Other forms: bays
A bay is a wide curve of sea set into the coastline — smaller than a gulf, larger than a cove, and open to the water rather than enclosed by it.
The word does several unrelated jobs. A parking bay or a loading bay is a marked space; a bay window sticks out from a wall; a bay is a reddish-brown horse with a black mane and tail; and a bay leaf comes from the bay tree and goes into a stew. The verb is what a hound does when hunting — a long deep howl — and from it comes at bay, meaning held off but not defeated, which is the position of the animal the hounds have cornered.
1nounbayA wide curve of sea set into the coast.
“The whole bay freezes over in a hard winter.”
2nounmarkedA marked space for a vehicle or for loading.
“Park in bay fourteen.”
3nounhorseA reddish-brown horse with a black mane and tail.
“She rode a bay with one white sock.”
4verbhoundOf a hound, to give a long deep howl.
“The dogs were baying half the night.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
The sea sense came through French from a word for an opening or gulf. The horse colour is a different word entirely, from Latin badius, and the bay tree is a third, from Latin baca, a berry. Three unrelated words arrived at one spelling and stayed there.
French
baie
English, today
bay
From French baie. From French baie, from Latin baia, probably ultimately from xib - or Basque badia. Partly displaced native byht, whence bight.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA