lay

English Online Dictionary. What means lay‎? What does lay mean?

Translingual

Symbol

lay

1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Lama Bai.

See also

• Wiktionary’s coverage of Lama Bai terms

English

Pronunciation

• enPR: lā, IPA^(key): /leɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ
• Homophones: lei, ley, le

Etymology 1

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 West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Dutch leggen (“to lay”), German legen (“to lay”), Norwegian Bokmål legge (“to lay”), Norwegian Nynorsk leggja (“to lay”), Swedish lägga (“to lay”), Icelandic leggja (“to lay”), Albanian lag (“troop, band, war encampment”).

Verb

lay (third-person singular simple present lays, present participle laying, simple past laid, past participle laid or (colloquial) lain)

1. (transitive)
   1. To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
   2. (archaic) To cause to subside or abate.

      Synonyms: becalm, settle down
   3. To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
   4. To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.

   5. To produce and deposit an egg.

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

   7. To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
   8. (slang) To have sex with.

      Synonyms: lie by, lie with, sleep with; see also Thesaurus:copulate with
   9. (law) To state; to allege.

   10. (military) To point; to aim.

   11. (ropemaking) To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.

   12. (printing) To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
   13. (printing) To place (new type) properly in the cases.
   14. To apply; to put.
   15. To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
   16. To impute; to charge; to allege.

       Synonyms: ascribe, attribute
   17. To present or offer.

2. (intransitive)
   1. (nautical) To take a position; to come or go.
   2. (proscribed, see usage notes) To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
      • 1974, John Denver, “Annie’s Song”, Back Home Again, RCA:

        Let me lay down beside you. / Let me always be with you.

Usage notes

• The transitive verb lay is often used instead of the corresponding intransitive verb lie, especially in informal settings (and not only in speaking). This happens with all their forms: the present tense and base (infinitive) forms lay(s) are used instead of the present tense and base forms lie(s), and the simple past and past participle of lay (both laid) are used instead of the corresponding forms of lie (lay and lain).
• This intransitive use of the forms of lay instead of the forms of lie already started in Middle English, first appearing in the thirteenth century and becoming common in the fifteenth century. The usage was still chiefly limited to the present tense, and it seems that it was influenced by reflexive or passive use of lay (the wounded lay themselves / are laid on the beds).
• Several factors contributed to the increased use of all forms of lay for those of lie. One is that the form lay was also originally used as both the base form of lay and as the simple past of lie. Another is the use of lay as a reflexive verb meaning “to go lie (down)”. A third one is avoidance of the homonymy with lie “to tell a lie”. In addition, the verb lay looks more complicated than it actually is: it is in fact a regular verb that only looks irregular due to the spelling convention of using laid instead of layed. A similar merger exists in some other Germanic languages, and the two verbs have merged completely in Afrikaans lê (“to lie; to lay”). In German, however, there is no confusion at all even in informal speech: legen, legte, gelegt ("lay, laid, laid") versus liegen, lag, gelegen ("lie, lay, lain") due to the clear differences between the regular forms of the transitive verb and the "irregular" (strong) forms of the intransitive verb.
• Traditional grammars, schoolbooks, and style guides object to the common intransitive use of lay, and a certain stigma remains against the practice. Consequently the usage is only rarely found in carefully edited writing or in more formal spoken situations but common in speech and journalism, especially since the arrival of the Internet and the increasingly rare use of professional copyediting (in other words, journalists check their own writing).
• Nautical use of lay as an intransitive verb is regarded as standard.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

lay (countable and uncountable, plural lays)

1. Arrangement or relationship; layout.

3. A share of the profits in a business.
4. The direction a rope is twisted.

5. (colloquial) A casual sexual partner.

6. (colloquial) An act of sexual intercourse.
7. (slang, archaic) A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.
8. The laying of eggs.

9. (obsolete) A layer.
   • 1766, Thomas Amory, The Life of John Buncle, Esq., London: J. Johnson and B. Davenport, Volume 2, Section 1, p. 16, footnote 1,^[6]

     […] 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 […]

10. (obsolete) A basis or ground.
11. (thieves' cant, obsolete) A pursuit or practice; a dodge.

Synonyms

• (casual sexual partner): see also Thesaurus:casual sexual partner.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “lay”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.

Etymology 2

Inherited from Middle English laie, lawe, from Old English lagu (“sea, flood, water, ocean”), from Proto-West Germanic *lagu (“water, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *laguz (“water, sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“water, body of water, lake”). Cognate with Icelandic lögur (“liquid, fluid, lake”), Latin lacus (“lake, hollow, hole”). Doublet of loch, Looe, and lough.

Noun

lay (plural lays)

2. A lake.

Etymology 3

Inherited from Middle English lay, from Old French lai, from Latin laicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós). Doublet of laic.

Adjective

lay (comparative more lay, superlative most lay)

1. Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.

2. Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
3. (card games) Not trumps.

4. (obsolete) Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 4

From Old English lǣġ.

Verb

lay

1. simple past of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)

Derived terms

• layabout

Etymology 5

Inherited from Middle English lay, from Old French lai (“song, lyric, poem”), from Frankish *laih (“play, melody, song”), from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, *laikiz (“jump, play, dance, hymn”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to jump, spring, play”). Akin to Old High German leih (“a play, skit, melody, song”), Middle High German leich (“piece of music, epic song played on a harp”), Old English lācan (“to move quickly, fence, sing”). See lake (“to play”).

Alternative forms

• lai

Noun

lay (plural lays)

2. 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.
3. 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.

Translations

Etymology 6

From Middle English lay, laye, laiȝe, leyȝe, from Old English lǣh, lēh, northern (Anglian) variants of Old English lēah (“lea”). More at lea.

Noun

lay (plural lays)

1. (obsolete) A meadow; a lea.

Derived terms

Etymology 7

Inherited from Middle English laige, læȝe, variants of Middle English lawe (“law”). More at law.

Noun

lay (plural lays)

1. (obsolete) A law.
2. (obsolete) An obligation; a vow.

Etymology 8

Semantic loan from Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to put, lay”).

Verb

lay (third-person singular simple present lays, present participle laying, simple past and past participle laid)

1. (Judaism, transitive) To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).

References

See also

Anagrams

• Aly

Anguthimri

Verb

lay

1. (transitive, Mpakwithi) to carry

References

• Terry Crowley, The Mpakwithi dialect of Anguthimri (1981), page 186

Franco-Provençal

Noun

lay (Old Bressan, Old Vaudois)

1. Alternative form of lèc (“lake”)

References

• Walther von Wartburg (1928–2002) “lacus”, in Französisches Etymologisches Wörterbuch, volume 5: J L, page 125

Haitian Creole

Etymology

From French l’ail (“the garlic”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laj/

Noun

lay

1. garlic

Malagasy

Etymology

From Proto-Malayo-Polynesian *layaʀ, from Proto-Austronesian *layaʀ.

Noun

lay

1. sail (a piece of fabric attached to a boat)
2. tent

References

• lay in Malagasy dictionaries at malagasyword.org

Mauritian Creole

Etymology 1

From French ail.

Noun

lay

1. garlic

Etymology 2

From Malagasy ley (butterfly).

Noun

lay

1. moth

References

• Baker, Philip & Hookoomsing, Vinesh Y. 1987. Dictionnaire de créole mauricien. Morisyen – English – Français

Middle English

Verb

lay

1. Alternative form of leie: simple past of lien

Moore

Etymology

from French l’ail (“the garlic”)

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /láj/

Noun

lay

1. garlic (food)

Seychellois Creole

Etymology 1

From French ail.

Noun

lay

1. garlic

Etymology 2

From Malagasy ley (butterfly).

Noun

lay

1. moth

References

• Danielle D’Offay et Guy Lionnet, Diksyonner Kreol - Franse / Dictionnaire Créole Seychellois - Français

Vietnamese

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [laj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [laj˧˧]
• (Saigon) IPA^(key): [la(ː)j˧˧]

Verb

lay • (來, 𢯦)

1. to shake

Derived terms