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• IPA^(key):/əˈnɔɪ/
• Rhymes:-ɔɪ

FromMiddle Englishanoyen, fromOld Frenchanoier(“to bother, disturb”), fromLate Latininodiāre(“to make loathsome”), derived fromLatinodium(“loathing, hatred”). Displaced nativeOld Englishdreċċan,gremman.

annoy (third-person singular simple presentannoys,present participleannoying,simple past and past participleannoyed)

1. (transitive) Todisturb orirritate, especially by continued or repeated acts; to bother with unpleasant deeds.

   Synonyms:bother,irritate;see alsoThesaurus:annoy

   Antonym:please

   Marc loved his sister, but when sheannoyed him he wanted to switch her off.

   • 1735,Alexander Pope,Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot‎^[1]:

     Yet let me flap this bug with gilded wings, / This painted child of dirt that stinks and stings; / Whose buzz the witty and the fairannoys, / Yet wit ne'er tastes, and beauty ne'r enjoys.

   • 1993, D.C. Fontana, Peter Allan Fields, “Dax”, inStar Trek: Deep Space Nine, season 1, episode 8, spoken by Kira Nerys (Nana Visitor):

     You Klaestrons are allies of the Cardassians; your knowledge of the station confirms that they must have given you the layouts. Which not only compromises Bajoran security, but also...annoys us.

   • 2013 May 25, “No hiding place”, inThe Economist‎^[2], volume407, number8837, page74:

     In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result. If the bumf arrived electronically, the take-up rate was 0.1%. And for online adverts the “conversion” into sales was a minuscule 0.01%. That means about $165 billion was spent not on drumming up business, but onannoying people, creating landfill and cluttering spam filters.

2. (intransitive) To do something to upset or anger someone; to betroublesome.(Can weverify⁽⁺⁾ this sense?)
3. (transitive,archaic) Tomolest; toharm; toinjure.

   Synonyms:damage,wound;see alsoThesaurus:harm

   toannoy an army by impeding its march, or by a cannonade

   • 1644 December 3 (Gregorian calendar),John Evelyn, “[Diary entry for 23 November 1644]”, inWilliam Bray, editor,Memoirs, Illustrative of the Life and Writings of John Evelyn, […], 2nd edition, volume I, London:Henry Colburn, […]; and sold by John and Arthur Arch, […], published1819,→OCLC:

     tapers put into lanterns or sconces of several-coloured, oiled paper, that the wind might notannoy them

   • 1691,Matthew Prior,Pastoral to Dr. Turner, Bishop of Ely:

     Say, what can more our tortured soulsannoy / Than to behold, admire, and lose our joy?

FromMiddle Englishanoy, fromOld Frenchenui.Doublet ofennui.

annoy (pluralannoys)

1. (literary,archaic) A feeling ofdiscomfort orvexation caused by what one dislikes.
   • 1606 (date written), [Francis Beaumont;John Fletcher],The Woman Hater. […], London:[…][Robert Raworth], and are to be sold by John Hodgets […], published1607,→OCLC,Act III, scene i:

     VVe that ſuffer longanoy / Are contented vvith a thought / Through an idle fancie vvrought / O let my ioyes have ſome abiding.

   • 1870,Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Success”, inSociety and Solitude. Twelve Chapters, Boston, Mass.:Fields, Osgood, & Co.,→OCLC,page272:

     [I]f she says he was defeated, why he had better, a great deal, have been defeated, than give her a moment'sannoy.

2. (literary,archaic) That which causes such a feeling.
   • c.1593 (date written),William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Richard the Third: […]”, inMr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London:[…]Isaac Iaggard, andEd[ward] Blount, published1623,→OCLC,[Act IV, scene ii]:

     Sleepe in Peace, and wake in Ioy, / Good Angels guard thee from the Boaresannoy[…]

   • 1872,Robert Browning,Fifine at the Fair, London:Smith, Elder and Co., […],→OCLC, stanza 5,page 4:

     The home far and away, the distance where lives joy, / The cure, at once and ever, of world and world'sannoy;[…]

• (both senses)annoyance

• William Dwight Whitney,Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “annoy”, inThe Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.:The Century Co.,→OCLC.
• “annoy”, inWebster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.:G. & C. Merriam,1913,→OCLC.

• Yonan,anyon,noyan,yanno

annoy

1. Alternative form ofanoy
   • [c.1360s (date written)​, Geffray Chaucer [i.e.,Geoffrey Chaucer], “The Romaunt of the Rose”, in [William Thynne], editor,The Workes of Geffray Chaucer Newlye Printed, […], [London:[…]Richard Grafton for]Iohn Reynes […], published1542,→OCLC:

     I merveyle me wonder faste / How ony man may lyve or laste / In such peyne and such brennyng, /[…] In suchannoy contynuely.

     (pleaseadd an English translation of this quotation)]