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📚 To put down 💰 To impose 🥚 To produce eggs 🎶 A poem or song 🧑 Not professional
to lay

to lay

411 2.4
To produce eggs and put them in a nest or on the ground
  • verb
  • /leɪ/
translation icon : poner huevos
  • If the egg breaks or the chick dies, they often lay a second egg.
  • lay eggs
  • hens lay
  • females lay

Even Roosters have to lay eggs, bloody eggs.

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Examples

  • Those pictures were taken a month ago, the eggs should all be laid by now.

    A Breed Apart (1984)

  • This mixture attracts parasitic Wasps that lay eggs inside the caterpillars.

  • You have just laid an egg.

    Sweet Smell of Success (1957)

  • Come September, she'll begin to lay the blue-green eggs.

    Harvard University

  • No self respecting spider will lay its eggs.

  • Little Reena came up to me with a giant smile on her face and handed me an egg that their chicken had laid.

    Blue Like Jazz (2012)

  • Birds are arriving sooner from migration, they're laying eggs earlier, that type of thing.

  • The female turtle will lay eggs on the sandy beach each spring.

  • After a few months, the hen began to lay eggs regularly in her nesting box.

  • Each year, the salmon return to the river to lay eggs in the shallow waters.

Synonyms

to reproduce
vsto lay
70 3.7

To make new living things such as animals or plants

means producing eggs specifically rather than any reproduction method
to spawn
vsto lay
27 4.8

To lay eggs in water like fish or frogs do

covers egg deposition in any environment, not only water
to lay an egg
vsto lay
6 2.0

To make and leave an egg outside the body

refers to producing and depositing eggs generally rather than one
to oviposit
vsto lay
  • Specialized
9.9

To lay eggs, usually by insects and other small animals

refers to the common action of producing and depositing eggs

Idioms

lay of the land
  • Informal
16 4.5

The current situation and main facts about a place or group

to lay down the law
  • Informal
12 5.5

Tell people firmly what they must do

to lay it on the line
  • Informal
3 7.8

To speak honestly and directly, even if it may cause trouble

to lay at the feet of
1 8.1

To say someone caused or deserves credit for something

to lay on the charm
  • Informal
1 5.8

Act very friendly and say nice things to get what you want

to lay the blame at the feet of (someone)
1 6.9

To say someone caused a problem or is at fault

to lay one's head
4.2

To find a place to sleep or rest

to lay one's tongue to
  • Archaic
9.8

To say a word correctly, often with difficulty

to lay on the sauce
  • Informal
8.4

To put a lot of sauce on food or to use too much of something

to lay the dust of controversy
  • Archaic
8.3

End arguments about a decision by giving a clear answer

Phrasal Verbs

to lay out
207 3.2

To explain something clearly and in detail

to lay off
  • Informal
102 3.4

Stop doing something that annoys someone

to lay out
100 3.1

To arrange items so they are ready and easy to see

to lay off
87 3.3

Stop employing someone because the company cannot afford them, not because of bad work

to lay down
  • Formal
70 3.9

Officially set a rule or law that people must follow

to lay eyes on
  • Informal
59 3.7

To see someone or something for the first time after a long time

to lay the foundation
34 3.9

To make things ready so something can succeed

to lay to rest
21 4.0

To bury someone after a funeral

to lay claim
18 4.4

Say you have a right to something like land or money

to lay out
  • Informal
13 4.5

To pay a large amount of money for something

to lay waste to
12 7.9

To destroy a place and leave it ruined

to lay on the line
  • Informal
8 8.0

To risk losing something important, like your job or your reputation

to lay to rest
7 5.2

To stop a worry, rumor, or feeling by dealing with it

to lay siege
7 8.2

Surround a place with soldiers and cut off its supplies to make it give up

to lay an egg
6 2.0

To make and leave an egg outside the body

to lay hands on
6 6.5

To get something, often after hard work

to lay on
  • UK
4 4.2

Provide or arrange things like food and transport for an event

to lay over
3 3.5

To put one thing on top of another so it partly covers it

to lay into
  • Informal
3 7.2

Use angry words to criticize someone strongly

to lay bare
2 5.5

To show something hidden so people can see it

to lay in
2 4.0

To get and keep extra supplies for use later

to lay up
2 6.1

Keep someone in bed because they are ill or injured

to lay hands on
1 4.6

To touch or hold something with your hands

to lay aside
1 3.5

Save money for future use

to lay into
  • NSFW
1 7.5

Hit someone or something hard and violently

to lay down the marker
  • UK
1 7.4

To set a clear standard for others to try to reach

to lay away
1 4.7

To save money or keep goods for later

to lay over
  • US
4.2

To stop during a journey and stay somewhere, often overnight, before you continue

to lay store by
  • Archaic
8.6

To value something and trust it

to lay supine
  • Specialized
6.2

To lie on your back with your face up

Compounds

lay-up
  • Jargon
5 3.4

A close shot near the basket in basketball made with one hand, often off the backboard

lay-by
  • UK
1 5.9

A paved area beside a main road where vehicles stop briefly to rest or in an emergency

lay reader
  • Jargon
1 8.6

A person chosen by a church leader to lead readings, prayers, and short talks

lay witness
  • Jargon
1 6.9

A person who gives evidence in court about what they personally saw or experienced

lay figure
  • Archaic
9.8

A model of the human body with movable joints that artists use to set and study poses

Surface Forms

lay infinitive
laying present participle
lays third person singular
laid past
laid past participle

Etymology

Lay (eggs) uses the same old verb meaning 'to put down', so when a bird or turtle lays eggs it is simply putting its eggs down in a nest.