by woodland, that resembles in shape or formation a partially enclosed body of water.

[Middle English, from Old French baie, perhaps from baer, to open out, gape; see BAY2.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
bay 2 (bā)
Share:
n.
1. Architecture A part of a building marked off by vertical elements, such as columns or pilasters: an arcade divided into ten bays.
2. Architecture
a. A bay window.
b. An opening or recess in a wall.
3. A section or compartment, as in a service station, barn, or aircraft, that is set off for a specific purpose: a cargo bay; an engine bay.
4. A sickbay.
5. Computers A drive bay.

[Middle English, from Old French baie, from baer, to open up, gape, from Vulgar Latin *batāre, to yawn, gape, from Late Latin bat, onomatopoeic word imitative of a yawn.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
bay 3 (bā)
Share:
adj.
Reddish-brown: a bay colt.
n.
1. A reddish brown.
2. A reddish-brown animal, especially a horse having a black mane and tail.

[Middle English bai, from Old French, from Latin badius, perhaps of Celtic origin; akin to Old Irish buide, yellow.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
bay 4 (bā)
Share:
n.
1. A deep, prolonged bark, such as the sound made by hounds.
2. The position of one cornered by pursuers and forced to turn and fight at close quarters: The hunters brought their quarry to bay.
3. The position of having been checked or held at a distance: "He has seen the nuclear threat held at bay for 40 years" (Earl W. Foell).
v. bayed, bay·ing, bays
v.intr.
To utter a deep, prolonged bark.
v.tr.
1. To pursue or challenge with barking: "I had rather be a dog, and bay the moon" (Shakespeare).
2. To express by barking or howling: a mob baying its fury.
3. To bring to bay: "too big for the dogs which tried to bay it" (William Faulkner).

[Middle English, from abai, the cornering of a hunted animal by barking dogs, from Old French, from abaier, to bark; akin to Italian abbaiare and Occitan abaiar, all ultimately of imitative origin. Verb, from Middle English baien, to bark, from abaien, from Old French abaier.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 
bay 5 (bā)
Share:
n.
1. See laurel.
2. Any of certain other trees or shrubs with aromatic foliage, such as the California laurel.
3. A crown or wreath made especially of the leaves and branches of the laurel and given as a sign of honor or victory.
4. often bays Honor; renown.

[Middle English, from Old French baie, berry, from Latin bāca.]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition copyright ©2022 by HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
 

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

    Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

    Indo-European Roots

    Semitic Roots

    The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.