lay

Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.

Adjective

  1. Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
    • They seemed more lay than clerical.
    • a lay preacher; a lay brother

    Synonyms: laical

  2. 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, Jacob Viner, The Long View and the Short, page 112:
    • He hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep. […] It's a sort of disease. There's a scientific name for it. Trau- something. Traumatic symplegia, that's it....
    • In what could become a model program for courses across the U.S., this state's gay health consultant has begun training bartenders and bar owners as lay health educators. - 1985 February 2, John Zeh, “Sex Ed In Bars”,...
  3. Not trumps.
    • a lay suit
  4. Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.

Origin

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

Forms

more lay most lay

Synonyms

laic laical laicist laicistic lay

Antonyms

clerical secular

Related

laity

Derived

laity lay brother lay clerk layclerk lay day lay figure layfolk lay investiture lay judge lay-led lay lord layman layperson lay person lay preacher lay reader lay rector layship lay speaker lay vicar laywoman

Noun Entry 2

  1. 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 August 20, Jim Marko, “Building A...
    • the lay of the land
  2. A share of the profits in a business.
    • While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay.
    • I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of...
  3. The direction a rope is twisted.
    • Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
  4. A casual sexual partner.
    • Over the years she'd tried to tell himself that his uptown girl was just another lay. - 1996, JoAnn Ross, Southern Comforts, MIRA, published 1996, →ISBN, page 166:
    • To find a place like that and be discreet about it, Jones figured he needed help, so he went to see his favorite lay, Juan Carillo's woman, Carmen. - 2000, R. J. Kaiser, Fruitcake, MIRA, published 2000, →ISBN, page 288:
    • “Because I don't want William to be just another lay. I did the slut thing, T, and it got me into a lot of trouble years ago. […] - 2011, Kelly Meding, Trance, Pocket Books, →ISBN, pages 205–206:
  5. 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, David Halberstam, The Fifties, Open Road Integrated Media, published 2012,...
    • Does his make-up in his room Douse himself with cheap perfume Eyeholes in a paper bag Greatest lay I ever had - 1996, Placebo, “Nancy Boy”:
    • […] She didn't become this germ freak until Thomas died. I wonder if she just needs a good lay, you know, an all-nighter?" Toots said thoughtfully. - 2009, Fern Michaels, The Scoop, Kensington Books, →ISBN, pages...
  6. A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.
    • I shall be on that lay nae mair - 1818 July 25, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], Tales of My Landlord, Second Series, […] (The Heart of Mid-Lothian), volume (please specify |volume=I to IV), Edinburgh:...
    • Since our people have moved this boy on, and he's not to be found on his old lay - 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1853, →OCLC:
    • "Well, you see, son," Kitcell had explained to Wilbur, "os-ten-siblee we are after shark-liver oil— and so we are; but also we are on any lay that turns up; ready for any game, from wrecking to barratry. - 1899, Frank...
  7. The laying of eggs.
    • The hens are off the lay at present.
  8. 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, Hannah Woolley, The Compleat...
    • […] the whole Body of the Church is chequer’d with different Lays of White and Black Marble […] - 1718, Joseph Addison, “Sienna, Leghorne, Pisa”, in Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703,...
    • […] when we examine the Scarf-Skin with a Microscope, it appears to be made up of several Lays of exceeding small Scales, which cover one another more or less […] - 1724, Thomas Spooner, chapter 2, in A Compendious...
  9. A basis or ground.
    • On this lay or ground we should also add the finishing colours. - 1835, Richard architetto Brown, The Principles of Practical Perspective, page 122:
    • In the first MacColl patent the pattern chain and engaging rod were carried on the swinging lay on which the needle bars are mounted. - 1899, “MacColl v. Crompton Loom works”, in The Federal Reporter, volume 95, page...
  10. 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, George Washington Matsell, Vocabulum: Or, The Rogue's Lexicon. Comp. from...
    • "It isn't an exchange lay, at all events," said Mr Carlyle. "His inner case is only half the size of the other and couldn't possibly be substituted." - 1914, Ernest Bramah, Max Carrados:
    • Because I've finished, missus. Finished with the thieving lay now and forever. - 1975, H. R. F. Keating, A Remarkable Case of Burglary:

Origin

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 Saterland Frisian lääse (“to lay; to lie”), West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Cimbrian leng (“to lay”), Dutch leggen (“to lay”), German legen (“to lay”), Limburgish lègke (“to lay”), Luxembourgish leeën (“to lay”), Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to lay”), Danish lægge (“to lay”), Faroese, Icelandic leggja (“to lay”), Norwegian Bokmål legge (“to lay”), Norwegian Nynorsk legga, legge, leggja, leggje (“to lay”), Swedish lägga (“to lay”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay”), Old French laier, laiier, laire (“to leave”), Albanian lag (“troop, band, war encampment”).

Forms

lays

Derived

by the lay cross lay dub-lay flatlay inlay lay analysis layless lay of the land laystall Mattydale lay off the lay orlay overlay same day lay

Noun Entry 3

  1. 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, Edward Young, The Complaint: or Night-Thoughts...
    • If these brief lays, of Sorrow born, ⁠Were taken to be such as closed ⁠Grave doubts and answers here proposed, Then these were such as men might scorn: […] - 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], “Canto XLVII”, in In Memoriam,...
    • 1925 The Lay of Leithien, poem by J.R.R. Tolkien, Anglo-Saxon Professor.
  2. 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.

Origin

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”). Contrast German Lied and Lied.

Forms

lays lai

Noun obsolete

  1. A law.
    • A woman worthy of immortall prayse, / Which for this Realme found many goodly layes - 1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto X”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 42:
  2. An obligation; a vow.
    • they bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man - 1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of...

Origin

Inherited from Middle English lay, lai, laye, ley, lei, borrowed from Old French lei (“law”). Possibly also from or influenced by the etymologically unrelated Middle English lawe (“law”) (with variants including laige, laiȝh, læȝe), from Old English lagu (“law”). More at law.

Forms

lays

Noun Entry 5

  1. A lake.

Origin

Inherited from Middle English lay, laye, laie, ley, leye, which may have multiple origins: * Potentially from *læġ-, an unattested variant stem of Old English lagu m (“sea, flood, water, ocean”), if transferred to a-stem inflection (compare Old English dæġ-, dag- (“day”) > Middle English day, daw-); compare plural Middle English lawes and lauen. If so, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lagu (“water, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *laguz (“water, sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“water, body of water, lake”). * Alternatively, borrowed from Old French lai, from Latin lacus (“lake, hollow, hole”), also from Proto-Indo-European *lókus. * Alternatively, borrowed from leg-, a stem of Old Norse lǫgr, from Proto-Germanic *laguz. Compare Icelandic lögur (“liquid, fluid, lake”). All of these theories make it a doublet of loch, Looe, and lough.

Forms

lays

Noun obsolete

  1. A meadow; a lea.
    • Having destroyed all old lays, I have no other hay than clover. - 1808, John Curwen, Hints on the Economy of Feeding Stock and Bettering the Condition of the Poor:

Origin

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

Forms

lays

Derived

layland lay system

Verb Entry 7

  1. To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
    • to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
    • A shower of rain lays the dust.
    • A stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den. - 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Daniel 6:17:
  2. 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, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, book II, canto viii, verse xlviii:
    • But how upon the winds being laid, doth the ship cease to move? - 1662, Sir Thomas Salusbury, Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems, Dialogue 2:
    • He faced the spectres of the mind And laid them: thus he came at length To find a stronger faith his own; And Power was with him in the night, Which makes the darkness and the light, And dwells not in the light alone,...

    Synonyms: becalm settle down

  3. 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, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 48:
  4. To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
    • lay brick; lay flooring
  5. To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
    • The hen laid an egg.
    • Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
  6. To bet (that something is or is not the case).
    • I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
  7. To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
    • I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so. - c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac...
    • He laid a hundred guineas with the laird of Slofferfield that he would drive four horses through the Slofferfield loch, and in the prank he had his bit chariot dung to pieces and a good mare killed. - 1902, John Buchan,...
  8. To have sex with.
    • to get laid
    • 'It's because he's a no-good son of a bitch who thinks it is smart to lay his friends' wives and brag about it.' - 1944, Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake, Penguin, published 2011, page 11:

    Synonyms: lie by lie with sleep with Formal terms bed coit coitize dight enjoy feague go in unto go to bed with have know love mount occupy penetrate season seduce take Any of Thesaurus:copulate + "with" Informal and slang terms ball

  9. To state; to allege.
    • to lay the venue
  10. To point; to aim.
    • to lay a gun
  11. 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
  12. To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.

Forms

lays laying laid no-table-tags glossary lay layest laidst laidest layeth -

Related

lazy

Derived

allay a wild goose never laid a tame egg belay best laid plans bricklay cable-laid cable-laid rope forelay forlay get laid hawser-laid hawser-laid rope interlay laid back laid-back laid-off laid up lay about lay a finger on lay a foundation lay a glove on lay a hand on lay an anchor to the windward lay an egg

Verb form of, past

  1. simple past of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)
    • The baby lay in its crib and slept silently.
    • But unlike many other tunnels that lay idle and decaying, Catesby has now found a new use as an aerodynamic wind tunnel for the motor industry. - 2023 November 29, Peter Plisner, “The winds of change in Catesby Tunnel”,...

Origin

Etymology tree Old English læġ English lay Inherited from Old English læġ.

Derived

layabout

Verb Judaism, transitive

  1. To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).

Origin

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

Forms

lays laying laid

Related

gooseberry lay kinchin lay snaffling lay