# pray

Pronunciation: say "PRAY" /pɹeɪ/

## Verb

1. To direct words, thoughts, or attention to a deity or higher being, whether to worship, give thanks, or ask for help.
   - Simple: To speak to God or a higher power to 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._
2. To hope fervently that things will turn out a certain way.
   - Simple: To hope very strongly that something good will happen.
   - _I just pray the printer works before my big presentation this morning._
   - _He prayed the old bridge would hold as the floodwaters rose._
4. 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.
   - Simple: In old use, to seriously beg someone for something. In law today, to formally ask a court to decide or give something.

## Adverb

3. Used with a request or question to make it more polite or earnest, much like please or tell me. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: An old-fashioned word meaning please, used to make a request or question more polite or earnest.
   - _Pray forgive the lateness of my reply._
   - _And what, pray, did you expect to find in an empty drawer?_

## Origin

**Meanings 1–2, 4** — This came from Middle English preien, from Old French preier, from Latin precārī 'to pray or request', from prex, precis 'a prayer, a request'. It ultimately traces back to a Proto-Indo-European root meaning 'to ask', and it replaced the native Old English word gebiddan.
**Meaning 3** — This is an ellipsis of 'I pray you' or 'I pray thee', which also gave us the word 'prithee'.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pray (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).