lay down

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   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.
2. 2

   To place on the ground, e.g. a railway on a trackbed.

   • Two standard types of flat-bottom track were introduced as early as 1949, and some 1,570 miles had been laid down to the end of 1950.
   • He also thought nothing of laying down a railway in a war zone. For example, he was one of those behind the Grand Crimean Central Railway, built during the Crimean War [...].
3. 3

   To intentionally take a fall while riding a motorcycle, in order to prevent a more…

   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.
4. ›+ 9 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      To specify, institute, enact, assert firmly, state authoritatively, establish or…

      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.
      • Well, I lay it down, first, that a book quite unornamented can look actually and positively beautiful, and not merely un-ugly, if it be, so to say, architecturally good, which, by the by, need not add much to its price […]
   2. 5

      To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.

   3. 6

      To kill (someone).

   4. 7

      To euthanize an animal.

   5. 8

      To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."

   6. 9

      To lie down.

      • I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while.
   7. 10

      To draw the lines of a ship's hull at full size, before starting a build.

   8. 11

      To place a sheet in a printing press for printing.

   9. 12

      simple past of lie down

      • He lay down in his bed until he felt better.

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