to lay out
13
4.5
- phrasal verb
- /leɪ aʊt/
- Informal
:
gastar
- After careful consideration, she chose to lay out several thousand dollars for her daughter's education.
Examples
-
Well, I had to lay out some serious moola for the arts and crafts supplies.
-
Must be pretty big if he is going to lay out 50 thousand.
-
Well, no one minds laying out an extra 10% for peace of mind.
-
I laid out good money for a quality clock with a loud alarm, and guess what?
Fiction book (2002) -
Besides which, I've just had to lay out a fortune for the flight over here.
-
You telling me you're willing to lay out that kind of bread for Marcy?
-
Greene acknowledged that few buyers would be willing to lay out extra money for diesels on the basis of fuel prices alone in this country.
Academic text (2006) -
The company decided to lay out a significant amount of money on new machinery to improve production.
-
He will lay out a large sum of money to fund the community project he is passionate about.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To give money to buy something or pay for services
510
4.2
Invest money in something like a business or property
178
3.2
To give large amounts of money or supplies to support something
42
3.8
To give money from a fund or account
30
7.1
Pay a large amount of money even when you do not want to
Antonyms
How Much
67
6.5
- Informal
8
6.9
∞
1.0
- Informal
13
4.5
- Informal
3
7.5
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
lay + out
The sense 'to spend/pay (money)' can be seen as a metaphorical extension of 'lay' (to put/place) + 'out' (away/externally) — i.e. to put money out — so there is a recognizable compositional link. However, the financial sense is an extended, partly metaphorical use and not fully predictable for all learners without exposure, so it should be classed as partially transparent.
Etymology
Lay out comes from the picture of putting money out on the table to pay for something. If you lay money out like this, you are spending it, so the phrase means 'to spend or pay a sum of money'.