Tray Meaning
/tɹeɪ/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA small, typically rectangular or round, flat, and rigid object upon which things are carried.
nounThe items on a full tray.
Sentence Examples
On the tray are five objects - three of them are keys.
Irene Pepperberg holds a round tray in front of a parrot she has named Alex.
He made his sister a nice pen tray.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The waiter carried a full ____ of drinks across the busy restaurant.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She carried the small silver ____ into the living room and served everyone some fresh tea and biscuits today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English trey, from Old English trēġ, trīġ (“wooden board, tray”), from Proto-West Germanic *trauwi, from Proto-Germanic *trawją (“wooden vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *drewo-, *dóru (“tree; wood”). Cognate with Old Norse treyja (“carrier”), Old Swedish trø (“wooden grain measure”), Low German Treechel (“dough trough”), Ancient Greek δροίτη (droítē, “tub, vat”), Sanskrit द्रोण (droṇa, “trough”). Related to trough and tree.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet."
— 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
"[…]some developers try to use it that way for some reason (some applications inexplicably minimize to the tray rather than to the taskbar as they should)."
— 2007, Brian Livingston, Paul Thurrott, Windows Vista Secrets:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The waiter carried a full ____ of drinks across the busy restaurant.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She carried the small silver ____ into the living room and served everyone some fresh tea and biscuits today.