How to use lay in a sentence
40 example sentences · verb, noun, adjective
Lay means to place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position. Example: “A shower of rain lays the dust.”
Examples of lay by meaning
verbTo place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
- to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave
- A shower of rain lays the dust.
- An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part I, London: Collins, →ISBN
verbTo prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
- Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled.2006, Clive James, North Face of Soho, Picador, published 2007, page 48
verbTo install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
- lay brick; lay flooring
verbTo produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
- The hen laid an egg.
- Did dinosaurs lay their eggs in a nest?
verbTo bet (that something is or is not the case).
- I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
verbTo deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
- He laid a hundred guineas with the laird of Slofferfield that he would drive four horses through the Slofferfield loch, and in the prank he had his bit chariot dung to pieces and a good mare killed.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide
verbTo have sex with.
- to get laid
- 'It's because he's a no-good son of a bitch who thinks it is smart to lay his friends' wives and brag about it.'1944, Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake, Penguin, published 2011, page 11
verbTo state; to allege.
- to lay the venue
More sentences with lay
- Most websites contain metadata to tell the computer how to lay out the content on the screen.From the entry metadata
- As I lay on my back, a pain shot down from my neck to my waist.From the entry down
- All hens in the laying house have ad lib access to feed.From the entry ad lib
- On a building that size, two crews could only lay two courses in a day.From the entry course
- As I lay on my back, a pain shot up from my toes to my chest.From the entry up
- It was condescended by the warring parties that they should lay down their arms and seek peace.From the entry condescend
- The company chose to downsize by laying off half of its workers.From the entry downsize
- The Federal budget lays out government spending for the upcoming budget year.From the entry upcoming
- After the wonderful service that evening he didn’t hesitate in laying a substantial perquisite on the table.From the entry perquisite
- Let's lay down the rules right at the beginning, so we are consistent.From the entry lay down
- I feel a bit ill, so I'm going to go lay down for a while.From the entry lay down
- Before laying sod on that clay, the ground needs two inches of coverage with topsoil.From the entry coverage
- Things have been better since the boss has been laying off a little.From the entry lay off
- I told him to lay off me but he wouldn't stop.From the entry lay off
- You have to riddle the gravel before you lay it on the road.From the entry riddle
- His brilliancy lay in combining old concepts from far-flung fields into a new idea.From the entry brilliancy
- And without warning me, as he lay there, he suddenly trumped next to me in bed.From the entry trump
- Payment of the court-imposed fine should finally lay this matter to rest.From the entry lay to rest
- The table was still unlaid, despite Mum asking us the kids to lay it five times.From the entry unlaid
- If you lay a finger on my little brother, I'll have your guts for garters.From the entry lay a finger on
- The introductory mathematics courses will lay the groundwork for all your subsequent engineering studies.From the entry lay the groundwork
- You should lay a foundation, even if you can't finish the project.From the entry lay a foundation
- Despite the watchful nature of the passing gazelles, the leopard lay unspotted under the bush.From the entry unspotted
- I could sense it was touch and go whether I could get the lay.From the entry touch and go
- He began to lay out the hull for an inexpensive but fast littoral drone.From the entry lay out
- She began to lay out how the circuits would be connected.From the entry lay out
- We'd better lay off the carby foods. It'll help protect our vascular health.From the entry carby
- He had managed to lay by money for college through his years as a paperboy.From the entry lay by
Meaning of lay
- verb To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
- verb To cause to subside or abate.
- verb To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost).
Questions about lay in a sentence
- How do you use lay in a sentence?
- Lay is used as a verb, noun and adjective. For example: “A shower of rain lays the dust.”
- What is a short sentence with lay?
- “to get laid”
- What does lay mean?
- Lay means to place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lay (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this page: “How to use lay in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/lay. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.