belay
/ˈbiːleɪ/US/bɪˈleɪ/
belay verb: to make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat. Also the simple past of belie.
Verb
belay (third-person singular simple present belays, present participle belaying, simple past and past participle belayed or belaid)
- To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.
- To handle a climbing rope to prevent (a climber) from falling to the ground.
- He would need an experienced partner to belay him on the difficult climbs.
- I could only hope the remaining piton would belay his fall.
- To lay aside; to stop; to cancel.
- Belay that order!
- "We landed in their killbox?" "We did. I am sor... No, belay that. Heads down! Cavalry incoming!"2015 February 1, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 14 May 2024
- The general command to stop or cease.
- To surround; to environ; to enclose.
- To overlay; to adorn.
- jacket […] belayd with silver lace1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5
- To besiege; invest; surround.
- To lie in wait for in order to attack; block up or obstruct.
Noun
belay (plural belays)
- The securing of a rope to a rock or other sturdy object.
- The object to which a rope is secured.
- A location at which a climber stops and builds an anchor with which to secure their partner.
- But instead of swapping over at the ice axe belay, you carry on in the lead, cutting or kicking steps until you are about twenty feet above.1967, Anthony Greenbank, Instructions in Mountaineering, page 84
Proper noun capitalized: Belay
Belay (plural Belays)
- A surname.
Also used as
belay is also the simple past of belie.
Examples of belay in a sentence
- Some continuously steep routes with numerous hanging belays necessitate a belay seat or butt bag.
- Jacob handed her the ATC belay device and jumar.
- “She's going to learn to belay while I'm climbing?
Forms of belay
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | belays |
| present participle | belaying |
| past participle | belayed |
| past | belayed |
| past participle | belaid |
| past | belaid |
| Noun | |
| plural | belays |
| Proper noun | |
| plural | Belays |
Origin of belay
From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).
Words formed from belay
Phrases with belay
Words that rhyme with belay
Questions about belay
- What does belay mean?
- Belay means to make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.
- What part of speech is belay?
- Belay can be a verb, a noun or a proper noun.
- How do you pronounce belay?
- Belay is pronounced /bɪˈleɪ/ (US).
- What is the past tense of belay?
- The past tense of belay is belayed.
Words near belay in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: belay (page history and authors); Belay (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.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-belay1.wav.
Cite this entry: “belay.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/belay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.