different between ready vs ready-witted

English

Etymology

From Middle English redy, redi, rædi?, iredi, ?er?di, alteration ( +? -y) of earlier ir?d, irede, ?er?d (“ready, prepared”), from Old English r?de, ?er?de (also ?er?de) ("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 *r?yd?-, *r?y- (“to count, put in order, arrange, make comfortable”) and also probably conflated with Proto-Indo-European *reyd?- (“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 ???????????????????????????? (garaiþs, “arranged, ordered”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: r?'di, IPA^(key): /???.di/

• Homophone: reddy

  Rhymes: -?di

• Hyphenation: read?y

Adjective

ready (comparative readier, superlative readiest)

1. Prepared for immediate action or use.
   • 1711, Jonathan Swift, journal to Stella

     she was told dinner was ready

2. Inclined; apt to happen.
3. Liable at any moment.
4. Not slow or hesitating; quick in action or perception of any kind.

   Synonyms: dexterous, prompt, easy, expert
5. Offering itself at once; at hand; opportune; convenient.
   • 1700, John Dryden, Theodore and Honoria

     A sapling pine he wrenched from out the ground, / The readiest weapon that his fury found.

Synonyms

• good to go

Antonyms

• unready

Translations

Verb

ready (third-person singular simple present readies, present participle readying, simple past and past participle readied)

1. (transitive) To prepare; to make ready for action.

Synonyms

• yark

Hypernyms

Derived terms

• foreready
• readily
• readiness
• ready-made
• ready-mixed
• ready-to-wear

Related terms

Translations

Noun

ready (countable and uncountable, plural readies)

1. (slang) ready money; cash
   • 1712, John Arbuthnot, The History of John Bull

     Lord Strut was not flush in ready, either to go to law, or to clear old debts.

   • 2008, Agnes Owens, The Group

     […] 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 […]

Translations

Related terms

• already

Anagrams

• Yarde, dayer, deary, deray, rayed, yeard