| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000. |
| |
| ready |
| |
| SYLLABICATION: | read·y |
| PRONUNCIATION: |  r d  |
| ADJECTIVE: | Inflected forms: read·i·er, read·i·est
1. Prepared or available for service, action, or progress: I am ready to work. The soup will be ready in a minute. The pupils are ready to learn to read. 2. Mentally disposed; willing: He was ready to believe her. 3. Likely or about to do something: She is ready to retire. 4. Prompt in apprehending or reacting: a ready intelligence; a ready response. 5. Available: ready money. | | TRANSITIVE VERB: | Inflected forms: read·ied, read·y·ing, read·ies
To cause to be ready. | | IDIOMS: | at the ready Available for immediate use: soldiers with machine guns at the ready; students with notebooks at the ready. make ready To make preparations. | | ETYMOLOGY: | Middle English redy, from Old English r de. See reidh- in Appendix I. | | OTHER FORMS: | readi·ness —NOUN
| | |
| |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
|
|
