Dictionary

lay down en · VERB · etymology 1

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From Middle English leyen doun, leien doun (“to lay down”), equivalent to lay + down.

Meanings

1. (transitive) To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground.
   • Lay down your arms.
   • The police urged the gunman to lay down his weapon.
2. To place or install 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. 1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 225:
   • He also thought nothing of laying down a railway in a war zone. For example, he was one of those behind the Grand Crimean Central Railway, built during the Crimean War [...]. 2021 December 29, Stephen Roberts, “Stories and facts behind railway plaques: Chester (1848)”, in RAIL, number 947, page 57:
   • lay down a mat; lay down asphalt; lay down a road
3. (transitive) To intentionally take a fall while riding a motorcycle, in order to prevent a more serious collision.
   • He laid down his brand-new Harley-Davidson to avoid the oncoming bus.
4. (transitive) To specify, institute, enact, assert firmly, state authoritatively, establish or formulate (rules or policies).
   • Many of the faults reported in all categories should have been cleared by systematic fault-finding. Once a system of fault-finding has been laid down, staff must be made familiar with it and must follow the correct sequence of diagnosis step by step in the way set out in a fault-finding chart. 1963 February, “Diesel locomotive faults and their remedies”, in Modern Railways, page 103:
   • The law was written in words, and those ideally laid down bright lines for everyone to follow 2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist:
   • To come up with common, honorable, flexible, sensible, creative, meaningful, non-coercive "codes" or expectations of ethical behavior while avoiding laying down hard-line, guilt-inspiring "politically correct" rules and superficial judgements is no small feat. 1979, Alix Dobkins, Adventures in Women's Music:
   • You've got to lay down the law with that boy.
   • Let's lay down the rules right at the beginning, so we are consistent.
   • Well, I lay it down, first, that a book quite unornamented can look actually and positively beautiful, and not merely un-ugly, if it be, so to say, architecturally good, which, by the by, need not add much to its price […] 1893, William Morris, The Ideal Book:
5. To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.
6. (dated, qualifier:African-American Vernacular, transitive) To kill (someone).
7. (euphemistic, transitive) To euthanize an animal.
8. To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."
9. (intransitive, proscribed) To lie down.
   • I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while.
10. (dated) To draw the lines of a ship's hull at full size, before starting a build.
11. (obsolete) To place a sheet in a printing press for printing.

Forms

Deriveds

lay down one's life · lay down the law · lay down the marker · lay down one's arms · lay down one's weapons · lay down one's flag

Translations (44)

fi laskea (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · es soltar (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · es establecer (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl ustanowić (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl wprowadzać (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl instalować (to place on the ground) · es poner (to specify or establish (rules)) · es acostarse (to lie down for rest) · pl składać (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · pl ułożyć (to place on the ground) · pl położyć się (to lie down for rest) · gl deitar (to lie down for rest) · gl depor (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · fi luovuttaa (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · pl określać (to specify or establish (rules)) · eo demeti (to place on the ground) · pl ustanawiać (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl zainstalować (to place on the ground) · nap se cuccà (to lie down for rest) · gl depoñer (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · pl kłaść (to place on the ground) · pl złożyć (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · pl układać (to place on the ground) · pt delinear (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl położyć (to place on the ground) · pl wprowadzić (to specify or establish (rules)) · fi säätää (to specify or establish (rules)) · cy rhoi i lawr (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl formułować (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl określić (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl sformułować (to specify or establish (rules)) · ru сдава́ться (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · bg установявам (to specify or establish (rules)) · fi määrätä (to specify or establish (rules)) · pl kłaść się (to lie down for rest) · pl montować (to place on the ground) · pt desistir (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · fi käydä pitkäkseen (to lie down for rest) · pt recuar (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground) · pl zmontować (to place on the ground) · fi käydä makuulle (to lie down for rest) · pt deitar (to lie down for rest) · fr se coucher (to lie down for rest) · chr ᎠᏗᎠ (to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground)

lay down en · VERB · etymology 2

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio

Meanings

1. (form-of, past) simple past of lie down
   form of lie down
   • He lay down in his bed until he felt better.