a children's mummer's parade, as on the Fourth of July, with prizes for the best costumes.
a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.
lay it on, to exaggerate in one's speech or actions, especially to engage in exaggerated flattery or reproof: She was glad to be told what a splendid person she was, but they didn't have to lay it on so much. Also, lay it on thick.
Origin: before 900; Middle English layen,leggen,Old English lecgan (causative of licgan to lie2); cognate with Dutch leggen,German legen,Old Norse legja,Gothic lagjan
Synonyms 1. deposit. See put.21, 22. calm, still, quiet.
Usage note Lay1 and lie2 are often confused. Lay is most commonly a transitive verb and takes an object. Its forms are regular. EXPANDIf “place” or “put” can be substituted in a sentence, a form of lay is called for: Lay the folders on the desk. The mason is laying brick. She laid the baby in the crib. Lie, with the overall senses “to be in a horizontal position, recline” and “to rest, remain, be situated, etc.,” is intransitive and takes no object. Its forms are irregular; its past tense form is identical with the present tense or infinitive form of lay: Lie down, children. Abandoned cars were lying along the road. The dog lay in the shade and watched the kittens play. The folders have lain on the desk since yesterday. In all but the most careful, formal speech, forms of lay are commonly heard in senses normally associated with lie. In edited written English such uses of lay are rare and are usually considered nonstandard: Lay down, children. The dog laid in the shade. Abandoned cars were laying along the road. The folders have laid on the desk since yesterday.
"short song," c.1240, from O.Fr. lai "song, lyric," of unknown origin, perhaps from Celt. (cf. Ir. laid "song, poem," Gael. laoidh "poem, verse, play") since the earliest verses so called were Arthurian ballads, but another theory traces it to a Gmc. source, cf. O.H.G. leich "play, melody, song."
mod. alcohol or drug intoxicated. : I'm too laid out to go to work today.
mod. well-dressed. : Look at those silks! Man are you laid out!
mod. knocked down (by a punch). : He was down, laid out, and the cowboy just stood there panting.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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lay (sth) definition
tv. to spend some amount of money. : I can't lay that kind of money out every day!
tv. to explain a plan of action or a sequence of events. : Let me lay it out for you.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition. Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
Cite This Source