To cause to lie or rest; put or place in a position or situation, or as a deposit or a burden; deposit; place; impose: as, to lay a thing down; to lay one's hands on a thing; to lay a submarine cable; to lay an embargo on something; to lay a tax on land.To put or place in some situation, state, or condition expressed by a qualifying adjunct, such as aside, away, by, down, up, etc. (see the phrases below): as, to lay by money; to lay away one's clothes in lavender.Specifically To cause to lie in a prostrate, reclining, or recumbent position, as in or on a bed or on the ground.To strike down; beat prostrate; overthrow and make prostrate or level.To cause to lie quiet or still; bring to a state of rest or quietness; put down; allay.To place in contiguity or near relation; juxtapose; annex; conjoin.To place in an orderly fashion, as in courses or layers; dispose serially or in courses; put together in proper position: as, to lay bricks; to lay the timbers of a ship.To form or construct by arranging and placing in order the serial parts or elements of: as, to lay a foundation; to lay a mine in besieging a town; to lay a floor.To put into shape or form mentally; settle or determine upon; fix; arrange; contrive: often with out: as, to lay plans; to lay out a course of action.To direct by planning; mark out; order: as, the captain laid his course toward the land.To put down or deposit as a stake or wager; stake; risk as a bet on a contingency; wager; bet; venture.To place on or over a surface; apply or fix superficially; superpose: as, to lay on paint or plaster; to lay one fabric over another in sewing.To cover wholly or in part with something else; coat or mark with something affixed: as, to lay a rope with sennit, or a garment with braid.To deposit the proper things on or in: in certain special uses: as, to lay a table (with cloth, dishes, etc.); to lay printers' cases (with new type).To bring forth and deposit, as eggs: said specifically of any oviparous animal.To put or place to one's account or credit; charge; impute.To present or prefer: as, to lay claim to something.Specifically, in law:To present or bring before a court of justice: as, to lay an indictment.To allege; state: as, to lay the venue; to lay damages.To search; haunt.Same as to lay for (which see, under II.).Church embroidery in general.To put away permanently; give up; abandon; discard: as, to lay aside a bad habit.To lay by or aside for preservation; place in store for safe keeping or future use: as. to lay away a hundred dollars a year.To put aside for future use; lay up; reserve: as, to lay by a part of one's income.To stake or deposit as a pledge, equivalent, or satisfaction: as, lay down your money.To fasten down or apply as embroidery; embroider; decorate.To set down, as a plan on paper; delineate: as, to lay down a chart of a shore or sea; in ship-building, to lay off (see below).To set down as a basis for argument or action; in general, to affirm; assert: as, to lay down a proposition or principle; especially, to assert magisterially or dictatorially: as, to lay down the law.To store away for future use, as wine or provisions in a cellar.To dismiss, as a workman, usually temporarily.To measure or mark off; delineate on paper, as the details of a surveyor plan.In ship-building, to transfer (the plans of a ship) from the paper to the full size on the floor of the mold-loft.To turn from any point or object, as the head of a boatTo supply, as water, gas, etc., to houses by means of pipes leading from a main reservoir: sometimes used figuratively in this sense.To turn toward any point or object, as the head of a boat.To make an opening in; wound: cut in such a way as to expose what is inside or underneath.(b ) To display; show or exhibit.To show or set forth; expose.To plan; dispose in order the several parts of: as, to lay out a garden.To dress in grave-clothes and place in a recumbent and extended posture for burial: said of a corpse.To disable; place hors de combat: as, he laid him out with a single blow or shot.Figuratively, to importune; besiege with constant solicitations.(b ) To attack or harass.Nautical, to check the motion of, as a ship, and cause her to be stationary.To reserve; hold in reserve.To confine to the bed or one's room, as by illness; incapacitate or lay aside for a time.Nautical, to dismantle, as a ship, and put in a dock or other place of security.To lay together and secure, as the strands of a rope by twisting, or the wires of a wire cable by twisting or binding.Synonyms Set, Place, etc. See put.To bring forth or produce eggs.To contrive; form a scheme; lay plans; take steps.To wager; bet; stake money: as, to lay on a race-horse.Nautical, to put or place one's self in a certain position; go or come as indicated: as, lay aloft; lay down from aloft; lay aft.To lie (in most uses). See lie.To take measures; seek.Synonyms Lie, Lay. See lie, intransitive verbn. That which lies or is laid; a layer or stratum.n. In wool-manuf., a quantity of wool or other fiber in a willow or carding-machine.
