FromMiddle Englishay,ai,aȝȝ, fromOld Norseei,ey, fromProto-Germanic*aiwa,*aiwō(“ever, always”) (compareOld Englishāwo,āwa,ā,ō,Middle Dutchie,Germanje), from*aiwaz(“age; law”) (compareOld Englishǣ(w)(“law”),West Frisianieu(“century”),Dutcheeuw(“century”)), fromProto-Indo-European*h₂eyu-(“long time”) (compareIrishaois(“age, period”),Bretonoad(“age, period”),Latinævum(“eternity”),Ancient Greekαἰών(aiṓn)).Doublet ofaeviternity andaevum.
aye (notcomparable)
- (archaic)ever,always
1610–1611 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene i]:[…]Do that good miſcheefe, which may make this Iſland / Thine owne for euer, and I thyCaliban, / Foraye thy foot-licker.
1834,Samuel Taylor Coleridge,The Rime of the Ancient Mariner:The ship drove fast, loud roared the blast, / And southwardaye we fled.
1851 November 14,Herman Melville, chapter XIII, inMoby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.:Harper & Brothers; London:Richard Bentley,→OCLC:Huge hills and mountains of casks on casks were piled upon her wharves, and side by side the world-wandering whale ships lay silent and safely moored at last; while from others came a sound of carpenters and coopers, with blended noises of fires and forges to melt the pitch, all betokening that new cruises were on the start; that one most perilous and long voyage ended, only begins a second; and a second ended, only begins a third, and so on, for ever and foraye.
- Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “AYE,adv.1.”, inThe English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumeI (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to theEnglish Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.:G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons,→OCLC,page104.
"Appears suddenly about 1575, and is exceedingly common about 1600."[1] Probably from use ofaye(“ever, always”) as expression of agreement or affirmation, or fromMiddle Englisha ye(“oh yes”), or synthesis of both. CompareFaroeseája(“certainly, ah yes”). More atoh,yea.Online Etymology Dictionary also with these posits a possible descent fromI (as if clipped from e.g. "I assent").
aye
- yes;yea;a word expressingassent, or anaffirmative answer to a question.
- (nautical)a word used to acknowledge a command from a superior, usually preceded by averbatim repeat-back.
- It is much used inScotland, thenorth andMidlands of England, Northern Ireland, and North Wales, as well as in New Zealand (where it may follow rather than precede a statement). Also notably seen inviva voce voting in legislative bodies, etc., or innautical contexts.
- Frank Graham, editor (1987), “AYE”, inThe New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing,→ISBN.
- Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “aye”, inNewcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group[2], archived fromthe original on2024-09-05.
- Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “aye”, inA Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear:Northumbria University Press,→ISBN.
- Joseph Wright, editor (1898), “AYE,adv.2.”, inThe English Dialect Dictionary: […], volumeI (A–C), London: Henry Frowde, […], publisher to theEnglish Dialect Society, […]; New York, N.Y.:G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons,→OCLC,pages104-105.
aye (third-person singular simple presentayes,present participleayeingor(now nonstandard)aying,simple past and past participleayed)
- To respond with an "aye".
- 1981, Penelope Neri,Passion's Rapture, p. 160:
- The menayed their agreement.
aye (pluralayes)
- An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative.
"To call for theayes and nays;" "Theayes have it."
aye
- (MLE, MTE, regional African-American Vernacular, Chicano)Misspelling ofeh.
- (New Zealand)Alternative spelling ofay (question tag)
FromMalayair(“water”).[1]
aye
- water
- ^Nala H. Lee (2022)A Grammar of Modern Baba Malay[1], De Gruyter,→DOI,→ISBN
aye
- plural ofaya
Borrowed fromBetawiayè.Doublet ofsaya.
aye
- (Jakarta, colloquial)First-person singular pronoun:I,me,my
Other pronouns with the same meaning used in Jakarta:
Other pronouns with the same meaning used elsewhere:
Inherited fromProto-Malayic*air, fromProto-Malayo-Polynesian*wahiʀ.
aye
- water
gunounyo supayoaye idek tageneng tengoh lamang- its purpose is so that water not to pool at the yard
- Blust, Robert; Trussel, Stephen; et al. (2023) “*wahiR”, in the CLDF dataset fromThe Austronesian Comparative Dictionary (2010–),→DOI
- Usman, A. Hakim (1985) “aye”, inKamus Umum Kerinci—Indonesia, Jakarta: Pusat Pembinaan dan Pengembangan Bahasa
aye (pluralayer orayren)
- Alternative form ofey(“egg”)
FromOld Norseei,ey, cognate withOld Englishā. See the etymology for the English word above.
aye (notcomparable)
- always,still
A'llaye be wi ye an A'm nae carin whit thay sae.- I'llalways be with you and I don't care what they say.
It'llaye be the same wi thaim thou.- It'llstill be the same with them though.
aye
- Alternative form ofay
- “ay,adv.”, inThe Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh:Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present,→OCLC, retrieved24 May 2024, reproduced fromWilliam A[lexander] Craigie,A[dam] J[ack] Aitken[et al.], editors,A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue: […], Oxford, Oxfordshire:Oxford University Press, 1931–2002,→OCLC.
- “ay,interj.”, inThe Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh:Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present,→OCLC, retrieved24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors,The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh:Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976,→OCLC.
- “aye,adv.”, inThe Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh:Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present,→OCLC, retrieved24 May 2024, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors,The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh:Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976,→OCLC.
aye m (pluralayes)
- whine;whining;whinging
FromMiddle Englishay, fromOld Norseey.
aye
- ever
1867,CONGRATULATORY ADDRESS IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, page116, lines14-15:till ee zin o'oure daies be varaye be ee-go t'glade.- until the sun of our lives (be forever) be gone down the dark valley (of death).
- Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor,A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published1867,page116
Cognate withEdoaye
ayé
- world
- life
àyè
- chance,opportunity
- ráyè(“to get the opportunity”)
àyè
- (Ekiti)lies,falsehood
- Synonyms:irọ́,ụrọ́,èké
