Sekirov Dictionary

lay

/leɪ/

verb 22
noun 16
adjective 4
forms 11
phrases 20

verb22

•
to put someone or something down carefully in a flat position or in a place where they can rest
- to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
- A shower of rain lays the dust.
•
To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
- lay brick; lay flooring
•
To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
- The hen laid an egg.
- Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
•
To apply; to put.
- The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals.
•
To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
- to lay a tax on land
•
(nonstandard) To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
- I found him laying on the floor.
•
(slang) To have sex with.
- to get laid
•
To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
- Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled. — 2006
•
To state; to allege.
- to lay the venue
•
To impute; to charge; to allege.
- God layeth not folly to them. — 1611
•
To present or offer.
- to lay an indictment in a particular county
- I have laid the facts of the matter before you.
•
To bet (that something is or is not the case).
- I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
•
To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
- I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so. — 1610
•
To subside or abate.
- 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. — 1943
To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost).
(Judaism) To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).
•
To point; to aim.
- to lay a gun
•
To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
- to lay a cable or rope
•
To take a position; to come or go.
- to lay forward; to lay aloft
To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
To place (new type) properly in the cases.
•
To cause to subside or abate.
- The cloudes, as things affrayd, before him flye; / But all so soone as his outrageous powre / Is layd, they fiercely then begin to shoure […] — 1590

noun16

•
Arrangement or relationship; layout.
- 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. — 1977
•
(informal, slang) An act of sexual intercourse.
- Listening to this dismissal of his work, [Tennessee] Williams thought to himself of Wilder, “This character has never had a good lay.” — 1993
•
(informal, vulgar) A casual sexual partner.
- What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?
•
A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung.
- I strive, with wakeful melody, to cheer The sullen gloom, sweet Philomel! like thee, And call the stars to listen: every star Is deaf to mine, enamour'd of thy lay. — 1742
•
A lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance.
- Sad is the note and sad the lay, but mirth we meet not every day. — 1945
•
The laying of eggs.
- The hens are off the lay at present.
•
A share of the profits in a business.
- While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay.
•
The direction a rope is twisted.
- Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
A lake.
•
(slang, no longer used) A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.
- I shall be on that lay nae mair — 1818
•
(no longer used) A pursuit or practice; a dodge.
- FIDLAM BENS. Thieves who have no particular lay, whose every finger is a fish-hook; fellows that will steal any thing they can remove. — 1859
•
(no longer used) A layer.
- […] 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 […] — 1677
•
(no longer used) A basis or ground.
- On this lay or ground we should also add the finishing colours. — 1835
•
(no longer used) A law.
- A woman worthy of immortall prayse, / Which for this Realme found many goodly layes — 1590
•
(no longer used) An obligation; a vow.
- they bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man — 1601
•
(no longer used) A meadow; a lea.
- Having destroyed all old lays, I have no other hay than clover. — 1808

adjective4

•
Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
- They seemed more lay than clerical.
•
[before a noun] Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
- It is true that in adopting the short view many of the younger economists have not merely taken over the lay notions bodily. — 1958
Not trumps.
(no longer used) Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.

forms

laid · laidest · laidst · layedst · ylaid · laying · layeth · lays · layest · more lay · most lay

Phrases with lay

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