Word.ws English Dictionary

laying by the heels

laying by the heels is the present participle and gerund of lay by the heels.

Meaning of lay by the heels

Verb

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

  1. (dated, idiomatic) To fetter, to shackle; to imprison.
    • As I live,
      If the king blame me for 't, I'll lay ye all
      By the heels , and suddenly; and on your heads
      Clap round fines , for neglect1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio)...

Questions about laying by the heels

What is laying by the heels the present participle and gerund of?
Laying by the heels is the present participle and gerund of lay by the heels.

Words near laying by the heels in the dictionary

  1. laying away
  2. laying back
  3. laying bare
  4. laying behind
  5. laying by
  6. laying by the heels
  7. laying chilly
  8. laying claim
  9. laying down
  10. laying down arms
  11. laying down on

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laying by the heels (page history and authors); lay by the heels (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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