lay.
To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
Meaning & usage
To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
A shower of rain lays the dust.
To cause to subside or abate.
To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost).
To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
lay brick; lay flooring
To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
The hen laid an egg.
Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
To bet (that something is or is not the case).
I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
To have sex with.
to get laid
To state; to allege.
to lay the venue
To point; to aim.
to lay a gun
To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
to lay a cable or rope
To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
To place (new type) properly in the cases.
To apply; to put.
The news article laid emphasis on the unusually young age of the criminals.
To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
to lay a tax on land
To impute; to charge; to allege.
To present or offer.
to lay an indictment in a particular county
I have laid the facts of the matter before you.
To produce and deposit an egg or eggs.
To subside or abate.
To take a position; to come or go.
to lay forward; to lay aloft
To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
I found him laying on the floor.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English leyen, leggen, from Old English leċġan (“to lay”), from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie, recline”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, recline”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian lääse (“to lay; to lie”), West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Cimbrian leng (“to lay”), Dutch leggen (“to lay”), German legen (“to lay”), Limburgish lègke (“to lay”), Luxembourgish leeën (“to lay”), Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to lay”), Danish lægge (“to lay”), Faroese, Icelandic leggja (“to lay”), Norwegian Bokmål legge (“to lay”), Norwegian Nynorsk legga, legge, leggja, leggje (“to lay”), Swedish lägga (“to lay”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay”), Old French laier, laiier, laire (“to leave”), Albanian lag (“troop, band, war encampment”).
Arrangement or relationship; layout.
the lay of the land
A share of the profits in a business.
While the Pequod lay at Nantucket, Peleg put Ishmael down for the three hundredth lay.
The direction a rope is twisted.
Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
A casual sexual partner.
What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?
An act of sexual intercourse.
A place or activity where someone spends a significant portion of their time.
The laying of eggs.
The hens are off the lay at present.
A layer.
A basis or ground.
A pursuit or practice; a dodge.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English leyen, leggen, from Old English leċġan (“to lay”), from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie, recline”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, recline”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian lääse (“to lay; to lie”), West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Cimbrian leng (“to lay”), Dutch leggen (“to lay”), German legen (“to lay”), Limburgish lègke (“to lay”), Luxembourgish leeën (“to lay”), Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to lay”), Danish lægge (“to lay”), Faroese, Icelandic leggja (“to lay”), Norwegian Bokmål legge (“to lay”), Norwegian Nynorsk legga, legge, leggja, leggje (“to lay”), Swedish lägga (“to lay”), Gothic 𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (lagjan, “to lay”), Old French laier, laiier, laire (“to leave”), Albanian lag (“troop, band, war encampment”).
A lake.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English lay, laye, laie, ley, leye, which may have multiple origins: * Potentially from *læġ-, an unattested variant stem of Old English lagu m (“sea, flood, water, ocean”), if transferred to a-stem inflection (compare Old English dæġ-, dag- (“day”) > Middle English day, daw-); compare plural Middle English lawes and lauen. If so, inherited from Proto-West Germanic *lagu (“water, sea”), from Proto-Germanic *laguz (“water, sea”), from Proto-Indo-European *lókus (“water, body of water, lake”). * Alternatively, borrowed from Old French lai, from Latin lacus (“lake, hollow, hole”), also from Proto-Indo-European *lókus. * Alternatively, borrowed from leg-, a stem of Old Norse lǫgr, from Proto-Germanic *laguz. Compare Icelandic lögur (“liquid, fluid, lake”). All of these theories make it a doublet of loch, Looe, and lough.
Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
They seemed more lay than clerical.
a lay preacher; a lay brother
Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
Not trumps.
a lay suit
Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English lay, from Old French lai, from Latin lāicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós). Doublet of laic.
A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung.
A lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English lay, from Old French lai (“song, lyric, poem”), from Frankish *laih (“play, melody, song”), from Proto-Germanic *laikaz, *laikiz (“jump, play, dance, hymn”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyg- (“to jump, spring, play”). Akin to Old High German leih (“a play, skit, melody, song”), Middle High German leich (“piece of music, epic song played on a harp”), Old English lācan (“to move quickly, fence, sing”). See lake (“to play”). Contrast German Lied and Lied.
A meadow; a lea.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English lay, laye, laiȝe, leyȝe, from Old English lǣh, lēh, northern (Anglian) variants of Old English lēah (“lea”). More at lea.
A law.
An obligation; a vow.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Middle English lay, lai, laye, ley, lei, borrowed from Old French lei (“law”). Possibly also from or influenced by the etymologically unrelated Middle English lawe (“law”) (with variants including laige, laiȝh, læȝe), from Old English lagu (“law”). More at law.
To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)).
Where this word comes from
Semantic loan from Yiddish לייגן (leygn, “to put, lay”).
simple past of lie (“to be oriented in a horizontal position, situated”)
The baby lay in its crib and slept silently.
Where this word comes from
Inherited from Old English læġ.
Try it on your idea.
lay has 3 characters. Say it out loud, try it alongside a description of your project, and see whether its meaning fits what you want to create.
These are naming prompts. Meanings and pronunciation can vary; existing brand and domain uses have not been checked.
Explore the name generatorA word with a source.
Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.
Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.