lie
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: ipa: /laɪ̯/
rhymes: -aɪ
homophone: lye
homophone: lai
homophone: Leigh (some placenames)
Forms: form: lies
form: lying
form: lay
form: laid
form: lain
form: laid
form: lien
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: lie
form: lie
form: lay
form: lie
form: lyest
form: lay
form: layst
form: lies
form: lyeth
form: lay
form: lie
form: lay
form: lie
form: lay
form: lie
form: -
form: lying
form: lain
form: lien
Etymology: From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.
Cognate with West Frisian lizze, Dutch liggen, German liegen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ligge, Swedish ligga, Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk liggja, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan); and with Latin lectus (“bed”), Irish luí, Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ), Albanian lag (“troop, band, encampment”).
As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.
Senses: examples: text: The book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies in his coffin.
text: Under an oak were lying asleep a pair of shepherds.
text: Though ye haue lien among the pots, yet shall yee bee as the wings of a doue, couered with siluer, and her feathers with yellow gold.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 68:13:
text: The watchful traveller […] / Lay down again, and closed his weary eyes.
ref: 1660, [John] Dryden, Astraea Redux:
text: Our uninquiring corpses lie more low / Than our life's curiosity doth go.
ref: 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers:
text: The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
ref: 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
glosses: To rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
examples: text: Ying-yang county lies 70 li southwest of the modern Teng-feng county, Honan.
ref: 1988, Robin D. S. Yates, “Selected Translations”, in Washing Silk: The Life and Selected Poetry of Wei Chuang (834?-910), Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 100:
text: Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
ref: 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page vii:
text: From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.
ref: 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
glosses: To be placed or situated.
examples: text: to lie waste; to lie fallow; to lie open; to lie hidden; to lie grieving; to lie under one's displeasure; to lie at the mercy of the waves
text: The paper does not lie smooth on the wall.
glosses: To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in a certain state or condition.
examples: text: Envy lies between beings equal in nature, though unequal in circumstances.
ref: c. 1690, Jeremy Collier, Of Envy:
text: He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard labour, forgets the early rising and hard riding of huntsmen.
ref: 1693, [John Locke], “§2016”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:
glosses: Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
examples: text: And it came to passe after these things, that his masters wife cast her eyes vpon Ioseph, and shee said, Lie with me.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 39:7:
glosses: Used with with: to have sexual relations with.
glosses: Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
examples: text: While I was now trifling at home, I saw London, […] where I lay one night only.
ref: 1632, John Evelyn, diary, entry 21 October 1632:
text: Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night.
ref: 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:
glosses: To lodge; to sleep.
examples: text: The Wind is lowd, and will not lie till the Ship be cleard of the dead.
ref: c. 1607–1608 (date written), William Shakespeare, [George Wilkins?], The Late, and Much Admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: […] [William White and Thomas Creede] for Henry Gosson, […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:
glosses: To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
examples: text: An appeal lies in this case from the ordinary to the arches.
ref: 1737, Cart against Marsh (legal case)
topics: law
glosses: To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.
Derived terms: beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder
deep-lying
devil lies in the details
forelie
forlie
here lies
if you lie with dogs you will get fleas
interlie
let lie
let sleeping dogs lie
let the sleeping dogs lie
lie above
lie ahead
lie around
lie at one's door
lie at one's heart
lie at someone's door
lie at someone's heart
lie back
lie before
lie behind
lie by
lie doggo
lie down
lie ill in one's mouth
lie-in
lie in
lie in ambush
lie in honor
lie in repose
lie in state
lie in the bed one has made
lie in the way
lie in wait
lie like a rug
lie low
lie off
lie on the oars
lie over
lie to
lie upon
lie waste
lie with
love-lies-bleeding
make one's bed and lie in it
mislie
outlie
overlie
how the land lies
sit-lie
superlie
that way madness lies
therein lies the rub
there lies the rub
underlie
uneasy lies the head that wears a crown
you make the bed you lie in
Related terms: lay
a corresponding transitive version of this word
lees
lier