The Collaborative International Dictionary
Ay \Ay\, interj.
Ah! alas! ``Ay me! I fondly dream `Had ye been there.'''
--Milton.
Ay \Ay\, adv. Same as Aye. [1913 Webster] ||
Aye \Aye\, Ay \Ay\, adv. [Perh. a modification of yea, or from the interjection of admiration or astonishment, OE. ei, ey, why, hey, ay, well, ah, ha. Cf. MHG. & G. ei, Dan. ej. Or perh. akin to aye ever.] Yes; yea; -- a word expressing assent, or an affirmative answer to a question. It is much used in viva voce voting in legislative bodies, etc.
Note: This word is written I in the early editions of Shakespeare and other old writers.
Aye \Aye\, Ay \Ay\, adv. [Icel. ei, ey; akin to AS. [=a], [=a]wa, always, Goth. aiws an age, Icel. [ae]fi, OHG, ?wa, L. aevum, Gr. ? an age, ?, ?, ever, always, G. je, Skr. ?va course. ?, ?. Cf. Age, v., Either, a., Or, conj.] Always; ever; continually; for an indefinite time.
For his mercies aye endure.
--Milton.
For aye, always; forever; eternally.
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
see aye.
Wiktionary
a. For an indefinite time. adv. always; ever. alt. For an indefinite time. interj. 1 ah! alas! 2 (alternative spelling of aye nodot=yes English) ("yes") 3 (alternative spelling of eh from=NZ nodot=yes English) (question tag) n. (alternative spelling of aye nodot=yes English) ("yes")
Wikipedia
AY and variants may refer to:
Usage examples of "ay".
Not Jove: while yet his frown shook Heaven ay, when His adversary from adamantine chains Cursed him, he trembled like a slave.
Ay, I know you have arsenic, Vitriol, sal-tartar, argaile, alkali, Cinoper: I know all.
As he picked hurriedly towards the hatch again, two Biter men, Tom Hugg and Silas Ayling, emerged from between some cargo stacks, their faces beaming, while behind them came three bloodied seamen and behind them in their turn Tennison and Mann, who had a pistol, cocked and dangerous in such a space.
CLER: Ay, if we can hold up the emulation betwixt Foole and Daw, and never bring them to expostulate.
I saw old Umslopogaas stagger to his feet -- ay, and saw him by a single gigantic effort swing up the struggling Nasta and with a shout of triumph hurl him straight over the parapet of the bridge, to be crushed to powder on the rocks two hundred feet below.
Ay, I could set your freend over if he cam here round about eleven--mAybe, a wee thing later.
Ay, and he has saved me, by a very little, and therefore because of the deeds that they have done -- deeds of glory such as our history cannot show the like -- therefore I sAy that the name of Macumazahn and the name of dead Umslopogaas, Ay, and the name of Kara, my servant, who aided him to hold the stair, shall be blazoned in letters of gold above my throne, and shall be glorious for ever while the land endures.
This is ma stoap, Ronnie, ah sais, risin n makin him git up tae lit ays oot.
Well, it would stoap ays huvin tae listen tae um gaun oan aboot you aw the time.
V Now sleeping once on a dAy of marvellous fire, A brood of snakes he had cherished in grave regret That death his people had dealt their dam and their sire, Through savage dread of them, crept to his neck, and set Their tongues to lick him: the swift affectionate tongue Of each ran licking the slumberer: then his ears A forked red tongue tickled shrewdly: sudden upsprung, He heard a voice piping: Ay, for he has no fears!
Ay, and he thinks to carry it awAy with his manhood still where he comes: he brags he will give me the bastinado, as I hear.
Swindled them all, skivvies and badhachs from the county Meath, ay, and his own kidney too.
Ay, prithee consider, for thou shalt find me very much at thy Service.
We have often as good hearts, ay, and as much good nature, too, as the careful prosers who utter nothing but what is right, or the heavy thinkers who have too little fancy to say anything that is wrong.
They didnae tell ays that they lit schemies in here, the huge figure grinned at him.