Noun

1. A small, typically rectangular or round, flat, rigid object upon which things are carried.

   I carefully arranged the dishes on the tray and brought it upstairs.

2. A flat carrier for items being transported.

   Make sure that tray of eggs is properly loaded.

3. The items on a full tray.

   Before long they had consumed a whole tray of shrimp cocktails and sent for another.

4. A component of a device into which an item is placed for use in the device's operations.

   The CD tray will not open.

   The loader is responsible for placing the work on the trays for the plating machines.

5. A notification area used for icons and alerts.
   • 2007, Brian Livingston, Paul Thurrott, Windows Vista Secrets

     ...some developers try to use it that way for some reason (some applications inexplicably minimize to the tray rather than to the taskbar as they should).

Verb

1. To place items on a tray.

   Be sure to tray eggs with the large end up.

2. To slide down a snow-covered hill on a tray from a cafeteria.

   Traying has provided collegiate fun and the occasional fatality for decades.