lay down

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground.
   • The police urged the gunman to lay down his weapon.
   • Lay down your arms.
2. To place or install on the ground, e.g. a railway on a trackbed.
   • lay down a mat; lay down asphalt; lay down a road
   • Two standard types of flat-bottom track were introduced as early as 1949, and some 1,570 miles had been laid down to the end of 1950.1951 April, D. S. Barrie, “British Railways: A Survey, 1948-1950”, in Railway Magazine, number 600, page 225
3. (transitive) To intentionally take a fall while riding a motorcycle, in order to prevent a more serious collision.
   • He laid down his brand-new Harley-Davidson to avoid the oncoming bus.
4. (transitive) To specify, institute, enact, assert firmly, state authoritatively, establish or formulate (rules or policies).
   • Let's lay down the rules right at the beginning, so we are consistent.
   • You've got to lay down the law with that boy.
5. To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.
6. (dated, transitive, African-American Vernacular) To kill (someone).
7. (euphemistic, transitive) To euthanize an animal.
8. To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."
9. (intransitive, proscribed) To lie down.
   • I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while.
10. (dated) To draw the lines of a ship's hull at full size, before starting a build.
11. (obsolete) To place a sheet in a printing press for printing.