# lye
## English
### Pronunciation

* IPA: /laɪ/
* Rhymes: -aɪ
* Homophones: lie, lai, Leigh (some placenames)

### Etymology 1

From Middle English leye, lye, from Old English lēah, lēag (“lye”), from Proto-West Germanic *laugu, from Proto-Germanic *laugō, from Proto-Indo-European *lewh₃- (“to wash”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Loge, Looie (“lye”), Dutch loog (“lye”), German Low German Loge, Loje, Loog (“lye”), German Lauge (“lye”).

#### Noun

lye (countable and uncountable, plural lyes)
* An alkaline liquid made by leaching ashes (usually wood ashes).
* Potassium or sodium hydroxide (caustic soda).
** 2019, Namwali Serpell, The Old Drift, Hogarth, page 372:She had not left the lye in too long so that the hair would fall out in clumps later.

##### Derived terms

* chamber lye
* lyed
* potash lye
* soda lye

##### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

#### Verb

lye (third-person singular simple present lyes, present participle lyeing or lying, simple past and past participle lyed)
* To treat with lye.

#### Further reading

* lye on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Etymology 2

Variant of lie (“to rest horizontally”) now used in a specialised sense; compare sett.

#### Verb

lye (third-person singular simple present lyes, present participle lying, simple past lay, past participle lain or layn)
* Obsolete spelling of lie.
** 1654, John Donne, Loves Diet:Now negligent of sports I lye, And now as other Fawkners use, I spring a mistresse, sweare, write, sigh and weepe: And the game kill'd, or lost, goe talk, and sleepe.
** 1687,, “The Third Part”, in The Hind and the Panther. A Poem, in Three Parts, 2nd edition, London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC, page 88:But when his foe lyes proſtrate on the plain, He ſheaths his paws, uncurls his angry mane; And, pleas'd with bloudleſs honours of the day, Walks over, and diſdains th' inglorious Prey, […]

#### Noun

lye (plural lyes)
* Obsolete spelling of lie.
* (UK, rail transport) A short side line, connected with the main line; a turn-out; a siding.
** 1962 October, G. Freeman Allen, “The New Look in Scotland's Northern Division—II: The new Perth marshalling yard”, in Modern Railways, page 273, photo caption with indicating arrow:Brakevan lye. [same page in the main text] There is also an inclined lye for brakevans at each end of the yard.

### References

“lye”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

### Anagrams

* Ely, Ley, ley, yel, -ley

## Norwegian Nynorsk
### Etymology 1

From Old Norse hlýja, from the adjective hlýr.

#### Alternative forms

* lya (a infinitive)

#### Verb

lye (present tense lyer, past tense lydde, past participle lytt/lydd, passive infinitive lyast, present participle lyande, imperative ly)
* to warm up, give off warmth

### Etymology 2
#### Verb

lye (present tense lyar or lyer, past tense lya or lydde, past participle lya or lydd, present participle lyande)
* Eye dialect spelling of lyde.

### Etymology 3

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

#### Adjective

lye
* inflection of ly:
** definite singular
** plural

### References

* “lye” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

### Anagrams

* Lye, yle