Word.ws English Dictionary

laying up

laying up is the present participle and gerund of lay up.

Meaning of lay up

Verb

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

  1. (transitive) To store; to put by.
    • We must lay up enough stores to get us through the winter.
  2. (transitive) To disable or incapacitate; to confine to bed.
    • He was laid up for six weeks with pneumonia.
  3. (intransitive) To recuperate or rest; to remain in a place.
    • He laid up until recovering from his illness.
  4. (transitive) To take out of active service.
    • The battleship is presently laid up in Portsmouth Harbour.
  5. (intransitive) To go out of active service.
    • The cruise ship lays up in November for the winter.
  6. (transitive) To make a layup with (a basketball)
    • He takes the pass, he drives, he lays it up and in.

See all 8 meanings of lay up

Questions about laying up

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

Words near laying up in the dictionary

  1. laying the table
  2. laying to
  3. laying to heart
  4. laying to rest
  5. laying tracks
  6. laying up
  7. laying up in lavender
  8. laying up with
  9. laying waste
  10. laying-on of hands
  11. layings

Source and license

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