lay
Language: English
Part of speech: verb
Pronunciation: enpr: lā
ipa: /leɪ/
rhymes: -eɪ
homophone: lei
homophone: ley
homophone: le
Forms: form: lays
form: laying
form: laid
form: laid
form: lain
form: no-table-tags
form: glossary
form: lay
form: lay
form: laid
form: lay
form: layest
form: laid
form: laidst
form: laidest
form: lays
form: layeth
form: laid
form: lay
form: laid
form: lay
form: laid
form: lay
form: -
form: laying
form: laid
Etymology: Inherited from Middle English leyen, leggen, from Old English leċġan (“to lay”), from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie, recline”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, recline”).
Cognate with Saterland Frisian lääse (“to lay; to lie”), West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Cimbrian leng (“to lay”), Dutch leggen (“to lay”), German legen (“to lay”), Limburgish lègke (“to lay”), Luxembourgish leeën (“to lay”), Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to lay”), Danish lægge (“to lay”), Faroese, Icelandic leggja (“to lay”), Norwegian Bokmål legge (“to lay”), Norwegian Nynorsk legga, legge, leggja, leggje (“to lay”), Swedish lägga (“to lay”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay”), Old French laier, laiier, laire (“to leave”), Albanian lag (“troop, band, war encampment”).
Senses: examples: text: to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
text: A shower of rain lays the dust.
text: A stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 6:17:
text: Now I lay me down to sleep, / I pray the Lord my Soul to keep. / If I should die before I ’wake, / I pray the Lord my Soul to take.
ref: 1735, author unknown, The New-England Primer; as reported by Fred R. Shapiro, The Yale Book of Quotations, Yale University Press, 2006, pages 549–550:
text: He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC, page 2:
text: An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
ref: 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN:
glosses: To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
examples: text: The cloudes, as things affrayd, before him flye; / But all so soone as his outrageous powre / Is layd, they fiercely then begin to shoure […]
ref: 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book II, canto viii, verse xlviii:
text: But how upon the winds being laid, doth the ship cease to move?
ref: 1662, Sir Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems, Dialogue 2:
text: He faced the spectres of the mind
And laid them: thus he came at length
To find a stronger faith his own;
And Power was with him in the night,
Which makes the darkness and the light,
And dwells not in the light alone,
But in the darkness and the cloud
ref: 1849, Alfred Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam A.H.H., canto XCVI:
text: Tessie lay among the cushions, her face a gray blot in the gloom, but her hands were clasped in mine and I knew that she knew and read my thoughts as I read hers, for we had understood the mystery of the Hyades and the Phantom of Truth was laid.
ref: 1895, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, “The Yellow Sign”, in The King in Yellow:
synonyms: becalm
settle down
glosses: To cause to subside or abate.
examples: text: Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled.
ref: 2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 48:
glosses: To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
examples: text: lay brick; lay flooring
glosses: To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
examples: text: The hen laid an egg.
text: Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
glosses: To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
examples: text: I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
glosses: To bet (that something is or is not the case).
examples: text: I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so.
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene i]:
text: He laid a hundred guineas with the laird of Slofferfield that he would drive four horses through the Slofferfield loch, and in the prank he had his bit chariot dung to pieces and a good mare killed.
ref: 1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:
glosses: To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
examples: text: to get laid
text: 'It's because he's a no-good son of a bitch who thinks it is smart to lay his friends' wives and brag about it.'
ref: 1944, Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake, Penguin, published 2011, page 11:
synonyms: word: lie by
word: lie with
word: sleep with
word: Formal terms
word: bed
word: coit
word: coitize
word: dight
word: enjoy
word: feague
word: go in unto
word: go to bed with
word: have
word: know
word: lie by
word: lie with
word: love
word: mount
word: occupy
word: penetrate
word: season
word: seduce
word: sleep with
word: take
word: Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with"
word: Informal and slang terms
word: ball
word: bang
word: bauf
word: beep
word: be with
word: bone
word: boff
word: boink
word: bonk
word: boom-boom
word: dick
word: diddle
word: dig out
word: do
word: doink
word: drill
word: eff
word: expletive deleted
word: feck
word: fill
word: frack
word: frak
word: frick
word: frig
word: fuck
word: get into someone's pants
word: get over on
word: get up in
word: give someone one
word: give someone the time
word: go with
word: have one's way with
word: have one's wicked way with
word: hit
word: hump
word: jape
word: jump
word: jump someone's bones
word: knob
word: knock
word: knock off
word: know someone in the biblical sense
word: lay
word: love up
word: make
word: nail
word: plough
word: plug
word: poke
word: pork
word: pound
word: prig
word: pump
word: ream
word: rock
word: roger
word: root
word: run through
word: rut
word: sard
word: schlong
word: screw
word: see to
word: service
word: shaft
word: shag
word: shelve
word: slay
word: slip it to
word: smash
word: smush
word: stallionize
word: swive
word: tap
word: tup
word: wap
glosses: To have sex with.
examples: text: to lay the venue
topics: law
glosses: To state; to allege.
examples: text: to lay a gun
topics: government
military
politics
war
glosses: To point; to aim.
examples: text: to lay a cable or rope
topics: arts
crafts
hobbies
lifestyle
nautical
ropemaking
transport
glosses: To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: To place (new type) properly in the cases.
examples: text: The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals.
text: She layeth her hands to the spindle.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Proverbs 31:19:
glosses: To apply; to put.
examples: text: The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 53:6:
text: to lay a tax on land
glosses: To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
examples: text: God layeth not folly to them.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Job 24:12:
text: Lay the fault on us.
ref: c. 1608–1609 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii]:
synonyms: ascribe
attribute
glosses: To impute; to charge; to allege.
examples: text: to lay an indictment in a particular county
text: I have laid the facts of the matter before you.
glosses: To present or offer.
examples: text: It [the Houdan breed] bears confinement well, can be kept on any soil, is very hardy, lays well, its flesh is all that can be desired, and it is a nonsitter.
ref: 1883, Stephen Beale [pseudonym; Edward Brown], “French”, in Profitable Poultry Keeping, London; New York, N.Y.: George Routledge and Sons, […], →OCLC, chapter X (The Breeds of Poultry), page 94:
text: I never kill a pullet but keep to lay the next year.
ref: 1901 May 24, Mrs. G. A. Gibbons (Journal of Agriculture), “Poultry and Bees: How to Make Chickens Pay”, in Edwards’ Fruit Grower & Farmer, volume XI, number 2, Missoula, Minn., →OCLC, page [7], column 1:
text: Eine ausgewachsene Legehenne hat einen Zwischenraum zwischen den Beinen, in den man gut drei Finger legen kann. Ein geringerer Abstand läßt darauf schließen, daß die Henne nicht mehr oder – bei Junghennen – nochnicht legt.
ref: 1988 [1986], Alice Stern, translated by David Kennard, “Judging a Hen”, in Poultry and Poultry-Keeping, London: Merehurst Press, →ISBN, “Chickens” section, page 39, column 1:
text: While the hen is laying, the birds require complete peace and quiet and should on no account be disturbed. When the hen leaves the nest, one can gently remove the egg and replace it with a dummy egg.
ref: 1990, Maja Müller-Bierl, “Canary Reproduction”, in Canaries As a New Pet (As a New Pet), Neptune City, N.J.: T.F.H. Publications, →ISBN, page 53, column 1:
text: In legal commentary a laying hen (cerc céin dothas) is valued at two bushels of grain, whereas a sexually active cock (cailech céin íunas) has only the value of one bushel. When a hen no longer lays and a cock is no longer capable of sexual activity, their value is reduced to half a bushel, as they are fit only for the cooking-pot.
ref: 1997, Fergus Kelly, “Hens”, in Early Irish Farming: A Study Based Mainly on the Law-Texts of the 7th and 8th Centuries ad […] (Early Irish Law Series; 4), Dublin: School of Celtic Studies, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, published 2000, →ISBN, →ISSN, chapter 3 (Livestock), page 102:
glosses: To produce and deposit an egg or eggs.
examples: text: I believe the wind is laying and perhaps we will not have a snow. If it turns cold without snow, we can have the hog killed.
ref: 1943, Amanda McDowell, Fiddles in the Cumberlands:
text: ... the wind laid and Nature seemed to have recovered her good humor. The landscape smiled again, and we drove about a bit to see what the storm had done.
ref: 2010 June 28, Roy Bedichek, Karánkaway Country, University of Texas Press, →ISBN, page 61:
text: ... the wind laid, and several hours afterward, two half frozen men staggered into the camp.
ref: 2023 October 26, M. M. Oblinger, Dick Kent with the Eskimos: Icy Adventures with Eskimo Tribes: A Tale of Arctic Exploration and Cultural Discovery, Good Press:
glosses: To subside or abate.
raw_tags: of e.g. wind
examples: text: to lay forward; to lay aloft
text: If ever there was a perfect beauty afloat, she is one; and there she lays at Spithead, and anybody in England would take her for an eight-and-twenty. I was upon the platform two hours this afternoon, looking at her. She lays just astern of the Endymion, with the Cleopatra to larboard.
ref: 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter VII, in Mansfield Park: […], volume III, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 151:
topics: nautical
transport
glosses: To take a position; to come or go.
examples: text: I found him laying on the floor.
text: Lay, lady, lay. / Lay across my big brass bed.
ref: 1969 July, Bob Dylan, “Lay Lady Lay”, in Nashville Skyline, Columbia:
text: Let me lay down beside you. / Let me always be with you.
ref: 1974, John Denver, “Annie’s Song”, Back Home Again, RCA
glosses: To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
Derived terms: allay
a wild goose never laid a tame egg
belay
best laid plans
bricklay
cable-laid
cable-laid rope
forelay
forlay
get laid
hawser-laid
hawser-laid rope
interlay
laid back
laid-back
laid-off
laid up
lay about
lay a finger on
lay a foundation
lay a glove on
lay a hand on
lay an anchor to the windward
lay an egg
lay aside
lay at someone's door
lay a venue
lay away
lay back
layback
lay bare
lay bare one's soul
lay behind
lay-bye
lay-by
lay by
lay by the heels
lay chase
lay chilly
lay claim
lay-down
lay down
lay down on
lay eggs
lay eyes on
layflat
lay for
lay hands on
lay hold of
lay hold on
lay hold upon
lay in
lay-in
lay in ashes
laying on of hands
lay in lavender
lay into
lay it on
lay it on thick
lay low
lay odds
layoff
lay off
lay-off
lay on
lay one down
lay one's account
lay one's cards on the table
lay one's eyes on
lay one's hands on
lay one's head
lay one's tongue to
lay on the line
lay on the table
lay on with a trowel
lay open
lay-out
lay out
layover
lay over
lay pipe
lay rubber
lay salt on someone's tail
layshaftay
lay siege
lay some skin on
lay something at the door of
lay something at the feet of
laystall
lay store by
lay the dust
lay the groundwork
lay the hammer down
lay the pipe
lay the smack down
lay the table
lay the wood
laytime
lay to
lay to heart
lay to rest
lay tracks
layup
lay up
lay-up
lay up in lavender
lay waste
mislay
offlay
onlay
outlay
overlay
pipelay
plain-laid
prelay
re-lay
relay
shroud-laid
the best laid plans of mice and men go oft astray
the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry
twice-laid
underlay
unlay
uplay
water-laid
waylay
well-laid
Related terms: lazy