Lay down

verb

Definitions

Verb
  1. 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. 2
    simple past of lie down form-of, past

    "He lay down in his bed until he felt better."

  3. 3
    institute, enact, or establish wordnet
  4. 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. 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."

Show 8 more definitions
  1. 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."

  2. 7
    To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.
  3. 8
    To kill (someone). dated, transitive
  4. 9
    To euthanize an animal. euphemistic, transitive
  5. 10
    To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."
  6. 11
    To lie down. intransitive, proscribed

    "I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while."

  7. 12
    To draw the lines of a ship's hull at full size, before starting a build. dated
  8. 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.

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