Definition
adjPrepared for immediate action or use.
adjPrepared for immediate action or use., first only used predicatively, freely used from the end of the 17th century
Sentence Examples
It will take five to ten years for the technology to be ready.
Life begins when you're ready to live it.
He sat watching her as she got ready.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English redy, redi, rædiȝ, iredi, ȝerǣdi, alteration ( + -y) of earlier irēd, irede, ȝerād (“ready, prepared”), from Old English rǣde, ġerǣde (also ġerȳde) ("prepared, prompt, ready, ready for riding (horse), mounted (on a horse), skilled, simple, easy"), from Proto-Germanic *garaidijaz, *raidijaz, from base *raidaz (“ready”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂reh₁dʰ-, *h₂reh₁- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reydʰ- (“to ride”) in the sense of "set to ride, able or fit to go, ready". Cognate with Scots readie, reddy (“ready, prepared”), West Frisian ree (“ready”), Dutch gereed (“ready”), German bereit (“ready”), Danish rede (“ready”), Swedish redo (“ready, fit, prepared”), Norwegian reiug (“ready, prepared”), Icelandic greiður (“easy, light”), Gothic 𐌲𐌰𐍂𐌰𐌹𐌸𐍃 (garaiþs, “arranged, ordered”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit:"
— 1671, John Milton, “Samson Agonistes, […].”, in Paradise Regain’d. A Poem. In IV Books. To which is Added, Samson Agonistes, London: […] J[ohn] M[acock] for John Starkey […], →OCLC, page 87:
"she was told dinner was ready"
— 1711, Jonathan Swift, journal to Stella:
"Miranda: I'll admit it, Shepard. I'm impressed. You got us here. Are you ready?
Shepard: We're going in blind, and we don't even know if we'll survive the trip. No way in hell we're ready... but we don't have a choice."
— 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
"First their must be a clericall tonſure whereas they clyp thꝛee oꝛ fowꝛe lyttle heaires in his crowne, and he muſt[…]be hold a Priest ready made able to haue a benefice,[…]"
— 1565, Theodore Beza, The 7 poynt, of the clericall tonsure, in Robert Fyll, transl., A briefe and piththie summe of the Christian faith, page 149r:
"[…]and whoever can keep their Corps till they can ſend to London, and have a ready-made Coffin ſent down, may afterwards have them kept any reaſonable time."
— 1696, A Collection for Improvement of Husbandry and Trade, volumes 9-11, page 8: