lay

[Lay]

To lay is to set something down or put it in a horizontal position. It can also mean to position or prepare something for action, or, simply, to lay eggs.

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of Lie, to recline.

Noun
a narrative poem of popular origin

Noun
a narrative song with a recurrent refrain

Verb
put into a certain place or abstract location; "Put your things here"; "Set the tray down"; "Set the dogs on the scent of the missing children"; "Place emphasis on a certain point"

Verb
put in a horizontal position; "lay the books on the table"; "lay the patient carefully onto the bed"

Verb
lay eggs; "This hen doesn''t lay"

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Verb
prepare or position for action or operation; "lay a fire"; "lay the foundation for a new health care plan"

Verb
impose as a duty, burden, or punishment; "lay a responsibility on someone"

Adjective S.
not of or from a profession; "a lay opinion as to the cause of the disease"

Adjective S.
concerning those not members of the clergy; "set his collar in laic rather than clerical position"; "the lay ministry"; "the choir sings both sacred and secular music"


imp.
of Lie, to recline.

a.
Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother.

a.
Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.

a.
Not belonging to, or emanating from, a particular profession; unprofessional; as, a lay opinion regarding the nature of a disease.

n.
The laity; the common people.

n.
A meadow. See Lea.

n.
Faith; creed; religious profession.

n.
A law.

n.
An obligation; a vow.

a.
A song; a simple lyrical poem; a ballad.

a.
A melody; any musical utterance.

v. t.
To cause to lie down, to be prostrate, or to lie against something; to put or set down; to deposit; as, to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave; a shower lays the dust.

v. t.
To place in position; to establish firmly; to arrange with regularity; to dispose in ranks or tiers; as, to lay a corner stone; to lay bricks in a wall; to lay the covers on a table.

v. t.
To prepare; to make ready; to contrive; to provide; as, to lay a snare, an ambush, or a plan.

v. t.
To spread on a surface; as, to lay plaster or paint.

v. t.
To cause to be still; to calm; to allay; to suppress; to exorcise, as an evil spirit.

v. t.
To cause to lie dead or dying.

v. t.
To deposit, as a wager; to stake; to risk.

v. t.
To bring forth and deposit; as, to lay eggs.

v. t.
To apply; to put.

v. t.
To impose, as a burden, suffering, or punishment; to assess, as a tax; as, to lay a tax on land.

v. t.
To impute; to charge; to allege.

v. t.
To impose, as a command or a duty; as, to lay commands on one.

v. t.
To present or offer; as, to lay an indictment in a particular county; to lay a scheme before one.

v. t.
To state; to allege; as, to lay the venue.

v. t.
To point; to aim; as, to lay a gun.

v. t.
To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them; as, to lay a cable or rope.

v. t.
To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.

v. t.
To place (new type) properly in the cases.

v. i.
To produce and deposit eggs.

v. i.
To take a position; to come or go; as, to lay forward; to lay aloft.

v. i.
To lay a wager; to bet.

n.
That which lies or is laid or is conceived of as having been laid or placed in its position; a row; a stratum; a layer; as, a lay of stone or wood.

v. t.
A wager.

v. t.
A job, price, or profit.

v. t.
A share of the proceeds or profits of an enterprise; as, when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay.

v. t.
A measure of yarn; a lea. See 1st Lea (a).

v. t.
The lathe of a loom. See Lathe, 3.

v. t.
A plan; a scheme.

imp.
of Lie


Lay

Lay , imp. of Lie, to recline.

Lay

Lay, a. [F. lai, L. laicus, Gr. of or from the people, lay, from , , people. Cf. Laic.] 1. Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother. 2. Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.[Obs.] 3. Not belonging to, or emanating from, a particular profession; unprofessional; as, a lay opinion regarding the nature of a disease. Lay baptism (Eccl.), baptism administered by a lay person. F. G. Lee. -- Lay brother (R. C. Ch.), one received into a convent of monks under the three vows, but not in holy orders. -- Lay clerk (Eccl.), a layman who leads the responses of the congregation, etc., in the church service. Hook. -- Lay days (Com.), time allowed in a charter party for taking in and discharging cargo. McElrath. -- Lay elder. See 2d Elder, 3, note.

Lay

Lay , n. The laity; the common people. [Obs.]
The learned have no more privilege than the lay.

Lay

Lay, n. A meadow. See Lea. [Obs.] Dryden.

Lay

Lay, n. [OF.lei faith, law, F. loi law. See Legal.] 1. Faith; creed; religious profession. [Obs.]
Of the sect to which that he was born He kept his lay, to which that he was sworn.
2. A law. [Obs.] "Many goodly lays." Spenser. 3. An obligation; a vow. [Obs.]
They bound themselves by a sacred lay and oath.

Lay

Lay , a. [OF. lai, lais, prob. of Celtic origin; cf. Ir. laoi, laoidh, song, poem, OIr.laoidh poem, verse; but cf. also AS. l'bec play, sport, G. leich a sort of poem (cf. Lake to sport). .] 1. A song; a simple lyrical poem; a ballad. Spenser. Sir W. Scott. 2. A melody; any musical utterance.
The throstle cock made eke his lay.

Lay

Lay , v. t. [imp. & p. p. Laid ; p. pr. & vb. n. Laying.] [OE. leggen, AS. lecgan, causative, fr. licgan to lie; akin to D.leggen, G. legen, Icel. leggja, Goth. lagjan. See Lie to be prostrate.] 1. To cause to lie down, to be prostrate, or to lie against something; to put or set down; to deposit; as, to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave; a shower lays the dust.
A stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den.
Soft on the flowery herb I found me laid.
2. To place in position; to establish firmly; to arrange with regularity; to dispose in ranks or tiers; as, to lay a corner stone; to lay bricks in a wall; to lay the covers on a table. 3. To prepare; to make ready; to contrive; to provide; as, to lay a snare, an ambush, or a plan. 4. To spread on a surface; as, to lay plaster or paint. 5. To cause to be still; to calm; to allay; to suppress; to exorcise, as an evil spirit.
After a tempest when the winds are laid.
6. To cause to lie dead or dying.
Brave C'91neus laid Ortygius on the plain, The victor C'91neus was by Turnus slain.
7. To deposit, as a wager; to stake; to risk.
I dare lay mine honor He will remain so.
8. To bring forth and deposit; as, to lay eggs. 9. To apply; to put.
She layeth her hands to the spindle.
10. To impose, as a burden, suffering, or punishment; to assess, as a tax; as, to lay a tax on land.
The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
11. To impute; to charge; to allege.
God layeth not folly to them.
Lay the fault on us.
12. To impose, as a command or a duty; as, to lay commands on one. 13. To present or offer; as, to lay an indictment in a particular county; to lay a scheme before one. 14. (Law) To state; to allege; as, to lay the venue. Bouvier. 15. (Mil.) To point; to aim; as, to lay a gun. 16. (Rope Making) To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them; as, to lay a cable or rope. 17. (Print.) (a) To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone. (b) To place (new type) properly in the cases. To lay asleep, to put sleep; to make unobservant or careless. Bacon. -- To lay bare, to make bare; to strip.
And laid those proud roofs bare to summer's rain.
-- To lay before, to present to; to submit for consideration; as, the papers are laid before Congress. -- To lay by. (a) To save. (b) To discard.
Let brave spirits . . . not be laid by.
-- To lay by the heels, to put in the stocks. Shak. -- To lay down. (a) To stake as a wager. (b) To yield; to relinquish; to surrender; as, to lay down one's life; to lay down one's arms. (c) To assert or advance, as a proposition or principle. -- To lay forth. (a) To extend at length; (reflexively) to exert one's self; to expatiate. [Obs.] (b) To lay out (as a corpse). [Obs.] Shak. -- To lay hands on, to seize. -- To lay hands on one's self, or To lay violent hands on one's self, to injure one's self; specif., to commit suicide. -- To lay heads together, to consult. -- To lay hold of, ∨ To lay hold on, to seize; to catch. -- To lay in, to store; to provide. -- To lay it on, to apply without stint. Shak. -- To lay on, to apply with force; to inflict; as, to lay on blows. -- To lay on load, to lay on blows; to strike violently. [Obs. ∨ Archaic] -- To lay one's self out, to strive earnestly.
No selfish man will be concerned to lay out himself for the good of his country.
-- To lay one's self open to, to expose one's self to, as to an accusation. -- To lay open, to open; to uncover; to expose; to reveal. -- To lay over, to spread over; to cover. -- To lay out. (a) To expend. Macaulay. (b) To display; to discover. (c) To plan in detail; to arrange; as, to lay out a garden. (d) To prepare for burial; as, to lay out a corpse. (e) To exert; as, to lay out all one's strength. -- To lay siege to. (a) To besiege; to encompass with an army. (b) To beset pertinaciously. -- To lay the course (Naut.), to sail toward the port intended without jibing. -- To lay the land (Naut.), to cause it to disappear below the horizon, by sailing away from it. -- To lay to (a) To charge upon; to impute. (b) To apply with vigor. (c) To attack or harass. [Obs.] Knolles. (d) (Naut.) To check the motion of (a vessel) and cause it to be stationary. -- To lay to heart, to feel deeply; to consider earnestly. -- To lay under, to subject to; as, to lay under obligation or restraint. -- To lay unto. (a) Same as To lay to (above). (b) To put before. Hos. xi. 4. -- To lay up. (a) To store; to reposit for future use. (b) To confine; to disable. (c) To dismantle, and retire from active service, as a ship. -- To lay wait for, to lie in ambush for. -- To lay waste, to destroy; to make desolate; as, to lay waste the land.
Syn. -- See Put, v. t., and the Note under 4th Lie.

Lay

Lay, v. i. 1. To produce and deposit eggs. 2. (Naut.) To take a position; to come or go; as, to lay forward; to lay aloft. 3. To lay a wager; to bet. To lay about, ∨ To lay about one, to strike vigorously in all directions. J. H. Newman. -- To lay at, to strike or strike at. Spenser. -- To lay for, to prepare to capture or assault; to lay wait for. [Colloq.] Bp Hall. -- To lay in for, to make overtures for; to engage or secure the possession of. [Obs.] "I have laid in for these." Dryden. -- To lay on, to strike; to beat; to attack. Shak. -- To lay out, to purpose; to plan; as, he lays out to make a journey.

Lay

Lay , n. 1. That which lies or is laid or is conceived of as having been laid or placed in its position; a row; a stratum; a layer; as, a lay of stone or wood. Addison.
A viol should have a lay of wire strings below.
&hand; The lay of a rope is right-handed or left-handed according to the hemp or strands are laid up. See Lay, v. t., 16. The lay of land is its topographical situation, esp. its slope and its surface features. 2. A wager. "My fortunes against any lay worth naming." 3. (a) A job, price, or profit. [Prov. Eng.] Wright. (b) A share of the proceeds or profits of an enterprise; as, when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay. [U. S.] 4. (Textile Manuf.) (a) A measure of yarn; a les. See 1st Lea (a). (b) The lathe of a loom. See Lathe, 8. 5. A plan; a scheme. [Slang] Dickens. Lay figure. (a) A jointed model of the human body that may be put in any attitude; -- used for showing the disposition of drapery, etc. (b) A mere puppet; one who serves the will of others without independent volition. -- Lay race, that part of a lay on which the shuttle travels in weaving; -- called also shuttle race.

of Lie, to recline.

Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother.

The laity; the common people.

A meadow. See Lea.

Faith; creed; religious profession.

A song; a simple lyrical poem; a ballad.

To cause to lie down, to be prostrate, or to lie against something; to put or set down; to deposit; as, to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave; a shower lays the dust.

To produce and deposit eggs.

That which lies or is laid or is conceived of as having been laid or placed in its position; a row; a stratum; a layer; as, a lay of stone or wood.

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Usage Examples

I had the closest thing I have ever had to an out-of-body experience lying in bed one morning. I turned on the 'Today' programme and item four on the news was: 'The shadow chancellor has ruled himself out of the leadership.' I lay there thinking that's interesting, then I realised it was me.

God, I can push the grass apart and lay my finger on Thy heart.

A truly good book teaches me better than to read it. I must soon lay it down, and commence living on its hint. What I began by reading, I must finish by acting.

Every day I wake up and I lay in bed counting my blessings and saying my prayers for how fortunate I am to have great fans and health and family.

Here is everything which can lay hold of the eye, ear and imagination - everything which can charm and bewitch the simple and ignorant. I wonder how Luther ever broke the spell.

Before marriage, a man declares that he would lay down his life to serve you after marriage, he won't even lay down his newspaper to talk to you.

But while they prate of economic laws, men and women are starving. We must lay hold of the fact that economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings.

I love Westerns and I remember as a kid climbing up on the couch and make it into a saddle and shoot guns and fall off. I would lay there after my death and my mom would tell me to eat lunch and I'd say, 'I'm still dead, Mom!' I was Method, even then.

Misspelled Form

lay, klay, olay, play, :lay, kay, oay, pay, :ay, lkay, loay, lpay, l:ay, lqay, lway, lsay, lzay, lqy, lwy, lsy, lzy, laqy, lawy, lasy, lazy, laty, la6y, la7y, lauy, lahy, lat, la6, la7, lau, lah, layt, lay6, lay7, layu, layh.

Other Usage Examples

I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.

Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers.

Also, as I lay there thinking of my vision, I could see it all again and feel the meaning with a part of me like a strange power glowing in my body but when the part of me that talks would try to make words for the meaning, it would be like fog and get away from me.

I grew up in New Jersey and my father was a golf pro, so I was groomed for sports, but I wasn't very good, so my interests lay elsewhere.

A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.

I don't have time for their judgement and their stupidity and you know they lay down with their ugly wives in front of their ugly children and look at their loser lives and then they look at me and they say, 'I can't process it' well, no, you never will stop trying, just sit back and enjoy the show. You know?

I perceived how that it was impossible to establish the lay people in any truth except the Scripture were plainly laid before their eyes in their mother tongue.

Analysts may be correct that the presidential election won't primarily turn on entitlements reform, but by choosing Paul Ryan as his running mate, Mitt Romney can, contrary to conventional wisdom, make it a winning issue and lay the foundation for a reform mandate when he wins.

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