Definition
nounAny of the numerous species of birds belonging to several genera within the family Corvidae, including Garrulus, Cyanocitta, Aphelocoma, Perisoreus, Cyanocorax, Gymnorhinus, Cyanolyca, Ptilostomus, and Calocitta, allied to the crows, but smaller, more graceful in form, often handsomely coloured, usually having a crest, and often noisy.
nounAny of various other birds of similar appearance and behaviour.
Sentence Examples
Jay picked up the old scissors.
The Jay cries 'tac tac'.
Sami was smoking a jay in his room.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English jay, from Old French jai ("jay"; Modern French geai), either from Late Latin gaius (“jay”), or from Old French gai (“gay, merry”), so named due to its plumage, from Old Frankish *gāhi (“quick, impetuous”), from Proto-Germanic *ganhuz, *ganhwaz (“sudden”), cognate with Dutch gaai (“jay”). More at gay.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"They are the commonality of birddom, who furnish forth the mobs which bewilder the drunken-flighted jay when he jerks, shrieking in a series of blue hyphen-flashes through the air […]"
— 1878, Philip Stewart Robinson, In My Indian Garden:
"Burlington Bertie's the latest young jay
He rents a swell flat somewhere Kensington way
He spends the good oof that his pater has made
Along with the Brandy and Soda Brigade."
— 1900, Harry B. Norris, “Burlington Bertie”:
"Some jay of Italy, / Whose mother was her painting, hath betray'd him:"
— a. 1611, William Shakespeare, Cymbeline, act 3, scene 4, lines 50–51:
"Although sympathetic, my main reaction was to think: “Some people can handle it, and some people can’t,” and then smugly light up a big fat jay."
— 2009 March 23, Caitlin Moran, The Times:
"“I started to think about it. He’s coming in on a two-seater experimental plane to pitch me to go on a five-seater experimental sub that he has built down to the ocean floor to see the Titanic,” Jay said."
— 2023 June 24, Chris Lau and Sara Smart, “‘That could’ve been us,’ say father and son who pulled out of doomed Titan trip out of safety concerns”, in CNN: