Word.ws English Dictionary

laid on the line

laid on the line is the simple past and past participle of lay on the line.

Meaning of lay on the line

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic, transitive) To state strongly, clearly, and accurately.
    • Martin presented the list to the 30-member House Republican Policy Committee, laid the facts on the line in cold political terms.1957 June 10, “The Budget: Remember Guam!”, in Time
  2. (idiomatic, transitive) To risk.
    • California's Edmund Gerald Brown, 54, laid his political prestige on the line with a sheaf of legislative proposals.1959 July 5, “National Affairs: The Democratic Governors in 1960”, in Time

Questions about laid on the line

What is laid on the line the simple past and past participle of?
Laid on the line is the simple past and past participle of lay on the line.

Words near laid on the line in the dictionary

  1. laid it on thick
  2. laid low
  3. laid odds
  4. laid off
  5. laid on
  6. laid on the line
  7. laid on with a trowel
  8. laid one down
  9. laid one's account
  10. laid one's eyes on
  11. laid one's hands on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laid on the line (page history and authors); lay on the line (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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Cite this entry: “laid on the line.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/laid_on_the_line. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.