Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A subject of the Ottoman Empire. Used especially of non-Muslims.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See Raya.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Turkey. A person not a Mohammedan, who pays the capitation tax.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun pejorative A member of the tax-paying lower class of Ottoman society.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Turkish râya, from Arabic ra‘īyah, subject, flock, from ra‘ā, to pasture, feed; see rעy in Semitic roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Turkish reaya, from Arabic ra‘iyah

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Examples

  • The word for “shepherd” (rayah) sounds very much like “darling companion” (raayah) in the original language, which name he gives her in 1.9.

    Solomon’s Song of Love DR. CRAIG GLICKMAN 2004

  • In return for our great condescension in having accepted this rayah (the Voivode of Wallachia) amongst the other subjects of our empire, he will be bound to pay into our treasury, every year, the sum of 6,000 red piastres of the country. '

    Roumania Past and Present James Samuelson

  • But the spectacle of a Turkish Pasha inciting Christian rayah against an army of Moslems aroused the wrath of the Faithful throughout the Empire.

    Twenty Years Of Balkan Tangle 1903

  • The term by which the Turk described his Christian neighbour was "our rayah," that is, "our subject."

    A History of Modern Europe, 1792-1878 Charles Alan Fyffe 1868

  • It has asserted its sway from Indus to the Pole, and is to be met with in every possible variety, from the Napoleon blue silk of the London exquisite, to the coarse red or green cotton of the Turkish rayah.

    Umbrellas and Their History William Sangster 1848

  • Brands of the World is also a great place for designers to upload their own logo designs with their professional details to showcase their work and get exposure. rayah-d, comunicación visual, playa del carmen, qroo, méx.

    Best Brands of the World 2010

  • Are we not of the purest blood of the plains, and is not Acota but a rayah of the mountains? "

    The Pacha of Many Tales Frederick Marryat 1820

  • Are we not of the purest blood of the plains, and is not Acota but a rayah of the mountains? "

    The Pacha of Many Tales Frederick Marryat 1820

Comments

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  • it trickled into Bosnian (sp. 'raja') to mean rabble (folk) and/or buddies. I don't know what you'd call tax-exempt buddies, though

    August 25, 2012

  • Cronies.

    August 25, 2012