Definify.com
Definition 2024
lay_down
lay down
English
Verb
lay down (third-person singular simple present lays down, present participle laying down, simple past and past participle laid down)
- To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground.
- The police urged the gunman to lay down his weapon.
- Lay down your arms.
- 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.
- To specify, institute, enact, assert firmly, state authoritatively, establish or formulate (rules or policies).
- Let's lay down the rules right at the beginning, so we are consistent.
- You've got to lay down the law with that boy.
- 2016 February 20, “Obituary: Antonin Scalia: Always right”, in The Economist:
- The law was written in words, and those ideally laid down bright lines for everyone to follow
- To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.
- To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."
- (intransitive, nonstandard, proscribed) To lie down; to place oneself in a reclined or horizontal position, on a bed or similar, for the purpose of resting.
- I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while.
- (nautical, dated) To draw the lines of a ship's hull at full size, before starting a build.
Derived terms
Translations
to surrender or yield (a weapon) by placing it on the ground
to specify or establish (rules)
to lie down for rest
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Verb
- simple past tense of lie down
- He lay down in his bed until he felt better.