rye Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the seed of the cereal grass
  2. noun hardy annual cereal grass widely cultivated in northern Europe where its grain is the chief ingredient of black bread and in North America for forage and soil improvement
    Secale cereale.
  3. noun whiskey distilled from rye or rye and malt
    rye whisky; rye whiskey.

WordNet

Rye noun
Etymology
OE. rie, reie, AS. ryge; akin to Icel. rugr, Sw. råg, Dan. rug, D. rogge, OHG. rocco, roggo, G. rocken, roggen, Lith. rugei, Russ. roje, and perh. To Gr. 'o`ryza rice. Cf. Rice.
Definitions
  1. (Bot.) A grain yielded by a hardy cereal grass (Secale cereale), closely allied to wheat; also, the plant itself. Rye constitutes a large portion of the breadstuff used by man.
  2. A disease in a hawk. Ainsworth.

Webster 1913