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Lay down
verb
Definitions
Verb
- 1 To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground. transitive
"The police urged the gunman to lay down his weapon."
- 2 simple past of lie down form-of, past
"He lay down in his bed until he felt better."
- 3 institute, enact, or establish wordnet
- 4 To place on the ground, e.g. a railway on a trackbed.
"Two standard types of flat-bottom track were introduced as early as 1949, and some 1,570 miles had been laid down to the end of 1950."
- 5 To intentionally take a fall while riding a motorcycle, in order to prevent a more serious collision. transitive
"He laid down his brand-new Harley-Davidson to avoid the oncoming bus."
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- 6 To specify, institute, enact, assert firmly, state authoritatively, establish or formulate (rules or policies). transitive
"Let's lay down the rules right at the beginning, so we are consistent."
- 7 To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.
- 8 To kill (someone). dated, transitive
- 9 To euthanize an animal. euphemistic, transitive
- 10 To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."
- 11 To lie down. intransitive, proscribed
"I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while."
- 12 To draw the lines of a ship's hull at full size, before starting a build. dated
- 13 To place a sheet in a printing press for printing. obsolete
Etymology
From Middle English leyen doun, leien doun (“to lay down”), equivalent to lay + down.
See also for "lay down"
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