Word.ws English Dictionary

lay by

lay by is the alternative form of lay-by.

lay by is the simple past of lie by.

Verb

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

  1. To put away for future use; save; to build up as savings.
    • He had managed to lay by money for college through his years as a paperboy.
  2. (of a sailing vessel) To remain stationary while heading into the wind; to come to a standstill; heave to; lay to.
  3. (Southern US) To tend (a crop) for the last time, leaving it to mature without further cultivation.

Meaning of lay-by

Noun

lay-by (countable and uncountable, plural lay-bys)

  1. (Philippines, UK) A paved area at the side of a highway designated for drivers to stop in, for emergency parking, or where vehicles can wait, with larger lay-bys possibly having facilities such as food vendors or public telephones.
  2. (UK) A railroad siding; a second, short railroad track just to the side of a railroad track, connected with the main track by a switch and used for unloading, bypassing, etc.
    Synonyms:
    siding, sidetrack
  3. A widened section of a narrow river or canal, formed to one side so as to leave the channel free, for mooring of vessels, where vessels can lay over or allow others to pass.
  4. (Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, uncountable) A method of retail purchase in which the selected goods are set aside and the customer pays for them in instalments, receiving them when fully paid; layaway.
    • Avail yourself of our Lay-By Service1930 October 16, Hordern Brothers (Sydney retailer), advertisement, quoted in 1966, Sidney J. Baker, The Australian Language, second edition, chapter X, section 2, page 206
    Synonyms:
    layaway

Meaning of lie by

Verb

lie by (third-person singular simple present lies by, present participle lying by, simple past lay by, past participle lain by)

  1. (obsolete, transitive) To have sex with.
    • Than he lete make a cry thorow all the oste that uppon layne of lyff and lymme […] that no lyege man that longyth to his oste sholde lye be no maydens ne ladyes nother no burgessis wyff that to the cité longis., Book V
    Synonyms:
    lie with
  2. (dated, intransitive) To rest from labour; to take a break.
    Synonyms:
    have a break, take five

Forms of lay by

Noun
plurallay bys
Verb
third-person singular presentlays by
present participlelaying by
past participlelaid by
pastlaid by

Questions about lay by

What does lay by mean?
Lay by means to put away for future use; save; to build up as savings.
What is lay by the alternative form of?
Lay by is the alternative form of lay-by.
What part of speech is lay by?
Lay by is a verb.
What is the past tense of lay by?
The past tense of lay by is laid by.

Words near lay by in the dictionary

  1. lay before
  2. lay behind
  3. lay brethren
  4. lay brother
  5. lay brothers
  6. lay by
  7. lay by the heels
  8. lay bye
  9. lay byes
  10. lay bys
  11. lay chase

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lay by (page history and authors); lay-by (page history and authors); lie by (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: “lay by.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lay_by. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.