to lay away
- phrasal verb
- /leɪ əˈweɪ/
- Don't lay away your money!
Examples
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I will lay away some money for a new bike.
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The store will lay away the coat until you are ready to pay the full amount.
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Every month, she tries to lay away a portion of her salary for emergencies.
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It's wise to lay away funds for your children's education.
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Many shoppers prefer to lay away more expensive items until they can afford to pay for them in full.
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She decided to lay away some money each month for her vacation next year.
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With the holiday season approaching, he plans to lay away gifts ahead of time to avoid last-minute expenses.
Synonyms
Keep something for use later
To put something away to use later
To put money aside instead of spending it now
To keep something for a particular person or purpose
To hide money or things in a secret place for later
To put money aside little by little for something you want
Save money or time for a special purpose
To collect and keep large amounts of food or other things for future use
Keep or save something for future use
Keep something to use at a later time
Put something in a hidden place to use later
To save money or things over time, often secretly
To put something in a safe place to use later
Put money aside to use if something unexpected happens
To get and keep extra supplies for use later
Save part of something to use later
Save money for future use
To hide things like food or money in a secret place for later use
To save money little by little to use later
To store things like food or money so you can use them later
Antonyms
How Much
- Informal
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'to save or set aside for future use' is directly derivable from combining 'lay' (to place or set) with 'away' (aside/for later). The compositional sense 'place something away' (= put aside) is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and would be understandable to a B1 learner who knows both constituents.
Etymology
The phrasal verb lay away comes from the simple picture of putting something aside for later: to lay it down and put it away in a box, chest, or on a shelf. One common story says shops used to lay away a customer's item until they paid, so today it means 'to save or set aside' for future use.