Dictionary

waylay en · VERB

Pronunciation

• /ˈweɪleɪ/ (UK)
• (Southern-England) audio
• /ˌweɪˈleɪ/ (UK)
• (General-American) audio
• /ˈweɪleɪ/ (US)
• (Southern-England) audio

Etymology

From way + lay, likely a calque of Middle Dutch wegelagen (“besetting of ways, lying in wait with evil or hostile intent along public ways”). Compare Middle Low German wegelagen, German wegelagern (“to waylay; rob”).

Meanings

1. (transitive) To lie in wait for and attack from ambush.
   • Oh! youthful benefactress! how often in succeeding years, standing in solitary places, and thinking of thee with grief of heart and perfect love, how often have I wished that, as in ancient times the curse of a father was believed to have a supernatural power, and to pursue its object with a fatal necessity of self-fulfilment,—even so the benediction of a heart oppressed with gratitude, might have a like prerogative; might have power given to it from above to chase—to haunt—to way-lay—to overtake—to pursue thee into the central darkness of a London brothel, or (if it were possible) into the darkness of the grave—there to awaken thee with an authentic message of peace and forgiveness, and of final reconciliation! 1821 September–October, [Thomas De Quincey], “[Part I.] Preliminary Confessions.”, in Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, 2nd edition, London: […] [J. Moyes] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1823, →OCLC, pages 52–53:
2. (transitive) To accost or intercept unexpectedly.
   • And thereafter the name and fame of the man with the thousand dozen eggs began to spread through the land. […] Dyea and Skaguay took an interest in his being, and questioned his progress from every man who came over the passes. While Dawson—golden, omeletless Dawson—fretted and worried, and waylaid every chance arrival for word of him. 1903 March, Jack London, “The One Thousand Dozen”, in The National Magazine […], volume XVII, number 6, Boston, Mass.: W. W. Potter Co., →OCLC, page 708, column 1:
   • I, their host, often waylay them and try to commune with them; but always they glide past me. And how gracefully they glide, these ghosts! It is a pleasure to watch them. It is a lesson in deportment. May they never be laid! Of all my household-pets, they are the dearest to me. 1911 October 26, Max Beerbohm, Zuleika Dobson, or, An Oxford Love Story, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: John Lane Company, published 1912, →OCLC:
   • And when some of the friends, the ones who came every day, waylaid the doctor in the corridor, Stephen was the one who asked the most informed questions, who’d been keeping up not just with the stories that appeared several times a week in the Times […] 1986 November 24, Susan Sontag, “The Way We Live Now”, in The New Yorker:

Forms

Deriveds

waylayer

Synonyms

ambush · buttonhole · lurk

Translations (39)

fi hyökätä väijyksistä (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · et varitsema (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · fr comploter (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · sw otea (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · es abordar (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · cs počíhat si (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · de auflauern (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · bg правя засада (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · io pisamar (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · de wegelagern (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · cs odchytnout si (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · pl napaść z zasadzki (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · pl czatować (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · de auflauern (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · bg заговарям (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · fi väijyä (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · ru подстерега́ть (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · hy դարանակալել (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · ru поджида́ть (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · pt interpelar (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · cmn 攔路搶劫 /拦路抢劫 (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · fr embusquer (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · bg причаквам (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · mi whakamoho (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · ru подкарау́ливать (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · gl aseitar (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · pl przyczajać się (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · nl opwachten (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · pl przyczaić się (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · fi yllättää (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · ja 待ち伏せする (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · pl napadać z zasadzki (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · nl belagen (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · bn পথে ওত পাতিয়া থাকা (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · es coger por banda (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · mi whakamoho (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · mi tāwhanga (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush) · nl onderscheppen (to accost or intercept unexpectedly) · ru подкарау́ливать (to lie in wait for and attack from ambush)