laid low
20
7.2
- idiom
:
postrado
- I had to lay low for a while.
- just laid low
- then I laid low
- laid low this week
Examples
-
Found a place to lay low.
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It's just better if I lay low for a couple days.
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Maybe we should just lay low for a while.
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Mike and I need to lay low for a while.
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L.A.'s a good place to lay low for a while.
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Just gonna lay low until this thing blows over.
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I've been laying low for a while.
-
We had lunch with Kyle and the Pilot, came back home to hang out—Liv was having a teething day, so we laid low for the afternoon.
Blog text (23) -
During the five centuries since Europeans launched the age of exploration, mosquito-borne plagues have laid low both conqueror and conquered, altering the shape of history.
Academic text (1992) -
After contracting the flu, she was laid low for two weeks and couldn't attend work.
Synonyms
336
1.0
Feeling sad or without energy
48
8.0
Seriously affected by illness, disaster, or strong feeling
11
4.5
Unable to leave bed because of illness or injury
10
5.6
Not able to work because you are sick or injured and must stay in bed
Antonyms
How Incapacitated
11
4.5
10
5.6
20
7.2
18
1.0
- Informal
21
5.3
Surface Forms
Morphology
laid + low
The phrase is compositionally related to 'lay/laid' (to put down) + 'low' (down, in a weakened state), so a learner who knows the words may infer a sense of being put/down or brought low. However the idiomatic use to mean 'incapacitated by illness or misfortune' is a metaphorical extension and hinges on the phrasal sense 'lay low', so it is not fully predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Laid low comes from the image of someone being knocked or put down on the ground—laid (put down) and low (close to the ground). So the phrase now means 'unable to work or act', often because someone is 'sick' or struck by 'bad luck'.