bay

Any of various species of laurel tree. The aromatic evergreen leaves are used for flavouring in cookery. There is also a golden-leaved variety. (Genus Laurus, family Lauraceae.)

bay

In earth science, a wide-curving indentation of the sea into the land. Bays are often eroded in beds of rocks that are weaker than the adjacent headlands. Deposition is most intense in bays due to wave refraction.

A bay is larger than a cove, but smaller than a gulf. A bay-head beach is a small beach of sand or shingle found between two peninsulas or headlands as seen along the coastlines of Cornwall, England, and south Wales.