hay

make hay while the sun shines, to seize an opportunity when it presents itself: If you want to be a millionaire, you have to make hay while the sun shines. Also, make hay.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English; Old English hēg; cognate with German Heu, Old Norse hey, Gothic hawi. See hew

Related forms

hay·ey, adjective

un·hayed, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

John Milton, 1838–1905, U.S. statesman and author.

a river in NW Canada, flowing NE to the Great Slave Lake. 530 miles (853 km) long.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To hay

Collins

World English Dictionary

hay¹ (heɪ)

—n
1.	a. grass, clover, etc, cut and dried as fodder
	b. (in combination): a hayfield; a hayloft
2.	slang hit the hay to go to bed
3.	make hay of to throw into confusion
4.	make hay while the sun shines to take full advantage of an opportunity
5.	informal roll in the hay sexual intercourse or heavy petting

—vb
6.	to cut, dry, and store (grass, clover, etc) as fodder
7.	(tr) to feed with hay

[Old English hieg; related to Old Norse hey, Gothic hawi, Old Frisian hē, Old High German houwi; see hew]

hay or hey² (heɪ)

—n
1.	a circular figure in country dancing
2.	a former country dance in which the dancers wove in and out of a circle

[C16: of uncertain origin]

hey or hey²

—n

[C16: of uncertain origin]

Hay (heɪ)

—n
	Will. 1888--1949, British music-hall comedian, who later starred in films, such as Oh, Mr Porter! (1937)

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

hay

"grass mown," O.E. heg (Anglian), hieg, hig (W.Saxon) "grass cut or mown for fodder," from P.Gmc. *khaujan (cf. O.N. hey, O.Fris. ha, M.Du. hoy, Ger. Heu, Goth. hawi "hay"), lit. "that which is cut," or "that which can be mowed," from PIE *kau- "to hew, strike" (cf. O.E. heawan "to cut"). Hay-fever is

from 1829; earlier it was called summer catarrh. Hayseed is from 1577 in the literal sense of "grass seed shaken out of hay;" in U.S. slang sense of "comical rustic" it dates from 1851. Haymaker in the sense of "very strong blow with the fist" is from 1912, probably in imitation of the wide swinging stroke of a scythe. Slang phrase hit the hay (pre-1880) was originally "to sleep in a barn;" hay in the general fig. sense of "bedding" (e.g. roll in the hay) is from 1903.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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Easton

Bible Dictionary

Hay definition

properly so called, was not in use among the Hebrews; straw was used instead. They cut the grass green as it was needed. The word rendered "hay" in Prov. 27:25 means the first shoots of the grass. In Isa. 15:6 the Revised Version has correctly "grass," where the Authorized Version has "hay."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

hay

see hit the hay; make hay while the sun shines; roll in the hay; that ain't hay.