Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Aye

Aye, Ay, adv. [Perh. a modification of yea, or from the interjection of admiration or astonishment, OE. ei, ey, why, hey, ay, well, ah, ha. Cf. MHG. & G. ei, Dan. ej. Or perh. akin to aye ever.] Yes; yea; — a word expressing assent, or an affirmative answer to a question. It is much used in viva voce voting in legislative bodies, etc.

☞ This word is written I in the early editions of Shakespeare and other old writers.

Aye (äĭ), n. An affirmative vote; one who votes in the affirmative; as, "To call for the ayes and noes;" "The ayes have it."

Aye, Ay, adv. [Icel. ei, ey; akin to AS. ā, āwa, always, Goth. aiws an age, Icel. æfi, OHG, ēwa, L. aevum, Gr. ? an age, ?, ?, ever, always, G. je, Skr. ēva course. √4, 209. Cf. Age, v., Either, a., Or, conj.] Always; ever; continually; for an indefinite time.

For his mercies aye endure. Milton.

For aye, always; forever; eternally.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty.