Bay

Bay Bay, n. [F. baie, fr. LL. baia. Of uncertain origin: cf. Ir. & Gael. badh or bagh bay, harbor, creek; Bisc. baia, baiya, harbor, and F. bayer to gape, open the mouth.] 1. (Geog.) An inlet of the sea, usually smaller than a gulf, but of the same general character. [1913 Webster]

Note: The name is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve; as, Hudson's Bay. The name is not restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but is used for any recess or inlet between capes or headlands; as, the Bay of Biscay. [1913 Webster]

2. A small body of water set off from the main body; as a compartment containing water for a wheel; the portion of a canal just outside of the gates of a lock, etc. [1913 Webster]

3. A recess or indentation shaped like a bay. [1913 Webster]

4. A principal compartment of the walls, roof, or other part of a building, or of the whole building, as marked off by the buttresses, vaulting, mullions of a window, etc.; one of the main divisions of any structure, as the part of a bridge between two piers. [1913 Webster]

5. A compartment in a barn, for depositing hay, or grain in the stalks. [1913 Webster]

6. A kind of mahogany obtained from Campeachy Bay. [1913 Webster]

{Sick bay}, in vessels of war, that part of a deck appropriated to the use of the sick. --Totten. [1913 Webster]