Word.ws English Dictionary

laying down the marker

laying down the marker is the present participle and gerund of lay down the marker.

Meaning of lay down the marker

Verb

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

  1. (idiomatic) To set the standard.
    • City held firm and even threatened to retake the lead when Adam Johnson tested De Gea, but it was United who laid down the marker for the forthcoming Premier League campaign, beginning the defence of their title by collecting more silverware.2011 August 7, Chris Bevan, “Man City 2 - 3 Man Utd”, in BBC Sport

Questions about laying down the marker

What is laying down the marker the present participle and gerund of?
Laying down the marker is the present participle and gerund of lay down the marker.

Words near laying down the marker in the dictionary

  1. laying down on
  2. laying down one's arms
  3. laying down one's life
  4. laying down one's weapons
  5. laying down the law
  6. laying down the marker
  7. laying eggs
  8. laying eyes on
  9. laying for
  10. laying hands on
  11. laying hen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: laying down the marker (page history and authors); lay down the marker (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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