RELAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does relay mean? 

• RELAY (noun)
  The noun RELAY has 5 senses:

1. the act of passing something along from one person or group to another

2. a crew of workers who relieve another crew

3. a fresh team to relieve weary draft animals

4. a race between teams; each member runs or swims part of the distance

5. electrical device such that current flowing through it in one circuit can switch on and off a current in a second circuit

  Familiarity information: RELAY used as a noun is common.

• RELAY (verb)
  The verb RELAY has 2 senses:

1. pass along

2. control or operate by relay

  Familiarity information: RELAY used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• RELAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The act of passing something along from one person or group to another

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Context example:

the relay was successful

Hypernyms ("relay" is a kind of...):

handing over; passage (the act of passing something to another person)

Derivation:

relay (pass along)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A crew of workers who relieve another crew

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("relay" is a kind of...):

shift (a crew of workers who work for a specific period of time)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A fresh team to relieve weary draft animals

Classified under:

Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects

Hypernyms ("relay" is a kind of...):

team (two or more draft animals that work together to pull something)

Sense 4

Meaning:

A race between teams; each member runs or swims part of the distance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

relay; relay race

Hypernyms ("relay" is a kind of...):

race (a contest of speed)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "relay"):

torch race ((ancient Greece) in which a torch is passed from one runner to the next)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Electrical device such that current flowing through it in one circuit can switch on and off a current in a second circuit

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

electrical relay; relay

Hypernyms ("relay" is a kind of...):

electrical device (a device that produces or is powered by electricity)

Meronyms (parts of "relay"):

electromagnet (a temporary magnet made by coiling wire around an iron core; when current flows in the coil the iron becomes a magnet)

Holonyms ("relay" is a part of...):

circuit; electric circuit; electrical circuit (an electrical device that provides a path for electrical current to flow)

Derivation:

relay (control or operate by relay)

• RELAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they relay    ... he / she / it relays   
Past simple: relaid    / relayed   
Past participle: relaid    / relayed   
-ing form: relaying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Pass along

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

Please relay the news to the villagers

Hypernyms (to "relay" is one way to...):

communicate; pass; pass along; pass on; put across (transmit information)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s something to somebody

Sentence examples:

They relay them the information
They relay the information to them

Derivation:

relay (the act of passing something along from one person or group to another)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Control or operate by relay

Classified under:

Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging

Hypernyms (to "relay" is one way to...):

control; operate (handle and cause to function)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

relay (electrical device such that current flowing through it in one circuit can switch on and off a current in a second circuit)

 Context examples 

Along the way, a series of neurons in the eye uses electrical and chemical signals to relay the information.

(Eye cells may use math to detect motion, NIH)

Cells in invertebrates which are specialized to detect and transduce light and darkness and relay that information centrally in the nervous system.

(Photoreceptors, Invertebrate, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

The single primary branch bifurcates sending a peripheral process to carry sensory information from the periphery and a central branch which relays that information to the spinal cord or brain.

(Murine Dorsal Root Ganglion, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

Neurons absorb and release water when they relay messages throughout the brain, according to a study by researchers at the National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

(Neurons absorb and release water when firing, National Institutes of Health)

The mission objectives of the two small MarCOs which relayed InSight's telemetry was completed after their Martian flyby.

(NASA InSight Lander Arrives on Martian Surface, NASA)

Nerve cells relay information between each other through specialized connections known as synapses.

(Structure of receptor involved in brain disorders, NIH)

In each case the accessory sensory structures are arranged so that appropriate stimuli cause movement of the hair-like projections (stereocilia and kinocilia) which relay the information centrally in the nervous system.

(Hair Cell, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

For example, it stunted the growth and branching of cell extensions and reduced the number of spines on these extensions, which are needed to relay chemical signals from neighboring cells into electrical impulses.

(Schizophrenia risk gene linked to cognitive deficits in mice, National Institutes of Health)

Gremlin relays an SHH signal from the polarizing region to the apical ectodermal ridge.

(Oncogene HST, NCI Thesaurus)

The Queqiao satellite is deployed about 455,000 kilometers from Earth, where it will relay communications between ground controllers and the Chang’e-4.

(Chinese Rover Making Tracks on Dark Side of the Moon, VOA)