lay low
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Forms: form: lays low
form: laying low
form: laid low
form: laid low
form: lay low
form: lay low
Senses: examples: text: We lay low until the shell went over and then would straighten up again.
ref: 1904, A Committee of the Survivors, History of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, in The Civil War, page 219:
text: Me and Dave layed low^([sic]) until then, and I guess the whole dummed town was at Philemon's that night.
ref: 1909, “Field and Stream”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 14, page 540:
text: Under you drop, and you work yourself along until you come to the partition between the two rooms; there you'll find a secret chamber; it isn't big enough for more than one person at a time, but there's a cot in it and you can lay low.
ref: 1911, Augusta Prescott, The Stairway on the Wall, page 259:
text: As for the Turk , he played his old game of Brer Rabbit, laying low, until the three launches came nicely round the bend into a direct line of fire.
ref: 1917, Conrad Cato, The Navy in Mesopotamia 1914 to 1917, page 8:
text: Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters
Where the ragged people go
ref: 1969, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records
text: Since you are trying to lay low, your effort should take the form of a suggestion at the least or a modest proposal at the most.
ref: 1997, Richard Herschlag, Brian Harris, Lay Low and Don't Make the Big Mistake, page 84:
text: I laid low until the boys and Chancey went off somewhere, then I snuck up the road and stopped at the gate.
ref: 2007, Ann Pancake, Strange as this Weather Has Been, page 100:
text: Bennett believed that he would lay low for a few years before bringing out another team of terrorists.
ref: 2012, Mitt Romney, Timothy Robinson, Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games:
text: In the meantime, he would lay low—not make waves if he could help it. He was good at not attracting attention.
ref: 2012, Jane Dews, The Cuckoo's Song, page 18:
text: Say, “The first step for changing a reputation is to lay low. This means you need to keep a low profile for a while and not draw attention to yourself. This will give your reputation a chance to die down before you try to make friends.
ref: 2013, Elizabeth A. Laugeson, The PEERS® Curriculum for School Based Professionals:
text: Jessie needed time to let things die down and decided to lay low.
ref: 2013, Robert Preston, A Dream To Kill:
text: Richie, I know you don't like people telling you what to do and all but I think you should lay low until we can figure this thing out.
ref: 2014, Thomas A. Whiting Jr., The Secrets That We Keep:
text: We layed low^([sic]) until after dark, then mounted without the bugle sound.
ref: 2014, James Pickett Jones, Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson's Raid through Alabama and Georgia, page 138:
text: “I was really looking forward to seeing you again,” he texted me the following week, around lunchtime, “but I’m going through some intense anxiety today and need to lay low :(.”
ref: 2025 July 21, Jean Garnett, “The Trouble With Wanting Men”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
glosses: To lie low, to be inconspicuous, especially when the potential object of search.