Also 5–6 Sc. ia, 5–7 iaye. [a. OF. jay, mod.F. geai, in ONF. gai, gay = Pr. gai (jai), Sp. gayo, med.L. gaius, gaia (Papias); of uncertain origin: some refer it to OHG. gåhi adj. quick; hence, lively. It cannot be identified with F. gai adj. ‘gay,’ which has g, not j, in Central F.]
1. The name of a common European bird, Garrulus glandarius, in structure and noisy chattering resembling the magpie, but in habits arboreal, and having a plumage of striking appearance, in which vivid tints of blue are heightened by bars of jet-black and patches of white. Hence used as the English name of the genus Garrulus, and applied with distinguishing additions to the other species.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., 52. Heo is dereworthe in day,… Gentyl, jolyf so the jay.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Manciple’s T., 28. And taughte it speke as men teche a Iay.
1412–3. Hoccleve, Ball. to Hen. V., 37. My wordes … clappe and iangle foorth, as dooth a iay.
1530. Lyndesay, Test. Papyngo, 725. The gentyll Ia, the Merle, and Turtur trew.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., II. viii. 5. Decked with diverse plumes, like painted Iayes.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shr., IV. iii. 177. What is the Iay more precious then the Larke? Because his feathers are more beautifull.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1818), 42. Not long ago, I happened to spy a thoughtless jay. The poor bird was idly busied in dressing his pretty plumes.
1766. Pennant, Zool. (1768), I. 173. Jays … may be brought to imitate the human voice.
1880. A. R. Wallace, Isl. Life, ii. 20. There are, so far as yet known, twelve species of true jays.
1893. Newton, Dict. Birds, 470. Doubts may be expressed whether these birds are not more nearly related to the Pies than to the Jays.
b. In more extended sense, applied to birds of the sub-family Garrulinæ or family Garrulidæ, among which are the Blue Jay (Cyanurus cristatus) of North America, the Canada Jay (Perisoreus canadensis), the Grey Jay, Green Jay, Siberian Jay, etc.
1688. J. Clayton, in Phil. Trans., XVII. 991. The Pica Glandarea, or Jay, is much less than our English Jay … it has both the same Cry, and suddain jetting Motion.
1838. Encycl. Brit. (ed. 7), XVI. 584/2. The blue jay of America is an almost universal inhabitant of the western woods. Ibid. A most magnificent bird is the Columbia jay.
1855. Longf., Hiaw., xiii. 100. Jays and ravens, Clamorous on the dusky tree-tops.
1885. ‘C. E. Craddock’ (Miss Murfree), Proph. Gt. Smoky Mount., viii. He saw … the white tips of the tail-feathers of a fluttering bluejay.
1886. Yule & Burnell, Anglo-Ind. Gloss., Jay.… The name usually given by Europeans to the Coracias Indica, Linn., the Nīlkant or ‘blue-throat’ of the Hindus, found all over India.
1893. Newton, Dict. Birds, 469. The Lanius infaustus of Linnæus … the Siberian Jay of English writers, which ranges throughout the pine-forests of the north of Europe and Asia. Ibid., The Canada Jay, or ‘Whiskey Jack’ … presents a still more sombre coloration.
2. Applied to other birds: a. The Jackdaw (app. from a French mistransl. of κόλοιος or graculus in the fable of the jackdaw decked in peacock’s plumes). b. The Cornish chough, also termed Cornish jay. c. The Missel thrush. local.
1484. Caxton, Fables of Æsop, II. xv. The xv fable is of the Iaye and of the pecok.
1552. Huloet, Iaye, byrde, gracus, graculus.
[1565. Cooper, Thesaurus, s.v. Graculus, They are much deceyued that haue taken Graculus for a Iaye.]
1628. Wither, Brit. Rememb., Pref. 129. The Jay that vaunts In others plumes.
1706. Phillips, Jay, or Jack-daw, a kind of chattering Bird.
1750. Pococke, Trav. Eng., etc. (Camden), 135. About Penzance, in the rocks, are jays with red bills and legs, called a Cornish jay, and by Pliny Pyrrhocorax.
1880. Antrim & Down Gloss., Jay, the missel thrush is called the jay here. The jay does not occur.
3. transf. a. An impertinent chatterer. b. A showy or flashy woman; one of light character. c. A person absurdly dressed; a gawk or ‘sight.’ d. A stupid or silly person; a simpleton.
1523. Skelton, Garl. Laurel, 1262. For the gyse now adays Of sum iangelyng iays Is to discommende What they cannot amende.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. iii. 44. We’ll teach him to know Turtles from Iayes. Ibid. (1611), Cymb., III. iv. 51. Some Iay of Italy …. hath betraid him.
1639. Chapman & Shirley, The Ball, II. ii. Sol. Mr. Bostock, madam. Luc. Retire, and give the jay admittance.
1884. Pall Mall Gaz., 29 Dec., 4/2. The intending larcenist will strike up a conversation with a likely looking Jay in a public conveyance,… and win his friendship.
1886. Baring-Gould, Mehalah, vii. 91. You stood by … and listened while that jay snapped and screamed at me.
1888. N. Y. Herald, Sept. (Farmer, Americanisms). Never … have I been annoyed in the slightest way by any of the so-called jays.
1898. Westm. Gaz., 7 Oct., 4/2. ‘Kharki is not exactly a blanket; besides, we are jays enough as it is, and if we had had our old things on we should have been regular jays.’
1900. Dundee Advertiser, 30 July, 4. An underbred undergraduate—called in America a ‘jay.‘
4. Angling. Name of a variety of artificial fly.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, xi. (1880), 432. The Blue Jay.—This is the Blue Doctor dressed with jay.
5. Coal-mining. (See quot.)
1829. Glover’s Hist. Derby, I. 59. Strong jay or roof coal. Ibid., 60. Black jay, a sort of cannel coal.
6. attrib. and Comb., as jay-black, -like adjs.; jay-feather, esp. in Sc. phrase to set up one’s jay-feathers (see quot.); jay-pie, jay-piet, (a) the jay; (b) locally, the Missel thrush; jay-teal, locally, the common teal. Also JAY-BIRD, etc.
1706. Lond. Gaz., No. 4236/8. Stolen … a black Mare, but not *Jay-black.
1825–80. Jamieson, s.v., She made sic a rampaging, that I was obliged to set up my *jay-feathers at her, Roxb. The expression contains a ludicrous allusion to the mighty airs of a jackdaw, when in a bad humour.
1880. Dk. Argyll, in Fraser’s Mag., Jan., 49. The large Belted Kingfisher … was passing with a *Jay-like flight over the creeks … of the Hudson.
1880. W. Cornwall Gloss., *Jay-pie, a jay.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 2. Missel Thrush … the harsh note it utters when alarmed has caused it to receive the names of … Jay (North of Ireland), Jay pie (Wilts).
1895. Crockett, Men of Moss-Hags, xxxix. 282. Yet I saw as it had been the waft of a *jaypiet’s wing among them.
1885. Swainson, Prov. Names Birds, 158. Common Teal … *Jay teal (Kirkcudbright).
