| Lay |
imp. |
of Lie, to recline. |
| Lay |
a. |
Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother. |
| Lay |
a. |
Not educated or cultivated; ignorant. |
| Lay |
a. |
Not belonging to, or emanating from, a particular profession; unprofessional; as, a lay opinion regarding the nature of a disease. |
| Lay |
n. |
The laity; the common people. |
| Lay |
n. |
A meadow. See Lea. |
| Lay |
n. |
Faith; creed; religious profession. |
| Lay |
n. |
A law. |
| Lay |
n. |
An obligation; a vow. |
| Lay |
a. |
A song; a simple lyrical poem; a ballad. |
| Lay |
a. |
A melody; any musical utterance. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To cause to lie down, to be prostrate, or to lie against something; to put or set down; to deposit; as, to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave; a shower lays the dust. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To place in position; to establish firmly; to arrange with regularity; to dispose in ranks or tiers; as, to lay a corner stone; to lay bricks in a wall; to lay the covers on a table. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To prepare; to make ready; to contrive; to provide; as, to lay a snare, an ambush, or a plan. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To spread on a surface; as, to lay plaster or paint. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To cause to be still; to calm; to allay; to suppress; to exorcise, as an evil spirit. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To cause to lie dead or dying. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To deposit, as a wager; to stake; to risk. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To bring forth and deposit; as, to lay eggs. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To apply; to put. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To impose, as a burden, suffering, or punishment; to assess, as a tax; as, to lay a tax on land. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To impute; to charge; to allege. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To impose, as a command or a duty; as, to lay commands on one. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To present or offer; as, to lay an indictment in a particular county; to lay a scheme before one. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To state; to allege; as, to lay the venue. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To point; to aim; as, to lay a gun. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them; as, to lay a cable or rope. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
To place (new type) properly in the cases. |
| Lay |
v. i. |
To produce and deposit eggs. |
| Lay |
v. i. |
To take a position; to come or go; as, to lay forward; to lay aloft. |
| Lay |
v. i. |
To lay a wager; to bet. |
| Lay |
n. |
That which lies or is laid or is conceived of as having been laid or placed in its position; a row; a stratum; a layer; as, a lay of stone or wood. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
A wager. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
A job, price, or profit. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
A share of the proceeds or profits of an enterprise; as, when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
A measure of yarn; a lea. See 1st Lea (a). |
| Lay |
v. t. |
The lathe of a loom. See Lathe, 3. |
| Lay |
v. t. |
A plan; a scheme. |
| Lay |
imp. |
of Lie |
| Lay reader |
|
A layman authorized to read parts of the public service of the church. |
| Lay shaft |
n. |
Alt. of Layshaft |
| Layer |
n. |
One who, or that which, lays. |
| Layer |
n. |
That which is laid; a stratum; a bed; one thickness, course, or fold laid over another; as, a layer of clay or of sand in the earth; a layer of bricks, or of plaster; the layers of an onion. |
| Layer |
n. |
A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, laid under ground for growth or propagation. |
| Layer |
n. |
An artificial oyster bed. |
| Layering |
n. |
A propagating by layers. |
| Layette |
n. |
The outfit of clothing, blankets, etc., prepared for a newborn infant, and placed ready for used. |
| Laying |
p. pr. & vb. n. |
of Lay |
| Laying |
n. |
The act of one who, or that which, lays. |
| Laying |
n. |
The act or period of laying eggs; the eggs laid for one incubation; a clutch. |
| Laying |
n. |
The first coat on laths of plasterer's two-coat work. |
| Layland |
n. |
Land lying untilled; fallow ground. |
| Layman |
n. |
One of the people, in distinction from the clergy; one of the laity; sometimes, a man not belonging to some particular profession, in distinction from those who do. |
| Layman |
n. |
A lay figure. See under Lay, n. (above). |
| Laymen |
pl. |
of Layman |
| Layner |
n. |
A whiplash. |
| Layshaft |
n. |
A secondary shaft, as in a sliding change gear for an automobile; a cam shaft operated by a two-to-one gear in an internal-combustion engine. It is generally a shaft moving more or less independently of the other parts of a machine, as, in some marine engines, a shaft, driven by a small auxiliary engine, for independently operating the valves of the main engine to insure uniform motion. |
| Layship |
n. |
The condition of being a layman. |
| Laystall |
n. |
A place where rubbish, dung, etc., are laid or deposited. |
| Laystall |
n. |
A place where milch cows are kept, or cattle on the way to market are lodged. |
