at the ready

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Related to at the ready: catch up, follow suit, rub off, rest on, in the first place, the likes of, turn up

read·y

(rĕd′ē)

adj. read·i·er, read·i·est

1. Prepared or available for service, action, or progress: I am ready to work. The soup will be ready in a minute. The pupils are ready to learn to read.

2. Mentally disposed; willing: He was ready to believe her.

3. Likely or about to do something: She is ready to retire.

4. Prompt in apprehending or reacting: a ready intelligence; a ready response.

5. Available: ready money.

tr.v. read·ied, read·y·ing, read·ies

To cause to be ready.

Idioms:

at the ready

Available for immediate use: soldiers with machine guns at the ready; students with notebooks at the ready.

make ready

To make preparations.

[Middle English redy : Old English rǣde; see reidh- in Indo-European roots + Middle English -y, -y; see -y¹.]

read′i·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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Adj.

at the ready - ready for immediate use; "soldiers with guns at the ready"; "students with pens and notebooks at the ready"

ready - completely prepared or in condition for immediate action or use or progress; "get ready"; "she is ready to resign"; "the bridge is ready to collapse"; "I am ready to work"; "ready for action"; "ready for use"; "the soup will be ready in a minute"; "ready to learn to read"

References in periodicals archive ?

The most popular sessions at the Ready Campus trainings in Pennsylvania were the risk and liability assessment overviews.

The business of being ready: in times of crisis, an institution and its surrounding community become one

A different way of looking at the Ready to Teach Act is that first the federal government creates a "problem" through regulation, then proposes a "solution" that involves even more regulation.

Encore--The Ready to Teach Act

"The Ready Reserve Force remains ever at the ready to support rapid, massive movement of military supplies and troops anywhere in the world," said Mineta, at a ceremony in Baltimore aboard the M/V Cape Wrath.