lie

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

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: lye, lai, Leigh (some placenames)

Etymology 1

From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-.

Cognate with West Frisian lizze, Dutch liggen, German liegen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ligge, Swedish ligga, Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk liggja, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan); and with Latin lectus (“bed”), Irish luí, Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ), Albanian lag (“troop, band, encampment”).

As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.

Verb

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past lay or (colloquial) laid, past participle lain or (colloquial) laid or (obsolete) lien) (see usage notes)

2. (intransitive) To rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
3. (intransitive) To be placed or situated.
4. (intransitive, copulative) To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in a certain state or condition.

5. Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
6. Used with with: to have sexual relations with.
7. Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
8. (archaic) To lodge; to sleep.
9. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
10. (law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.
    • 1737, Cart against Marsh (legal case)

      An appeal lies in this case from the ordinary to the arches.

Usage notes

See the usage notes of lay.

Conjugation

Derived terms

Related terms

• lay, a corresponding transitive version of this word
• lees
• lier

Translations

Noun

lie (plural lies)

1. (golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck.
2. (disc golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown.
3. (medicine) The position of a fetus in the womb.
4. A manner of lying; relative position.
5. An animal's lair.

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lien (“to lie, tell a falsehood”), from Old English lēogan (“to lie”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugan, from Proto-Germanic *leuganą (“to lie”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to lie, swear, bemoan”).

Cognate with West Frisian lige (“to lie”), Low German legen, lögen (“to lie”), Dutch liegen (“to lie”), German lügen (“to lie”), Norwegian ljuge/lyge (“to lie”), Danish lyve (“to lie”), Swedish ljuga (“to lie”), and more distantly with Bulgarian лъжа (lǎža, “to lie”), Polish łgać (“to lie”), Russian лгать (lgatʹ, “to lie”), ложь (ložʹ, “falsehood”).

Verb

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past and past participle lied)

2. (intransitive) To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive.
3. (intransitive) To convey a false image or impression.

4. (intransitive, colloquial) To be mistaken or unintentionally spread false information.

Conjugation

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English lie, from Old English lyġe (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Germanic *lugiz (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to tell lies, swear, complain”). Cognate with Old Saxon luggi (“a lie”), Old High German lugī, lugin (“a lie”) (German Lüge), Danish løgn (“a lie”), Bulgarian лъжа́ (lǎžá, “а lie”), Russian ложь (ložʹ, “а lie”), Czech lež (“a lie”), Middle Polish łeż (“a lie”), Serbo-Croatian laž (“a lie”).

Noun

lie (plural lies)

2. An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood.

   Synonyms: alternative fact, deception, fabrication, falsehood, fib, leasing, nonsense, prevarication, tall tale, whopper; see also Thesaurus:lie

   Antonym: truth
3. A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true.

   Synonym: half-truth

4. (by extension) Anything that misleads or disappoints.

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• lie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• EIL, ile-, Eli, Ile, -ile, lei, Lei., Lei, %ile, ELI, ile

Finnish

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlie̯(ˣ)/, [ˈlie̞̯(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Hyphenation^(key): lie

Verb

lie

1. (dialectal) third-person singular potential present of olla

Usage notes

• This form is commonly used in certain dialects, like the North Karelian dialect, and is also quite common colloquially in other regions. In standard Finnish, the word is only used in highly literary or solemn contexts. Can be used with any person. As a main verb, the form simply occurs in present tense. As an auxiliary verb form, it may take place in the perfect tense form of any verb. In dialectal use, the form can typically be seen in both direct and indirect questions.

Synonyms

• lienee

Derived terms

Further reading

• “lie”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎^[2] (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-12-01

Anagrams

• eli, lei

French

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old French lie, from Early Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

Noun

lie f (plural lies)

1. lees, dregs (of wine, of society)

Derived terms

• boire le calice jusqu’à la lie

Etymology 2

Verb

lie

1. inflection of lier:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “lie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Anagrams

• île

Mandarin

Romanization

lie (lie⁵ / lie⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄧㄝ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 咧

lie

1. Nonstandard spelling of liē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of lié.
3. Nonstandard spelling of liě.
4. Nonstandard spelling of liè.

Usage notes

• Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.

Old French

Etymology

From Early Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

Noun

lie oblique singular, f (oblique plural lies, nominative singular lie, nominative plural lies)

1. dregs; mostly solid, undesirable leftovers of a drink

Descendants

• → English: lees

Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *līwanks (compare *līwos), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁w- (“stone”) (compare Ancient Greek λᾶας (lâas, “stone”), Albanian lerë (“boulder”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈl͈ʲi.e/

Noun

lie m (genitive lïac or lïacc)

1. a stone
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4^d15

   • c. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 65^a1

Declension

Descendants

• → Breton: liac'h
• Middle Irish: lía
  • Irish: lia

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Sharon Arbuthnot, Máire Ní Mhaonaigh, Marie-Luise Theuerkauf, Dagmar Wodtko, editors (2019), “1 lía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

Portuguese

Verb

lie

1. inflection of liar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

Spanish

Verb

lie

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of liar

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish līe, lē, from Old Norse lé, from Proto-Germanic *lewô, from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to cut”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈliːˌɛ/

Noun

lie c

1. scythe; an instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like.

Declension

Related terms

• lieblad
• liehugg
• lieknagg
• lieknagge
• lieman
• lieorv
• lieskaft
• lietag

References

• lie in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)