Word: lay Part of Speech: verb 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”). Pronunciation: /leɪ/ 1. To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position. Labels: transitive Example: to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave Example: A shower of rain lays the dust. 2. To cause to subside or abate. Labels: archaic, transitive Example: The cloudes, as things affrayd, before him flye; / But all so soone as his outrageous powre / Is layd, they fiercely then begin to shoure […] Example: But how upon the winds being laid, doth the ship cease to move? 3. To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost). Labels: transitive Example: They were resolved to banish him if they could, and the spirit, who seemed to have an inkling of their design, was often heard singing in a melancholy tone: Wae's me! wae's me! The acorn is not yet Fallen from the tree, That's to grow the wood, That's to make the cradle, That's to rock the bairn, That's to grow to a man, That's to lay me. 4. To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle). Labels: transitive Example: Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled. 5. To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another. Labels: transitive Example: lay brick; lay flooring 6. To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs). Labels: transitive Example: The hen laid an egg. Example: Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest? 7. To bet (that something is or is not the case). Labels: transitive Example: I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday. 8. To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk. Labels: transitive Example: I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so. Example: 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. 9. To have sex with. Labels: slang, transitive Example: to get laid Example: '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.' 10. To state; to allege. Labels: transitive Example: to lay the venue 11. To point; to aim. Labels: transitive Example: to lay a gun 12. To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them. Labels: transitive Example: to lay a cable or rope 13. To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone. Labels: transitive 14. To place (new type) properly in the cases. Labels: transitive 15. To apply; to put. Labels: transitive Example: The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals. Example: She layeth her hands to the spindle. 16. To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.). Labels: transitive Example: The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Example: to lay a tax on land 17. To impute; to charge; to allege. Labels: transitive Example: God layeth not folly to them. Example: Lay the fault on us. 18. To present or offer. Labels: transitive Example: to lay an indictment in a particular county Example: I have laid the facts of the matter before you. 19. To produce and deposit an egg or eggs. Labels: intransitive Example: 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. Example: I never kill a pullet but keep to lay the next year. 20. To subside or abate. Labels: intransitive Example: 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. Example: ... 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. 21. To take a position; to come or go. Labels: intransitive Example: to lay forward; to lay aloft Example: 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. 22. To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface. Labels: intransitive, proscribed Example: I found him laying on the floor. Example: Lay, lady, lay. / Lay across my big brass bed.