lay
/leɪ/ verb B1- 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.
- To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost).
- To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
- 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 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.
- To have sex with. · to get laid
Plural lay · He/she/it lays · Past laid · Past participle laid · -ing form laying
Verb forms
- Base form
- lay
- He/she/it
- lays
- Past
- laid
- Past participle
- laid
- -ing form
- laying
An irregular verb: learn its past and past participle by heart.
Phrasal verbs and expressions
- lay about To strike blows in all directions.
- lay aside To reserve (something, especially money) for future use; ...
- lay away To bury (someone).
- lay back To lie down on one's back; to lie back.
- lay by To put away for future use; save; to build up as savings.
- lay down To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually ...
- lay in To put (something) aside for future use.
- lay into To beat up or launch an attack against; to strike forcefu...
- lay off (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e....
- lay on To provide (food or drinks) for free.
- lay out To expend or contribute money to an expense or purchase.
- lay over To make an intermediary stop somewhere.
From the library
Even the Scarecrow and the Tin Woodman could sit on it, and were drawn swiftly by their queer little horses to the place where the Lion lay asleep.
The Tin Woodman lay down on his bed from force of habit, for he remembered when he was made of flesh; but not being able to sleep, he passed the night moving his joints up and down to make sure they kept in good working order.
“Take out my straw and scatter it over the little girl and the dog and the Lion,” he said to the Woodman, “and the bees cannot sting them.” This the Woodman did, and as Dorothy lay close beside the Lion and held Toto in her arms, the straw covered them entirely.
And as bees cannot live when their stings are broken that was the end of the black bees, and they lay scattered thick about the Woodman, like little heaps of fine coal.
Other matches
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