Word.ws English Dictionary

laid down the law

laid down the law is the simple past and past participle of lay down the law.

Meaning of lay down the law

Verb

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

  1. To promulgate law.
    • Six or eight thousand years ago / They laid down the law / In Mesopotamia1982, “Mesopotamia”, performed by The B-52's
  2. (dated) To present the law that applies to a given case.
  3. (idiomatic) To authoritatively or dogmatically assert what is permitted or not permitted.
    • He concluded this sentence with a self-important cough, as one who has laid down the law in an indisputable manner.1818, Sir Walter Scott, The Heart of Mid-Lothian, chapter 4

Questions about laid down the law

What is laid down the law the simple past and past participle of?
Laid down the law is the simple past and past participle of lay down the law.

Words near laid down the law in the dictionary

  1. laid down arms
  2. laid down on
  3. laid down one's arms
  4. laid down one's life
  5. laid down one's weapons
  6. laid down the law
  7. laid down the marker
  8. laid eggs
  9. laid eyes on
  10. laid for
  11. laid hands on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laid down the law (page history and authors); lay down the law (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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