lay

I UK [leɪ] / US verb
Word forms "lay":
present tense I/you/we/they lay he/she/it lays present participle laying past tense laid UK [leɪd] / US past participle laid
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Collocations:

Lay means to put something in a particular place or position: I always lay my clothes carefully on the chair when I undress. ♦ He laid the book on the desk.
Lie means to be in a particular place or position: I found the cat lying in front of the fire. ♦ He loves to lie on the beach all day. ♦ Papers were lying all over the desk.
Lay is also the past form of the verb lie: The book lay on the floor where I'd left it.

1)

a) [transitive] to put someone or something down in a careful way, especially so that they are lying flat

lay someone/something on something:

Lay the baby on her back.

lay someone/something across something:

He laid his coat across the arm of the chair.

We lay flowers on her grave once a week.

Carmen laid her head against my shoulder and fell asleep.

b) to put something such as pipes, wires, or a carpet into the correct position in the ground or on the floor, so that they are ready to be used

The man's coming to lay the hall carpet tomorrow.

A hundred miles of new railway track have been laid.

2) [transitive] if a female animal such as a bird or fish lays an egg, it produces the egg by pushing it from its body

3) [transitive] if you lay the table or lay a place at a table, you prepare a table for a meal by putting forks, knives, spoons, dishes etc on it. The usual American word is set

Will you lay the table while I get breakfast?

lay a place (for someone):

Don't bother laying a place for me – I'm going out to dinner.

4) [transitive] to carefully plan and prepare something that will be needed in the future to achieve an aim

lay the groundwork/foundations:

The project is intended to lay the groundwork for future research.

lay a trap (for someone/something) (= prepare for catching someone or something):

The gunman realized the police had laid a trap and quickly surrendered.

5) [intransitive] spoken a way of saying "lie", meaning to have your body in a flat position, that many people think is incorrect

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lay the blame/responsibility (for something) on — to say that someone or something deserves to be considered responsible for something that has happened

Don't try to lay the blame for this on me.

I'd lay money/odds/a bet on something — British used for saying that you are very confident that something will happen

I'd lay money on New Zealand to win the race.

lay money/odds (that):

I'll lay odds she doesn't come.

lay emphasis/stress on something — to emphasize the importance of something

a society that lays emphasis on youth

Special stress was laid on the need to coordinate policies towards Eastern Europe.

lay someone/something flat — to knock someone or something down

lay something waste/lay waste to something — to cause very serious damage to a place, especially in a war

- get laid

- lay something at someone's door

- lay something bare

- lay charges

- lay claim to something

- lay someone low

- lay someone open to something

- lay siege to something

- lay someone to rest

- not lay a finger on someone

Phrasal verbs:

- lay about

- lay aside

- lay before

- lay down

- lay in

- lay into

- lay off

- lay on

- lay out

- lay to

- lay up

See:

life, rest I

II UK [leɪ] / US adjective [only before noun]

1) not educated or trained to a high or professional standard in a particular subject

2) belonging to a Christian church but not officially employed by it as a priest, minister etc

a lay preacher

III UK [leɪ] / US noun [countable]
Word forms "lay":
singular lay plural lays

1) offensive someone considered as a particular type of sexual partner

be a great/good/easy lay

2) literary a poem or song

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- the lay of the land

IV UK [leɪ] / US

the past tense of lie I