For example, the water level of a sea can rise, flooding the shore and creating a bay. There are various ways that bays can be created. Large bays, such as the Bay of Bengal and the Hudson Bay, have varied marine geology. Any bay may contain fish and other sea creatures or be adjacent to other bays (for example, James Bay is adjacent to Hudson Bay). Any hard rock is eroded less quickly, leaving headlands. Most small bays are formed as soft rock or clay is eroded by waves. A cove is a circular or oval coastal inlet with a narrow entrance some coves may be referred to as bays. A narrow bay may also be called a fjord if its sides are relatively steep. It can also be an inlet in a lake or pond.Ī large bay may be called a gulf, a sea, a sound, or a bight. Bays generally have calmer waters than the surrounding sea, due to the surrounding land blocking some waves and often reducing winds.
Totten.Ī bay is an area of water mostly surrounded or otherwise demarcated by land. Sick bay, in vessels of war, that part of a deck appropriated to the use of the sick. A kind of mahogany obtained from Campeachy Bay. A compartment in a barn, for depositing hay, or grain in the stalks.Ħ. one of the main divisions of any structure, as the part of a bridge between two piers.ĥ. A principal compartment of the walls, roof, or other part of a building, or of the whole building, as marked off by the buttresses, vaulting, mullions of a window, etc. A recess or indentation shaped like a bay.Ĥ. A small body of water set off from the main body as a compartment containing water for a wheel the portion of a canal just outside of the gates of a lock, etc.ģ.
The name is not restricted to tracts of water with a narrow entrance, but is used for any recess or inlet between capes or headlands as, the Bay of Biscay.Ģ. ☞ The name is not used with much precision, and is often applied to large tracts of water, around which the land forms a curve as, Hudson's Bay.
(Geog.) An inlet of the sea, usually smaller than a gulf, but of the same general character.