lain

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

Verb form of, participle

  1. past participle of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)
    • He had lain there for many hours.
    • The book had lain on the attic floor until it was found decades later.
    • I ascended to my room, and lay down upon the bed. A whole hour I must have lain thus, with my head resting upon my hand. - 1867, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, chapter XII, in The Gambler, translated by C. J....
  2. past participle of lay (“to put down”)

    Synonyms: laid

Origin

Inflected forms.

Verb obsolete

  1. To conceal, keep quiet about.
    • Also broder sir Agrauayne and sir mordred in lyke wyse sir Launcelot rescowed yow bothe and thre score and two from sir Turquyn / Me thynketh broder suche kynde dedes and kyndenes shold be remembryd / doo as ye lyst...

Origin

From Middle English lainen, leynen, from Old Norse leyna (“to conceal”) and Old English līeġnan (“to deny; conceal”); both from Proto-Germanic *laugnijaną, from Proto-Germanic *laugnō (“secrecy”).

Forms

lains laining lained lean len