Ray
(Ray), n. Array; order; arrangement; dress. [Obs.]
And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray.
Spenser. Ray
(Ray), n. [OF. rai, F. rais, fr. L. radius a beam or ray, staff, rod, spoke of a wheel. Cf. Radius.]
1. One of a number of lines or parts diverging from a common point or center, like the radii of a circle; as,
a star of six rays.
2. (Bot.) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, as an aster or
a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius. See Radius.
3. (Zoöl.) (a) One of the radiating spines, or cartilages, supporting the fins of fishes. (b) One of the
spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
4. (Physics) (a) A line of light or heat proceeding from a radiant or reflecting point; a single element
of light or heat propagated continuously; as, a solar ray; a polarized ray. (b) One of the component
elements of the total radiation from a body; any definite or limited portion of the spectrum; as, the red
ray; the violet ray. See Illust. under Light.
5. Sight; perception; vision; — from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded
from the eye to the object seen.
All eyes direct their rays
On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.
Pope. 6. (Geom.) One of a system of diverging lines passing through a point, and regarded as extending
indefinitely in both directions. See Half-ray.
Bundle of rays. (Geom.) See Pencil of rays, below. — Extraordinary ray (Opt.), that one of two
parts of a ray divided by double refraction which does not follow the ordinary law of refraction. — Ordinary
ray (Opt.), that one of the two parts of a ray divided by double refraction which follows the usual or
ordinary law of refraction. — Pencil of rays (Geom.), a definite system of rays. — Ray flower, or
Ray floret (Bot.), one of the marginal flowers of the capitulum in such composite plants as the aster,
goldenrod, daisy, and sunflower. They have an elongated, strap-shaped corolla, while the corollas of the
disk flowers are tubular and five-lobed. — Ray point (Geom.), the common point of a pencil of rays.
— Röntgen ray (rent"gen) (Phys.), a kind of ray generated in a very highly exhausted vacuum tube by
the electrical discharge. It is capable of passing through many bodies opaque to light, and producing
photographic and fluorescent effects by which means pictures showing the internal structure of opaque
objects are made, called radiographs, or sciagraphs.. So called from the discoverer, W. C. Röntgen. —
X ray, the Röntgen ray; — so called by its discoverer because of its enigmatical character, x being an
algebraic symbol for an unknown quantity.
Ray
(Ray), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Rayed (rad); p. pr. & vb. n. Raying.] [Cf. OF. raier, raiier, rayer, L.
radiare to irradiate. See Ray, n., and cf. Radiate.]
1. To mark with long lines; to streak. [Obs.] Chaucer.
2. [From Ray, n.] To send forth or shoot out; to cause to shine out; as, to ray smiles. [R.] Thomson.
Ray
(Ray), v. i. To shine, as with rays. Mrs. Browning.
Ray
(Ray), n. [F. raie, L. raia. Cf. Roach.] (Zoöl.) (a) Any one of numerous elasmobranch fishes
of the order Raiæ, including the skates, torpedoes, sawfishes, etc. (b) In a restricted sense, any of the
broad, flat, narrow-tailed species, as the skates and sting rays. See Skate.
