1. Cause to have a certain (possibly abstract) location
   "lay your things here";
   - put, set, place, pose, position
    
2. Put in a horizontal position
   "lay the patient carefully onto the bed";
   - put down, repose
    
3. Prepare or position for action or operation
   "lay a fire"; "lay the foundation for a new health care plan"
    
4. Impose as a duty, burden, or punishment
   "lay a responsibility on someone"
    
5. Produce and deposit (an egg or eggs)
   "This hen doesn't lay"
    
6. [vulgar] Have sexual intercourse
   "they got laid in the back of the car"; "In the biblical sense, he lay with her";
   - sleep together, love, make love, sleep with, have sex, know [archaic], do it [informal], be intimate, have intercourse, lie with [archaic], bed [informal], get it on [informal]

1. Position or manner in which something is situated
   "The lay of the land made it difficult to build on";
   - lie
    
2. A narrative song with a recurrent refrain
   "The folk singer performed a haunting lay about lost love";
   - ballad
    
3. A narrative poem of popular origin
   "The minstrel recited an ancient lay about a forgotten hero";
   - ballad
    
4. [vulgar] Slang for sexual intercourse
   - rumpy-pumpy [informal]

1. Characteristic of those who are not members of the clergy
   "the lay ministry";
   - laic, secular
    
2. Not of or from a profession
   "a lay opinion as to the cause of the disease"

1. Be located or situated somewhere; occupy a certain position
   "The book is lying on the table"; "The village lies in a valley"
    
2. Be lying, be prostrate; be in a horizontal position
   "The sick man lay in bed all day"; "the books are lying on the shelf"
    
3. Originate (in)
   "The problems lie in the social injustices in this country";
   - dwell, consist, lie in
    
4. Be and remain in a particular state or condition
   "lie dormant"
    
5. Have a place in relation to something else
   "The fate of Bosnia lies in the hands of the West";
   - rest
    
6. Assume a reclining position
   "lie down on the bed until you feel better";
   - lie down

Sounds like: lax, lacks, l, lay or

Derived forms: lays, laid, laying

See also: lay away, nonprofessional, profane, put back [Brit, informal], put up, save, secular, set out, set up, superimpose, unload

Type of: be, carnal knowledge, change posture, coition, coitus, copulate, copulation, couple, devise, displace, exist, get up, impose, intercourse, levy, machinate, mate, move, organise [Brit], organize, pair, place, poem, position, prepare, relation, rest, sex act, sexual congress, sexual intercourse, sexual relation, song, verse form, vocal

Antonym: arise, sit, stand

Encyclopedia: Lay, Kansas