bray

Of an animal (now chiefly of animals related to the ass or donkey, and the camel): to make its cry.intransitive

• Whenever I walked by, that donkey brayed at me.

To make a harsh, discordant sound like a donkey's bray.broadlyintransitive

• He threw back his head and brayed with laughter.

To make or utter (a shout, sound, etc.) discordantly, loudly, or in a harsh and grating manner.transitive

• [N]ow ſtorming furie roſe, / And clamour ſuch as heard in Heav'n till now / Was never, Arms on Armour claſhing bray'd / Horrible discord, and the madding Wheeles / Of brazen Chariots rag'd; [...]
• Just then the chiefs their tribes arrayed, / And wild and garish semblance made, / The chequered trews, and belted plaid, / And varying notes the war-pipes brayed, / To every varying clan; [...]

The cry of an animal, now chiefly that of animals related to the ass or donkey, or the camel.

Any discordant, grating, or harsh sound.broadly

• [...] Mr. [Edmund] Gosse's blank verse is sweet and varied, and full mostly of a graceful melody. If it has not the trumpet's power, neither has it the trumpet's bray, but rather a flute-like tone of its own.
• At full volume, Doreen's whinnying laugh could shatter glass. Even at half volume, her high-pitched brays rattled teeth.

To crush or pound, especially using a pestle and mortar.archaictransitive

• Though thou ſhouldeſt bray a fool in a morter among wheate with a peſtell, yet will not his fooliſhneſſe depart from him.
• Their heads and ſhoulders are painted red with the roote Pocone brayed to powder, mixed with oyle, this they hold in ſommer to preſerue them from the heate, and in winter from the cold.

To hit (someone or something).UKYorkshirebroadly

• If anything he brayed him all the harder – the old family bull recognising his fighting days were close to over.