pray

Formsprays, praying, prayed

1. 1
   talk to Godverbintransitive

   To direct words, thoughts, or attention to a deity or higher being, whether to worship, give thanks, or ask for help.

   Many people pray for guidance during difficult times.

   The monks prayed at dawn, their voices echoing through the hall.

   UsageYou pray to God or a saint and pray for a desired result or someone's well-being: pray for rain, pray for a sick friend.

2. 2
   hope stronglyverbtransitive or intransitive

   To hope fervently that things will turn out a certain way.

   I just pray the printer works before my big presentation this morning.

   He prayed the old bridge would hold as the floodwaters rose.

   UsageUsually followed by a clause, with or without that: I just pray the printer works.

   Similarhope, wish

3. 3
   adverbarchaicformal

   Used with a request or question to make it more polite or earnest, much like please or tell me.

   Pray forgive the lateness of my reply.

   Well, Major, pray tell us your adventures, for you have frightened us dreadfully.

   1845, Frederick Marryat, The Mission

   UsagePlaced before the request: pray forgive me, pray don't trouble yourself. Survives in set phrases: pray tell, pray silence for.

   Note

   This polite pray is what remains of I pray you or I pray thee. Prithee is a contraction of I pray thee. In Austen's Emma it opens a question, set apart with a comma ('Pray, Mr. Knightley,'). Dickens runs it straight into the imperative: 'Pray don't ask me why, pray don't be sorry.' Outside period writing it survives mainly in formal set phrases such as pray silence for, and in pray tell, now mostly said with irony.

4. 4
   verb

   To ask earnestly or humbly for something; to beg or implore someone (now old-fashioned in this general use). In law, to formally request a court for a judgment, order, or relief.

   I humbly pray to the Honorable Court for the order for the removal of the publication which contains fake news to be granted.

   2021, Yang di-Pertuan Agong, “Schedule”

   In time of drought the Abchases of the Caucasus sacrifice an ox to Ap-hi, the god of thunder and lightning, and an old man prays him to send rain, thunder, and lightning, telling him that the crops are parched.

   1890, James George Frazer, The Golden Bough

   Note

   This verb once served for any ordinary request and now lives mainly in legal petitions. Book VI of Spenser's The Faerie Queene (1596) uses 'They prayd him sit' for offering a guest a seat, an everyday use now obsolete. The courts have kept it. The Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance of 2021 reads 'I humbly pray to the Honourable Court for the order', with the court as addressee and the remedy after for. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 7 facts

   • Pray formerly meant to make an ordinary request. en.wiktionary.org
   • Spenser wrote The Faerie Queene. en.wikisource.org
   • Books I–III first appeared in 1590. Books IV–VI, including the quoted passage, first appeared in 1596; specify Book VI. en.wikisource.org
   • The poem uses the exact words 'They prayd him sit' when shepherds invite a guest to sit and eat. en.wikisource.org
   • The Emergency (Essential Powers) (No. 2) Ordinance is dated 2021. asset.mkn.gov.my
   • Form A spells the word 'Honourable': 'I humbly pray to the Honourable Court for the order'. asset.mkn.gov.my
   • The quoted construction addresses the court and introduces the requested remedy with 'for'. asset.mkn.gov.my

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