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eded for some act or event; prepared for immediate movement or action; as, the troops are ready to march; ready for the journey. "When she redy was." Chaucer.

Made already, or beforehand, in anticipation of need; not made to order; as, ready-made clothing; ready-made jokes.

Having ready wit.

d time, either past, present, or future; by this time; previously. "Joseph was in Egypt already." Exod. i. 5. I say unto you, that Elias is come already. Matt. xvii. 12.

Too ready. -- O"ver*read"*i*ly, adv. -- O"ver*read"i*ness, n.

Like thread or filaments; slender; as, the thready roots of a shrub.

Not ready or prepared; not prompt; slow; awkward; clumsy. Dryden. Nor need the unready virgin strike her breast. Keble.

Ready to accept. [Obs.] B. Jonson.

The act by which one power becomes party to engagements already in force between other powers. Kent.

d the field of blood. Fig.: A field of bloodshed. The system of warfare . . . which had already converted immense tracts into one universal aceldama. De Quincey.

Hanging at the cathead, ready to let go, as an anchor.

To prepare or make ready. [Obs.] His foe was soon addressed. Spenser. Turnus addressed his men to single fight. Dryden. The five foolish virgins addressed themselves at the noise of the bridegroom's coming. Jer. Taylor.

ntal faculties; exhibiting skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts; as, an adroit mechanic, an adroit reply. "Adroit in the application of the telescope and quadrant." Horsley. "He was adroit in intrigue." Macaulay.…

Ready to receive advice. [R.] South.

Said before, or in a preceding part; already described or identified.

By of before the time that; in preparation for; so as to be ready for the time when. [Archaic or Dial.] Urijah the priest made it, against King Ahaz came from Damascus. 2 Kings xvi. 11. Against the sun, in a direction contrary to that in which the sun appears to move.

Having the faculty of quick motion in the limbs; apt or ready to move; nimble; active; as, an agile boy; an agile tongue. Shaking it with agile hand. Cowper.

Willing; ready to agree or consent. [Colloq.] These Frenchmen give unto the said captain of Calais a great sum of money, so that he will be but content and agreeable that they may enter into the said town. Latimer.

ve had an alert." Farrow. On the alert, on the lookout or watch against attack or danger; ready to act.

An organic base, especially one of a class of substances occurring ready formed in the tissues of plants and the bodies of animals.