What does "lay" mean?
Arrangement or relationship; layout.
Lay
/leɪ/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang
adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Elementary level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: Arrangement or relationship; layout.
- Grammar: lay is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: ballad, abate, accredit, address.
- Useful contrasts: brahminic, conventual, ecclesiastical garment.
- Usage evidence: The hill lay covered with snow.
How to use "lay"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lay" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
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- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
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- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lay" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lay" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lay" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
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Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lay" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "ballad" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
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Final meaning check
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When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 Arrangement or relationship; layout. countable, uncountable
"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."
- 2 A lake.
- 3 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."
- 4 A meadow; a lea. obsolete
"Having destroyed all old lays, I have no other hay than clover."
- 5 A law. obsolete
"A woman worthy of immortall prayse, / Which for this Realme found many goodly layes"
Show 13 more definitions
- 6 a narrative poem of popular origin wordnet
- 7 A share of the profits in a business. countable, uncountable
"While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay."
- 8 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."
- 9 An obligation; a vow. obsolete
"they bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man"
- 10 a narrative song with a recurrent refrain wordnet
- 11 The direction a rope is twisted. countable, uncountable
"Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way."
- 12 A casual sexual partner. colloquial, countable, uncountable
"Over the years she'd tried to tell himself that his uptown girl was just another lay."
- 13 An act of sexual intercourse. colloquial, countable, uncountable
"Listening to this dismissal of his work, [Tennessee] Williams thought to himself of Wilder, “This character has never had a good lay.”"
- 14 A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time. archaic, countable, slang, uncountable
"I shall be on that lay nae mair"
- 15 The laying of eggs. countable, uncountable
"The hens are off the lay at present."
- 16 A layer. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"[…] 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 […]"
- 17 A basis or ground. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"On this lay or ground we should also add the finishing colours."
- 18 A pursuit or practice; a dodge. countable, obsolete, uncountable
"FIDLAM BENS. Thieves who have no particular lay, whose every finger is a fish-hook; fellows that will steal any thing they can remove."
Verb
- 1 To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position. transitive
"to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave"
- 2 simple past of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”) form-of, past
"The baby lay in its crib and slept silently."
- 3 To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)). Judaism, transitive
- 4 put into a certain place or abstract location wordnet
- 5 To cause to subside or abate. archaic, transitive
"The cloudes, as things affrayd, before him flye; / But all so soone as his outrageous powre / Is layd, they fiercely then begin to shoure […]"
Show 23 more definitions
- 6 put in a horizontal position wordnet
- 7 To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle). transitive
"Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled."
- 8 lay eggs wordnet
- 9 To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another. transitive
"lay brick; lay flooring"
- 10 prepare or position for action or operation wordnet
- 11 To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs). transitive
"The hen laid an egg."
- 12 impose as a duty, burden, or punishment wordnet
- 13 To bet (that something is or is not the case). transitive
"I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday."
- 14 To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk. transitive
"I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so."
- 15 To have sex with. slang, transitive
"to get laid"
- 16 To state; to allege. transitive
"to lay the venue"
- 17 To point; to aim. transitive
"to lay a gun"
- 18 To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them. transitive
"to lay a cable or rope"
- 19 To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone. transitive
- 20 To place (new type) properly in the cases. transitive
- 21 To apply; to put. transitive
"The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals."
- 22 To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.). transitive
"The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all."
- 23 To impute; to charge; to allege. transitive
"God layeth not folly to them."
- 24 To present or offer. transitive
"to lay an indictment in a particular county"
- 25 To produce and deposit an egg or eggs. intransitive
"It [the Houdan breed] bears confinement well, can be kept on any soil, is very hardy, lays well, its flesh is all that can be desired, and it is a nonsitter."
- 26 To subside or abate. intransitive
"I believe the wind is laying and perhaps we will not have a snow. If it turns cold without snow, we can have the hog killed."
- 27 To take a position; to come or go. intransitive
"to lay forward; to lay aloft"
- 28 To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface. intransitive, proscribed
"I found him laying on the floor."
Adjective
- 1 Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
"They seemed more lay than clerical."
- 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."
- 3 Not trumps.
"a lay suit"
- 4 Not educated or cultivated; ignorant. obsolete
Adjective
- 1 not of or from a profession wordnet
- 2 characteristic of those who are not members of the clergy wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A river in western France.
- 2 A surname.
Antonyms
Example
"The hill lay covered with snow."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lay"?
Common synonyms include: ballad, abate, accredit, address, advance, aim.
How do you use "lay" in a sentence?
The hill lay covered with snow.
How do you pronounce "lay"?
Pronounced /leɪ/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
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”).
Etymology 2
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.
Etymology 3
Inherited from Middle English lay, from Old French lai, from Latin lāicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós). Doublet of laic.
Etymology 4
From Old English læġ.
Etymology 5
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”).
Etymology 6
From Middle English lay, laye, laiȝe, leyȝe, from Old English lǣh, lēh, northern (Anglian) variants of Old English lēah (“lea”). More at lea.
Etymology 7
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.
Etymology 8
Semantic loan from Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to put, lay”).
Etymology 9
* As an English surname, spelling variant of Lee. * As a Scottish surname, reduced from McClay. * As a Khmer surname, Khmer ឡាយ (laay). * As a French surname, from several place names in France. The river is from Medieval Latin Ledius. * As a German surname, from various placenames in Bavaria and Rhineland.