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[ley] /leɪ/

adjective
1.
belonging to, pertaining to, or performed by the people or , as distinguished from the clergy:
a lay sermon.
2.
not belonging to, connected with, or proceeding from a profession, especially the law or medicine.
/leɪ/
verb (mainly transitive) lays, laying, laid (leɪd)
1.
to put in a low or horizontal position; cause to lie: to lay a cover on a bed
2.
to place, put, or be in a particular state or position: he laid his finger on his lips
3.
(intransitive) (not standard) to be in a horizontal position; lie: he often lays in bed all the morning
4.
(sometimes foll by down) to establish as a basis: to lay a foundation for discussion
5.
to place or dispose in the proper position: to lay a carpet
6.
to arrange (a table) for eating a meal
7.
to prepare (a fire) for lighting by arranging fuel in the grate
8.
(also intransitive) (of birds, esp the domestic hen) to produce (eggs)
9.
to present or put forward: he laid his case before the magistrate
10.
to impute or attribute: all the blame was laid on him
11.
to arrange, devise, or prepare: to lay a trap
12.
to place, set, or locate: the scene is laid in London
13.
to apply on or as if on a surface: to lay a coat of paint
14.
to impose as a penalty or burden: to lay a fine
15.
to make (a bet) with (someone): I lay you five to one on Prince
16.
to cause to settle: to lay the dust
17.
to allay; suppress: to lay a rumour
18.
to bring down forcefully: to lay a whip on someone’s back
19.
(slang) to have sexual intercourse with
20.
(slang) to bet on (a horse) to lose a race
21.
to press down or make smooth: to lay the nap of cloth
22.
to cut (small trunks or branches of shrubs or trees) halfway through and bend them diagonally to form a hedge: to lay a hedge
23.
to arrange and twist together (strands) in order to form (a rope, cable, etc)
24.
(military) to apply settings of elevation and training to (a weapon) prior to firing
25.
(foll by on) (hunting) to put (hounds or other dogs) onto a scent
26.
another word for inlay
27.
(intransitive; often foll by to or out) (dialect or informal) to plan, scheme, or devise
28.
(intransitive) (nautical) to move or go, esp into a specified position or direction: to lay close to the wind
29.
(nautical) lay aboard, (formerly) to move alongside a warship to board it
30.
lay a course

31.
lay bare, to reveal or explain: he laid bare his plans
32.
lay hands on, See hands (sense 12)
33.
lay hold of, to seize or grasp
34.
lay oneself open, to make oneself vulnerable (to criticism, attack, etc): by making such a statement he laid himself open to accusations of favouritism
35.
lay open, to reveal or disclose
36.
lay siege to, to besiege (a city, etc)
noun
37.
the manner or position in which something lies or is placed
38.
(taboo, slang)

39.
a portion of the catch or the profits from a whaling or fishing expedition
40.
the amount or direction of hoist in the strands of a rope
/leɪ/
adjective
1.
of, involving, or belonging to people who are not clergy
2.
nonprofessional or nonspecialist; amateur
/leɪ/
noun
1.
a ballad or short narrative poem, esp one intended to be sung
2.
a song or melody
/leɪ/
verb
1.
the past tense of lie2
v.

Old English lecgan “to place on the ground (or other surface),” also “put down (often by striking),” from Proto-Germanic *lagjanan (cf. Old Saxon leggian, Old Norse leggja, Old Frisian ledza, Middle Dutch legghan, Dutch leggen, Old High German lecken, German legen, Gothic lagjan “to lay, put, place”), causative of lie (v.2). As a noun, from 1550s, “act of laying.” Meaning “way in which something is laid” (e.g. lay of the land) first recorded 1819.

Meaning “have sex with” first recorded 1934, in U.S. slang, probably from sense of “deposit” (which was in Old English, as in lay an egg, lay a bet, etc.), perhaps reinforced by to lie with, a phrase frequently met in the Bible. The noun meaning “woman available for sexual intercourse” is attested from 1930, but there are suggestions of it in stage puns from as far back as 1767. To lay for (someone) “await a chance at revenge” is from late 15c.; lay low “stay inconspicuous” is from 1839. To lay (someone) low preserves the secondary Old English sense.
adj.

“uneducated; non-clerical,” early 14c., from Old French lai “secular, not of the clergy” (Modern French laïque), from Late Latin laicus, from Greek laikos “of the people,” from laos “people,” of unknown origin. In Middle English, contrasted with learned, a sense revived 1810 for “non-expert.”
n.

“short song,” mid-13c., from Old French lai “song, lyric,” of unknown origin, perhaps from Celtic (cf. Irish laid “song, poem,” Gaelic laoidh “poem, verse, play”) because the earliest verses so called were Arthurian ballads, but OED finds this “out of the question” and prefers a theory which traces it to a Germanic source, cf. Old High German leich “play, melody, song.”

noun

verb

Related Terms

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