Word.ws English Dictionary

lay on with a trowel

lay on with a trowel verb: to offer (praise, flattery, etc.) in an unsubtle and excessive way.

Verb

lay on with a trowel (third-person singular simple present lays on with a trowel, present participle laying on with a trowel, simple past and past participle laid on with a trowel)

  1. (transitive) To offer (praise, flattery, etc.) in an unsubtle and excessive way.

Forms of lay on with a trowel

third-person singular presentlays on with a trowel
present participlelaying on with a trowel
past participlelaid on with a trowel
pastlaid on with a trowel

Questions about lay on with a trowel

What does lay on with a trowel mean?
Lay on with a trowel means to offer (praise, flattery, etc.) in an unsubtle and excessive way.
What part of speech is lay on with a trowel?
Lay on with a trowel is a verb.
What is the past tense of lay on with a trowel?
The past tense of lay on with a trowel is laid on with a trowel.

Words near lay on with a trowel in the dictionary

  1. lay of the land
  2. lay off
  3. lay on
  4. lay on the line
  5. lay on the oars
  6. lay on with a trowel
  7. lay one down
  8. lay one's account
  9. lay one's cards on the table
  10. lay one's eyes on
  11. lay one's hands on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lay on with a trowel (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.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “lay on with a trowel.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lay_on_with_a_trowel. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.