lay
Part of speech: verb
noun
adj
Morphological type: simple
Topics: arts
card-games
crafts
games
government
hobbies
law
lifestyle
media
military
nautical
politics
printing
publishing
ropemaking
transport
war
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”).
Inflected forms:
form: lays
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: laying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: past
form: no-table-tags
pos: verb
tags: table-tags
form: glossary
pos: verb
tags: inflection-template
form: lay
pos: verb
tags: infinitive
form: lay
pos: verb
tags: first-person
present
singular
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: first-person
past
singular
form: lay
pos: verb
tags: present
second-person
singular
form: layest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
second-person
singular
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: past
second-person
singular
form: laidst
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: laidest
pos: verb
tags: archaic
past
second-person
singular
form: lays
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: layeth
pos: verb
tags: archaic
present
singular
third-person
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: past
singular
third-person
form: lay
pos: verb
tags: plural
present
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: past
plural
form: lay
pos: verb
tags: present
subjunctive
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: past
subjunctive
form: lay
pos: verb
tags: imperative
present
form: -
pos: verb
tags: imperative
past
form: laying
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: laid
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: lays
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: more lay
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: most lay
pos: adj
tags: superlative
Senses:
gloss: To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
A shower of rain lays the dust.
A stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den.
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.
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.
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’.
gloss: To cause to subside or abate.
pos: verb
tags: archaic
transitive
examples: The cloudes, as things affrayd, before him flye; / But all so soone as his outrageous powre / Is layd, they fiercely then begin to shoure […]
But how upon the winds being laid, doth the ship cease to move?
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
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.
gloss: To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled.
gloss: To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: lay brick; lay flooring
gloss: To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The hen laid an egg.
Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
gloss: To bet (that something is or is not the case).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
gloss: To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so.
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.
gloss: To have sex with.
pos: verb
tags: slang
transitive
examples: to get laid
'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.'
gloss: To state; to allege.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to lay the venue
gloss: To point; to aim.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to lay a gun
gloss: To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to lay a cable or rope
gloss: To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To place (new type) properly in the cases.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
gloss: To apply; to put.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals.
She layeth her hands to the spindle.
gloss: To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
to lay a tax on land
gloss: To impute; to charge; to allege.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: God layeth not folly to them.
Lay the fault on us.
gloss: To present or offer.
pos: verb
tags: transitive
examples: to lay an indictment in a particular county
I have laid the facts of the matter before you.
gloss: To produce and deposit an egg or eggs.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
I never kill a pullet but keep to lay the next year.
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.
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.
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.
gloss: To subside or abate.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: 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.
... 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.
... the wind laid, and several hours afterward, two half frozen men staggered into the camp.
gloss: To take a position; to come or go.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
examples: to lay forward; to lay aloft
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.
gloss: To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
pos: verb
tags: intransitive
proscribed
examples: I found him laying on the floor.
Lay, lady, lay. / Lay across my big brass bed.
Let me lay down beside you. / Let me always be with you.
gloss: Arrangement or relationship; layout.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: He spoke of a flower or tree in each of the fifteen poems. A simple shape, a color, the design of a hedge, the lay of a limb inspired him in these songs to and about his loves.
the lay of the land
gloss: A share of the profits in a business.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay.
I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the ship’s company.
gloss: The direction a rope is twisted.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
gloss: A casual sexual partner.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
countable
uncountable
examples: Over the years she'd tried to tell himself that his uptown girl was just another lay.
To find a place like that and be discreet about it, Jones figured he needed help, so he went to see his favorite lay, Juan Carillo's woman, Carmen.
“Because I don't want William to be just another lay. I did the slut thing, T, and it got me into a lot of trouble years ago. […]
What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?
gloss: An act of sexual intercourse.
pos: noun
tags: colloquial
countable
uncountable
examples: Listening to this dismissal of his work, [Tennessee] Williams thought to himself of Wilder, “This character has never had a good lay.”
Does his make-up in his room
Douse himself with cheap perfume
Eyeholes in a paper bag
Greatest lay I ever had
[…] She didn't become this germ freak until Thomas died. I wonder if she just needs a good lay, you know, an all-nighter?" Toots said thoughtfully.
“What she needs is a good lay. If she had someone to rock her world on a regular basis, she wouldn't be such a raging bit—”
gloss: A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.
pos: noun
tags: archaic
countable
slang
uncountable
examples: I shall be on that lay nae mair
Since our people have moved this boy on, and he's not to be found on his old lay
"Well, you see, son," Kitcell had explained to Wilbur, "os-ten-siblee we are after shark-liver oil— and so we are; but also we are on any lay that turns up; ready for any game, from wrecking to barratry.
gloss: The laying of eggs.
pos: noun
tags: countable
uncountable
examples: The hens are off the lay at present.
gloss: A layer.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: […] lay in the bottom of an earthen pot some dried vine leaves, and so make a lay of Pears, and leaves till the pot is filled up, laying betwixt each lay some sliced Ginger […]
[…] the whole Body of the Church is chequer’d with different Lays of White and Black Marble […]
[…] when we examine the Scarf-Skin with a Microscope, it appears to be made up of several Lays of exceeding small Scales, which cover one another more or less […]
1766, Thomas Amory, The Life of John Buncle, Esq., London: J. Johnson and B. Davenport, Volume 2, Section 1, p. 16, footnote 1,
[…] in one particular it exceeds the fen birds, for it has two tastes; it being brown and white meat: under a lay of brown is a lay of white meat […]
gloss: A basis or ground.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: On this lay or ground we should also add the finishing colours.
In the first MacColl patent the pattern chain and engaging rod were carried on the swinging lay on which the needle bars are mounted.
gloss: A pursuit or practice; a dodge.
pos: noun
tags: countable
obsolete
uncountable
examples: FIDLAM BENS. Thieves who have no particular lay, whose every finger is a fish-hook; fellows that will steal any thing they can remove.
"It isn't an exchange lay, at all events," said Mr Carlyle. "His inner case is only half the size of the other and couldn't possibly be substituted."
Because I've finished, missus. Finished with the thieving lay now and forever.
gloss: Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
pos: adj
examples: They seemed more lay than clerical.
a lay preacher; a lay brother
gloss: Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
pos: adj
examples: It is true that in adopting the short view many of the younger economists have not merely taken over the lay notions bodily.
He hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep. […] It's a sort of disease. There's a scientific name for it. Trau- something. Traumatic symplegia, that's it. This cat has traumatic symplegia. In other words, putting it in simple language adapted to the lay mind, where other cats are content to get their eight hours, Augustus wants his twenty-four.
In what could become a model program for courses across the U.S., this state's gay health consultant has begun training bartenders and bar owners as lay health educators.
gloss: Not trumps.
pos: adj
examples: a lay suit
gloss: Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
Synonyms: laic
laical
laicist
laicistic
lay
Antonyms: clerical
secular
Related words: lazy
laity
Derived words: 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
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
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
laystall
overlay
by the lay
cross lay
dub-lay
flatlay
inlay
lay analysis
layless
lay of the land
Mattydale lay
off the lay
orlay
same day lay
laity
lay brother
lay clerk
layclerk
lay day
lay figure
layfolk
lay investiture
lay judge
lay-led
lay lord
layman
layperson
lay person
lay preacher
lay reader
lay rector
layship
lay speaker
lay vicar
laywoman
Translations: