layups

Noun

layup (plural layups)

1. A close-range shot in which the shooter banks the ball off the backboard from a few feet away.
   • Rockledge's Shanikqua Smith goes for a layup during Tuesday's game against Titusville.2014 November 19, “Gallery: Titusville vs. Rockledge girls basketball”, in Florida Today, archived from the original on 19 Dec 2025
2. (colloquial) A relatively easy task.
   • Meeting the numbers will be a layup, if not a slam dunk.
3. The state of being laid up.
   • The ship endured an interminable layup in the harbor lasting nearly a month.
4. (countable, uncountable) A track used to store train cars.
   • The caboose, long decrepit, rested on a forgotten layup just north of the dry riverbed.
   1. (broadly, countable, slang, uncountable) A side track, tunnel, or elevated structure where idle trains park during off-peak hours, overnight, or on weekend; a targeted spot because the stationary trains give them enough time to paint large pieces.
5. A train car sitting in storage (laid up), often overnight.
   • Though I knew we shouldn't be there, she pulled me out of the tunnel and into the dark layup, its floors still grubby from the morning commute many hours ago.

See all 7 meanings of layup