dray meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

dray

noun

/dɹeɪ/

Etymology From Middle English draye, dreye, from Old English dræġe (“dragnet”), from Proto-Germanic *dragǭ. Cognate with Middle Low German drāge (“stretcher; dray”), Middle High German trage (“a litter”). Related to Old English dragan (“to pull; draw”). More at draw.

Historical Any of various forms of low horse-drawn cart or wagon, often without sides or with removable sides, and used especially for heavy loads.

Let him be brought into the field of election upon his dray-cart.1710 September 28, Joseph Addison, Whig-Examiner:
Standing foursquare in the heart of the town, at the intersection of the two main streets, a “jog” at each street corner left around the market-house a little public square, which at this hour was well occupied by carts and wagons from the country and empty drays awaiting hire1900, Charles W[addell] Chesnutt, chapter I, in The House Behind the Cedars, Boston, Mass.; New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC:

1 more example

The shooting motor cars, more like spiders in the moon than terrestrial objects, the thundering drays, the jingling hansoms, and little black broughams, made her think of the world she lived in.1915, Virginia Woolf, The Voyage Out, London: Duckworth & Co., […], →OCLC:

A kind of sledge or sled.

Derived terms: dragnet, drayage, drayful, drayhorse, drayload, drayman, drayperson, draywoman
Related terms: flatbed, stakebody
Coordinate terms: dumpcart, galamander, stoneboat, tumbril

dray

verb

To convey (goods) by dray.