Etimology
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”).
adjective
ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)
Prepared for immediate action or use.
Inclined; apt to happen.
Liable at any moment.
Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.
Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
Examples
The troops are ready for battle.
The porridge is ready to serve.
If need be, I am ready to forego / And quit:
she was told dinner was ready
Miranda: I'll admit it, Shepard. I'm impressed. You got us here. Are you ready?Shepard: We're going in blind, and we don't even know if we'll survive the trip. No way in hell we're ready... but we don't have a choice.
The seed is ready to sprout.
My heart is ready to crack.
Synonyms: dexterous, prompt, easy, expert
a ready apprehension
ready wit
a ready writer or workman
whose temper was ready, though surly
ready in devising expedients
Molly the dairymaid came a little way from the rickyard, and said she would pluck the pigeon that very night after work. She was always ready to do anything for us boys; and we could never quite make out why they scolded her so for an idle hussy indoors. It seemed so unjust. Looking back, I recollect she had very beautiful brown eyes.
"Apple of Death" is what the Jungle call thorn-apple or dhatura, the readiest poison in all India.
The [Washington] Post's proprietor through those turbulent [Watergate] days, Katharine Graham, held a double place in Washington’s hierarchy: at once regal Georgetown hostess and scrappy newshound, ready to hold the establishment to account.
Through the wilde Deſert, not the readieſt way,
A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.
Related words
synonyms
good to go
antonyms
unready
hypernyms
cable ready
camera-ready
enterprise-ready
make-ready
oven-ready
shovel-ready
verb
ready (third-person singular simple present readies, present participle readying, simple past and past participle readied)
(transitive) To prepare; to make ready for action.
Related words
synonyms
yark
noun
ready (countable and uncountable, plural readies)
(slang) Ready money; cash.
Examples
[H]e vvas not fluſh in Ready, either to go to Lavv or clear old Debts, neither could he find good Bail: […]
[…] 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 […]
Related words
related terms
already