lay

1. 1

   To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.transitive

   • to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
   • A shower of rain lays the dust.
2. 2

   To cause to subside or abate.archaictransitive

   • 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?
3. 3

   To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost).transitive

   • 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 w
4. 4

   To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).transitive

   • Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled.
5. 5

   To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.transitive

   • lay brick; lay flooring
6. 6

   To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).transitive

   • The hen laid an egg.
   • Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
7. 7

   To bet (that something is or is not the case).transitive

   • I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
8. 8

   To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.transitive

   • 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.
9. 9

   To have sex with.slangtransitive

   • to get laid
10. 10

    To state; to allege.transitive

    • to lay the venue

1. 1

   Arrangement or relationship; layout.countableuncountable

   • the lay of the land
2. 2

   A share of the profits in a business.countableuncountable

   • While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay.
3. 3

   The direction a rope is twisted.countableuncountable

   • Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
4. 4

   A casual sexual partner.colloquialcountableuncountable

   • What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?
5. 5

   An act of sexual intercourse.colloquialcountableuncountable

   • 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
6. 6

   A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.archaiccountableslang

   • 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
7. 7

   The laying of eggs.countableuncountable

   • The hens are off the lay at present.
8. 8

   A layer.countableobsoleteuncountable

   • 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 la
9. 9

   A basis or ground.countableobsoleteuncountable

   • 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.
10. 10

    A pursuit or practice; a dodge.countableobsoleteuncountable

    • 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."

1. 1

   A lake.

1. 1

   Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.

   • They seemed more lay than clerical.
   • a lay preacher; a lay brother
2. 2

   Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.attributive

   • It is true that in adopting the short view many of the younger economists have not merely taken over the lay notions bodily.
   • 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.
3. 3

   Not trumps.

   • a lay suit
4. 4

   Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.obsolete

syn. laic · laical · laicist · laicistic · lay

ant. clerical · secular

1. 1

   simple past of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)form-ofpast

   • The baby lay in its crib and slept silently.

1. 1

   A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung.

   • 1925 The Lay of Leithien, poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, Anglo-Saxon Professor.
2. 2

   A lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance.

   • 1945: "The Lay of Aotrou and Itroun" by JRR Tolkien Sad is the note and sad the lay, but mirth we meet not every day.

1. 1

   A meadow; a lea.obsolete

   • Having destroyed all old lays, I have no other hay than clover.

1. 1

   A law.obsolete

   • A woman worthy of immortall prayse, / Which for this Realme found many goodly layes
2. 2

   An obligation; a vow.obsolete

   • they bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man

1. 1

   To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).Judaismtransitive