hit the hay

- 5 dictionary results

hay

[hey]

–noun

1.	grass, clover, alfalfa, etc., cut and dried for use as forage.

2.	grass mowed or intended for mowing.

Slang.

a.	a small sum of money: Twenty dollars an hour for doing very little certainly ain't hay.

b.	money: A thousand dollars for a day's work is a lot of hay!

4.	Slang. marijuana.

–verb (used with object)

5.	to convert (plant material) into hay.

6.	to furnish (horses, cows, etc.) with hay.

–verb (used without object)

7.	to cut grass, clover, or the like, and store for use as forage.

—Idioms

8.	a roll in the hay, Slang. sexual intercourse.

9.	hit the hay, Informal. to go to bed: It got to be past midnight before anyone thought of hitting the hay.

10.	in the hay, in bed; retired, esp. for the night: By ten o'clock he's in the hay.

11.	make hay of, to scatter in disorder; render ineffectual: The destruction of the manuscript made hay of two years of painstaking labor.

12.	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:
bef. 900; ME; OE hēg; c. G Heu, ON hey, Goth hawi. See hew

Related forms:

hayey, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Link To hit the hay

Anderson Hay & Grain Co.
Leading exporter of hay and grain products

www.anderson-hay.com

Hay
Los Angeles' Online Local Search Find Hay Here!

www.local.com

hit (hĭt)

v. hit, hit·ting, hits

v. tr.

1. To come into contact with forcefully; strike: The car hit the guardrail.
2. To reach with or as if with a blow: The bullet hit the police officer in the shoulder.
3. To cause to come into contact: She hit her hand against the wall.
4. To deal a blow to.
5. To strike with a missile: fired and hit the target.
6. To reach with a propelled ball or puck: hit the running back with a pass.
7. To score in this way: She hit the winning basket.
8. To perform (a shot or maneuver) successfully: couldn't hit the jump shot.
9. To propel with a stroke or blow: hit the ball onto the green.
10. To execute (a base hit) successfully: hit a single.
11. To bat against (a pitcher or kind of pitch) successfully: can't hit a slider.
12. To affect, especially adversely: The company was hit hard by the recession. Influenza hit the elderly the hardest.
13. To be affected by (a negative development): Their marriage hit a bad patch.
14. To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
15. To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to: It finally hit him that she might be his long-lost sister.
16. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
17. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
18. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
1. To cause to come into contact: She hit her hand against the wall.
2. To deal a blow to.
3. To strike with a missile: fired and hit the target.
4. To reach with a propelled ball or puck: hit the running back with a pass.
5. To score in this way: She hit the winning basket.
6. To perform (a shot or maneuver) successfully: couldn't hit the jump shot.
7. To propel with a stroke or blow: hit the ball onto the green.
8. To execute (a base hit) successfully: hit a single.
9. To bat against (a pitcher or kind of pitch) successfully: can't hit a slider.
10. To affect, especially adversely: The company was hit hard by the recession. Influenza hit the elderly the hardest.
11. To be affected by (a negative development): Their marriage hit a bad patch.
12. To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
13. To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to: It finally hit him that she might be his long-lost sister.
14. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
15. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
16. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
To press or push (a key or button, for example): hit the return key by mistake.
Sports
1. To reach with a propelled ball or puck: hit the running back with a pass.
2. To score in this way: She hit the winning basket.
3. To perform (a shot or maneuver) successfully: couldn't hit the jump shot.
4. To propel with a stroke or blow: hit the ball onto the green.
5. To execute (a base hit) successfully: hit a single.
6. To bat against (a pitcher or kind of pitch) successfully: can't hit a slider.
7. To affect, especially adversely: The company was hit hard by the recession. Influenza hit the elderly the hardest.
8. To be affected by (a negative development): Their marriage hit a bad patch.
9. To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
10. To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to: It finally hit him that she might be his long-lost sister.
11. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
12. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
13. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
Baseball
1. To execute (a base hit) successfully: hit a single.
2. To bat against (a pitcher or kind of pitch) successfully: can't hit a slider.
3. To affect, especially adversely: The company was hit hard by the recession. Influenza hit the elderly the hardest.
4. To be affected by (a negative development): Their marriage hit a bad patch.
5. To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
6. To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to: It finally hit him that she might be his long-lost sister.
7. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
8. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
9. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
1. To affect, especially adversely: The company was hit hard by the recession. Influenza hit the elderly the hardest.
2. To be affected by (a negative development): Their marriage hit a bad patch.
3. To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
4. To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to: It finally hit him that she might be his long-lost sister.
5. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
6. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
7. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
Informal
1. To win (a prize, for example), especially in a lottery.
2. To arise suddenly in the mind of; occur to: It finally hit him that she might be his long-lost sister.
3. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
4. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
5. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
1. Informal To go to or arrive at: We hit the beach early.
2. Informal To attain or reach: Monthly sales hit a new high. She hit 40 on her last birthday.
3. To produce or represent accurately: trying to hit the right note.
Games To deal cards to.
Sports To bite on or take (bait or a lure). Used of a fish.

v. intr.

To strike or deal a blow.
1. To come into contact with something; collide.
2. To attack: The raiders hit at dawn.
3. To happen or occur: The storm hit without warning.
To achieve or find something desired or sought: finally hit on the answer; hit upon a solution to the problem.
Baseball To bat or bat well: Their slugger hasn't been hitting lately.
Sports To score by shooting, especially in basketball: hit on 7 of 8 shots.
To ignite a mixture of air and fuel in the cylinders. Used of an internal-combustion engine.

1. A collision or impact.
2. A successfully executed shot, blow, thrust, or throw.
3. Sports A deliberate collision with an opponent, such as a body check in ice hockey.
4. A match of data in a search string against data that one is searching.
5. A connection made to a website over the Internet or another network: Our company's website gets about 2,000 hits daily.
6. A dose of a narcotic drug.
7. A puff of a cigarette or a pipe.
A successful or popular venture: a Broadway hit.
Computer Science
1. A match of data in a search string against data that one is searching.
2. A connection made to a website over the Internet or another network: Our company's website gets about 2,000 hits daily.
3. A dose of a narcotic drug.
4. A puff of a cigarette or a pipe.
An apt or effective remark.
Abbr. H Baseball A base hit.
Slang
1. A dose of a narcotic drug.
2. A puff of a cigarette or a pipe.
Slang A murder planned and carried out usually by a member of an underworld syndicate.

Phrasal Verb(s):
hit on Slang To pay unsolicited and usually unwanted sexual attention to: can't go into a bar lately without being hit on.
hit up Slang To approach and ask (someone) for something, especially for money: tried to hit me up for a loan.

Idiom(s):
hit it big Slang To be successful: investors who hit it big on the stock market.

Idiom(s):
hit it off Informal To get along well together.

Idiom(s):
hit the books Informal To study, especially with concentrated effort.

Idiom(s):
hit the bottle/booze/sauce Slang To engage in drinking alcoholic beverages.

Idiom(s):
hit the bricks Slang To go on strike.

Idiom(s):
hit the fan Slang To have serious, usually adverse consequences.

Idiom(s):
hit the ground running Informal To begin a venture with great energy, involvement, and competence.

Idiom(s):
hit the hay/sack Slang To go to bed: hit the hay well before midnight.

Idiom(s):
hit the high points/spotsTo direct attention to the most important points or places.

Idiom(s):
hit the jackpotTo become highly and unexpectedly successful, especially to win a great deal of money.

Idiom(s):
hit the nail on the headTo be absolutely right.

Idiom(s):
hit the road Slang To set out, as on a trip; leave.

Idiom(s):
hit the roof/ceiling Slang To express anger, especially vehemently.

Idiom(s):
hit the spotTo give total or desired satisfaction, as food or drink.

[Middle English hitten, from Old English hyttan, from Old Norse hitta.]
hit'less adj., hit'ta·ble adj.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary

hit the hay

and hit the sack

tv.
to go to bed. : Time to go home and hit the hay! , Let's hit the sack. We have to get an early start in the morning.

Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source

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.

Idioms & Phrases

hit the hay

Also, hit the sack. Go to bed, as in I usually hit the hay after the eleven o'clock news, or I'm tired, let's hit the sack. The first colloquial expression dates from the early 1900s, the variant from about 1940.

Search another word or see hit the hay on Thesaurus | Reference

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