relay

CEFRB2

/ɹiˈleɪ/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

01
verb
To pass information or a message to someone else.
02
noun
A race in which team members take turns.

Examples

A runner must pass the baton in a relay race.
They raced to a thrilling victory in the relay.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses: 5
Parts of speech: 2
Citations: 4
Synonyms: 2

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

A new set of hounds.
A new set of horses kept along a specific route so that they can replace animals that are tired.
A series of vehicles travelling in sequence.

More examples

In context

We're one baton short for the relay.
Can you relay this message to John?
The CCTV cameras relay what's going on to the headquarters.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The soldier was ordered to blank the commander's message to the troops immediately.

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Nearby

Citations

The word in print, with each source given in full.

There is a snaky gleam in her hard grey eye, as of anticipated rounds of buttered toast, relays of hot chops, worryings and quellings of young children, sharp snappings at poor Berry, and all the other delights of her Ogress's castle.
1846 October 1 – 1848 April 1, Charles Dickens, “Retribution”, in Dombey and Son, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1848, →OCLC, page 594
Bank-notes fluttered down and lay about in all directions, relays of sovereigns rolled away like so much dross, […]
1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados
Over this section the 16th class are allowed to haul 800 tons, compared with 600 tons only by the 13th and 14th, and 450 tons by the 12th class engines, and in this way, without any expenditure on civil engineering works or relaying with heavier rails, the introduction of the 16th class has almost doubled the line capacity.
1940 December, O. S. M. Raw, “The Rhodesia Railways—II”, in Railway Magazine, page 640
A reader writes that some Ballachulish branch services are still worked by Class 2 2-6-0s Nos. 46460 and 78052, which have had to be retained at Oban until a tight curve on the outside line of the railway pier, used by coal and oil traffic for the island steamers, has been relaid to standards suitable for the diesels.
1962 December, “Motive Power Miscellany: Scottish Region”, in Modern Railways, page 427

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Origin

verb

From Middle French relai (“reserve pack of hounds”), from relaier (“to exchange tired animals for fresh”); literally, "to leave behind", from Old French relaier (“to leave behind”), from re- + laier (“to leave”), of uncertain origin.