allaying

allaying is the present participle and gerund of allay.

Meaning of allay

allay (third-person singular simple present allays, present participle allaying, simple past and past participle allayed)

(transitive) To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
- to allay popular excitement
Synonyms:

appease, assuage, compose, soothe, calm, quiet
(transitive) To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
- to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity
Synonyms:

alleviate, abate
(intransitive, obsolete) To subside, abate, become peaceful.
- And the wynde alayed, and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?1526, [William Tyndale, transl.], The Newe Testamẽt […] (Tyndale Bible), [Worms, Germany: Peter Schöffer], →OCLC, Mark iiij
(archaic) To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
(archaic, broadly) To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.
- Yet far be it from us to condemn all their works to be dross, because debased and allayed with superstitious intents […]1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warr

allaying (plural allayings)

An allayment.
- These high and gusty relishes of life, sure,
  Have no allayings of mortality in them.1802, Charles Lamb, John Woodvil

plural	allayings

What does allaying mean?: Allaying means an allayment.
What is allaying the present participle and gerund of?: Allaying is the present participle and gerund of allay.
What part of speech is allaying?: Allaying is a noun.
What is the plural of allaying?: The plural of allaying is allayings.

Adapted from Wiktionary: allaying (page history and authors); allay (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “allaying.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/allaying. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.