Dictionary

lay low en · VERB · etymology 1

Meanings

1. (transitive) To topple or overcome; to cause to fall; (of a person) to knock out.
   • He was laid low by a vicious blow to the head.
   • The dragon's ire, more fierce than fire, laid low their towers and houses frail. 1937, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:
2. (transitive) To put in an abject condition.
   • My lover had remained in New York with her family because she had picked up the plague, or something just as bad, that had laid her quite low. 1979 April 28, Nancy Walker, “A Case of Mistaken Identity”, in Gay Community News, page 19:

Forms

lay low en · VERB · etymology 2

Meanings

1. (informal, proscribed, sometimes) To lie low, to be inconspicuous, especially when the potential object of search.
   • Me and Dave layed low^([sic]) until then, and I guess the whole dummed town was at Philemon's that night. 1909, “Field and Stream”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 14, page 540:
   • “I was really looking forward to seeing you again,” he texted me the following week, around lunchtime, “but I’m going through some intense anxiety today and need to lay low :(.” 2025 July 21, Jean Garnett, “The Trouble With Wanting Men”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:
   • Jessie needed time to let things die down and decided to lay low. 2013, Robert Preston, A Dream To Kill:
   • Since you are trying to lay low, your effort should take the form of a suggestion at the least or a modest proposal at the most. 1997, Richard Herschlag, Brian Harris, Lay Low and Don't Make the Big Mistake, page 84:
   • I laid low until the boys and Chancey went off somewhere, then I snuck up the road and stopped at the gate. 2007, Ann Pancake, Strange as this Weather Has Been, page 100:
   • Bennett believed that he would lay low for a few years before bringing out another team of terrorists. 2012, Mitt Romney, Timothy Robinson, Turnaround: Crisis, Leadership, and the Olympic Games:
   • Say, “The first step for changing a reputation is to lay low. This means you need to keep a low profile for a while and not draw attention to yourself. This will give your reputation a chance to die down before you try to make friends. 2013, Elizabeth A. Laugeson, The PEERS® Curriculum for School Based Professionals:
   • Under you drop, and you work yourself along until you come to the partition between the two rooms; there you'll find a secret chamber; it isn't big enough for more than one person at a time, but there's a cot in it and you can lay low. 1911, Augusta Prescott, The Stairway on the Wall, page 259:
   • We lay low until the shell went over and then would straighten up again. 1904, A Committee of the Survivors, History of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, in The Civil War, page 219:
   • We layed low^([sic]) until after dark, then mounted without the bugle sound. 2014, James Pickett Jones, Yankee Blitzkrieg: Wilson's Raid through Alabama and Georgia, page 138:
   • Richie, I know you don't like people telling you what to do and all but I think you should lay low until we can figure this thing out. 2014, Thomas A. Whiting Jr., The Secrets That We Keep:
   • In the meantime, he would lay low—not make waves if he could help it. He was good at not attracting attention. 2012, Jane Dews, The Cuckoo's Song, page 18:
   • Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters Where the ragged people go 1969, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records
   • As for the Turk , he played his old game of Brer Rabbit, laying low, until the three launches came nicely round the bend into a direct line of fire. 1917, Conrad Cato, The Navy in Mesopotamia 1914 to 1917, page 8:

Forms

lay low en · VERB · etymology 3

Meanings

1. (form-of, past) simple past of lie low
   form of lie low

Synonyms

lie low (to remain hidden)