Word.ws English Dictionary

laid by the heels

laid by the heels is the simple past and past participle of lay by the heels.

Meaning of lay by the heels

Verb

lay by the heels (third-person singular simple present lays by the heels, present participle laying by the heels, simple past and past participle laid by the heels)

  1. (dated, idiomatic) To fetter, to shackle; to imprison.
    • As I live,
      If the king blame me for 't, I'll lay ye all
      By the heels , and suddenly; and on your heads
      Clap round fines , for neglect1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...

Questions about laid by the heels

What is laid by the heels the simple past and past participle of?
Laid by the heels is the simple past and past participle of lay by the heels.

Words near laid by the heels in the dictionary

  1. laid away
  2. laid back
  3. laid bare
  4. laid behind
  5. laid by
  6. laid by the heels
  7. laid chilly
  8. laid claim
  9. laid down
  10. laid down arms
  11. laid down on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laid by the heels (page history and authors); lay by the heels (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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