ready

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See also: Ready

Translingual

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Etymology

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From English ready, from the English-language sequence on your marks, ready, set, go, of which only ready is used translingually.

Interjection

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ready

  1. (sports) The command to make ready, regardless of language of competitors, used in multiple sports to get contestants to their marks in preparation to start.

English

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Etymology

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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).

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)

  1. Prepared for immediate action or use.
    The troops are ready for battle.
    The porridge is ready to serve.
  2. Inclined; apt to happen.
  3. Liable at any moment.
    The seed is ready to sprout.
  4. Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.
    Synonyms: dexterous, prompt, easy, expert
    a ready apprehension
    ready wit
    a ready writer or workman
  5. Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
    • 1667, John Milton, “Book X”, in Paradise Lost. [], London: [] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker []; [a]nd by Robert Boulter []; [a]nd Matthias Walker, [], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: [], London: Basil Montagu Pickering [], 1873, →OCLC, line 1097:
      Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way,
    • 1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria:
      A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Hypernyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Verb

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ready (third-person singular simple present readies, present participle readying, simple past and past participle readied)

  1. (transitive) To prepare; to make ready for action.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Noun

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ready (countable and uncountable, plural readies)

  1. (slang) Ready money; cash.
    • 1712, Humphry Polesworth [pseudonym; John Arbuthnot], “A Copy of Bull and Frog’s Letter to Lord Strutt”, in Law is a Bottomless-Pit. [], London: [] John Morphew, [], →OCLC, page 8:
      [H]e vvas not fluſh in Ready, either to go to Lavv or clear old Debts, neither could he find good Bail: []
    • 2008, Agnes Owens, The Group:
      [] he was generous when he had the cash. Many a time he kept me going in drink through the week when I was stuck for the ready []
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Anagrams

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