Prelay

adj, noun, verb

adj, noun, verb ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The act of prelaying.

    "If your show includes a lot of effects, for example, explosions, music, sound effects, or loud noises over romantic dialogue, then your sound-effects supervisor will probably recommend a predub or prelay."

Verb
  1. 1
    To record music and other sound elements at the correct time code locations on a master format without regard to final levels and mixing.

    "He'll be responsible for prelaying sound effects for film and television."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Before a bird lays eggs. not-comparable

    "An optimum method for feeding calcium is to start feeding the layer level (3.25% or more) slightly before the first egg, because after hens start laying there is a negative calcium balance when consuming the prelay calcium level of 2.0%."

Example

More examples

"He'll be responsible for prelaying sound effects for film and television."

Etymology

From pre- + lay.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.