Lay definition

Old English lecgan, from Germanic. A causative form of lie. Cognate with Dutch leggen, German legen, Swedish lägga.

To place something down in a position of rest.
To cause to subside or abate.
To leave something somewhere.
To prepare (e.g., the groundwork, the table).
To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.

lay brick

lay flooring
To produce and deposit an egg.
To have sexual intercourse with someone, especially in a casual manner.
To wager that an event will not take place.
To lie.
- 1811, Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility, chapter 19
  
  Without shutting herself up from her family, or leaving the house in determined solitude to avoid them, or laying awake the whole night to indulge meditation, Elinor found every day afforded her leisure enough to think of Edward

Arrangement or relationship; layout; eg, the lay of the land.
The direction a rope is twisted.

Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.
A casual sexual partner.

What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?
A ballad or sung poem.

Non-professional, not being a member of an organized institution (e.g. scientific lay person).
Not belonging to the clergy.

They seemed more lay than clerical.

lay

when pertaining to position.

The baby lay in its crib and slept silently.