Also 6–7 laye, laie, ley(e. [f. LAY v.1]
† 1. A wager, bet, stake. Often in phr. even lay, a wager in which the chances are equal on either side, an even chance. Hence (in fair, good, etc., lay) = chance, hazard. Obs.
1584. R. Scot, Discov. Witchcr., VII. iv. (1886), 107. It is an even laie, that an idiot shall conjecture right.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., V. ii. 27. Clif. My soule and bodie on the action both. Yor. A dreadfull lay.
1601. Holland, Pliny, II. 495. They bound themselues by a sacred lay and oth to fight it out to the last man.
1604. Dekker, Honest Wh., I. i. Wks. 1873, II. 17. Done, ’tis a lay, joyne gols on it.
1610. Beaum. & Fl., Scornf. Lady, V. i. If I had been unhandsome, old or jealous, ’t had been an even lay she might have scorn’d me.
1725. New Cant. Dict., s.v. Lay, An Hazard or Chance; as, He stands a queer Lay; He stands an odd Chance, or is in great Danger.
1726. De Foe, Hist. Devil, I. x. (1840), 135. By venturing my life upon an even lay with him.
1729. E. Erskine, Wks. (1871), I. 453. What a fair lay sinners living under the Gospel dispensation have for the eternal Salvation of their Souls.
1769. Chesterf., Lett., 296. You will stand a very good lay, for if it is a prize it shall be yours, if a blank, mine.
2. A place of lying or lodging; lair, couch (of animals). Now rare.
1590. Greene, Mourn. Garm. (1616), 42. The Fawne doth choose his foode by the laie of the olde Bucke.
a. 1625. Beaum. & Fl., Bonduca, I. ii. I have found ye, Your lays, and out-leaps, Junius, haunts, and lodges.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, vii. (1880), 252. The boatman will probably know … the lay of the trout.
† b. ? Right of pasturing cattle; ? number of cattle pastured at one time. Obs.
1596. in T. Harwood, Lichfield (1806), 527. Rec. for the fyrst leye into the Churche yarde for foure and twentye beastes and a weanynge calfe—xxxvj. s.
3. A layer, stratum; a ‘course’ (of masonry).
1594. Plat, Jewell-ho., I. 35. By making a lay of dung of a foot in thicknesse.
1599. Hakluyt, Voy., II. I. 214. First they layed a lay of Brickes, then a Mat made of Canes, square as the Brickes.
1626. Bacon, Sylva, § 280. It was devised, that a Viall should have a Lay of Wire Strings below, as close to the Belly as a Lute.
1678. Moxon, Mech. Exerc., 65. Continue your several lays of Plaining, till the whole upside of the Stuff be plained.
c. 1682. J. Collins, Making Salt, 16. It was … pressed into a Cask, with sprinklings of Salt between each Lay.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., Refl. Agric., 55. These … make up what we call a Bed or Lay of Roots.
1704. Addison, Italy (1733), 225. Different Lays of white and black Marble.
1725. Bradley, Fam. Dict., s.v. Vertigo, Those [Animal Spirits] that are in the Lays of the Optick Nerves.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 221. Lay them in the same water, with a lay of leaves betwixt.
4. The act of imposing a tax; an impost, assessment, rate, tax. Now dial.
1558. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 95. It is to be levied by force of one ley yearly to be gathered by the Bailiffs for the time being.
1597. Churchw. Acc. Cartmel, in J. Stockdale, Ann. Cartmel, etc. (1872), 36. A caste or laye should bee forthwith had throughout all the parish.
1601. Acc.-Bk. W. Wray, in Antiquary, XXXII. 79. A note of all layes and sesments … one laye of xxxs.
1624. Sir E. Sandys, 15 April, in Cobbett, Parl. Hist. (1806), I. 1421. In the lay of the first Imposition,… it was promised, That [etc.].
1647. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 143. A Ley or Taxacion of xiil.
c. 1861. J. T. Staton, Rays fro’ th’ Loominary (1867), 33. Its some beggar, or else its th’ chap ut collects th’ lays.
1861. Smiles, Engineers, I. 419. In 1750 a lay of 3d. in the pound produced only £6 2s. 11/2d.
1888. Sheffield Gloss., Lay, a rate, an assessment.
5. Rate or ‘terms’ of purchase or remuneration. local U.S.
1712. Connect. Col. Rec. (1870), V. 333. Provided that such land … shall be sold to such possessors thereof at the same lay as the residue of said land.
1775. N. Hampsh. Prov. Papers (1873), VII. 425. Provided there can be more built at an easier Lay than in the country by the company.
1792. B. Marston, in N. Eng. Hist. & Gen. Register (1873), XXVII. 399. I am engaged to go out with a large Company … [to Africa] as their Land Surveyor General, on a pretty good lay.
1816. Pickering, Vocab. U.S., Lay, terms or conditions of a bargain; price. Ex. I bought the articles at a good lay; he bought his goods on the same lay that I did mine. A low word. New England.
1856. J. Reynolds, Peter Gott, ii. 26 (Bartlett). He took in his fish at such a lay, that he made a good profit on them.
6. slang. A line or plan of business, occupation, adventure, etc.; a (particular) job, ‘line,’ or ‘tack’: often in phr. on (a certain) lay.
1707. Farquhar, Beaux Strat., III. iii. Cou’d I bring her to a Bastard, I shou’d have her all to my self; but I dare not put it upon that Lay, for fear of being sent for a Soldier.
1715. Wodrow Corr. (1843), II. 97. To distinguish myself from the refusers upon a Jacobite lay.
1721. Cibber, School-boy, III. Dram. Wks. 1754, I. 23. The Puppy will play, tho’ he knows no more of the Lay than a Milkwoman.
1760. C. Johnston, Chrysal (1822), I. 174. I first set them on the lay.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xvi. I shall be on that lay nae mair.
1852. Dickens, Bleak Ho., xxii. He’s not to be found on his old lay.
1858. Gen. P. Thompson, Audi Alt., I. lii. 201. It is a sad thing for a great country … to have taken to the filibustering lay. If the word is from the vocabulary of thieves, to the conduct of thieves it is appropriate.
1876. Besant & Rice, Gold. Butterfly, xxxiv. For a year or two he wrote poetry. But the papers in America, he found, were in a league against genius. So he gave up that lay.
7. The way, position or direction in which something is laid or lies (esp. said of country); disposition or arrangement with respect to something. (Cf. LIE sb.)
1819. Sporting Mag., V. 50. The correctness of their [dogs’] judgment on the lay of the country.
1851. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XII. II. 647. Where the corn has a decided lean in one direction, the machine, if worked against the lay of the straw, meets with the requisite resistance.
1864. Thoreau, Maine W., iii. (1869), 163. I did not know the exact route myself, but steered by the lay of the land.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, v. (1880), 174. If the angler pulls against the … lay of the weed.
1878. H. M. Stanley, Dark Cont., I. xvi. 434. Seams of white quartz travelled along the lay of the strata.
1886. Walsingham & Payne-Gallwey, Shooting, I. 89. The lay of a gun to the shoulder when aimed depends … upon the ‘cast off’ and slope of the heel-plate.
b. Naut. Of a rope: The direction or amount of twist given to the strands. (Cf. LAY v. 37.) Also in Spinning (see quot. 1851).
1800. Capt. Harvey, in Naval Chron., XII. 195. I was inclined to attribute this defect to the soft lay of the cable.
1839. Ure, Dict. Arts, 1071. In no one instance has a rope or cable thus formed, been found defective in the lay.
1851. L. D. B. Gordon, in Art Jrnl. Catal. Gt. Exhib., v**/2. In the bobbin and fly-frames, the amount of lay, or quantity of twist given to the roving, is as little as is compatible with their being unwound without impairing their uniformity.
c. 1860. H. Stuart, Seaman’s Catech., 2. By taking a half hitch round and against the lay of the rope.
c. Printing. See quots.; ‘the proper position of the sheet of paper and the frame of type on the bed of a press or machine, when ready for working’ (Cassell).
1871. Amer. Encycl. Print. (ed. Ringwalt), Lay of the Case, the system upon which the various letters, points, spaces, quadrats, etc., are distributed among the different boxes in a case.
1888. Jacobi, Printers’ Vocab., Lay, this refers to the position of the print on a sheet of paper.
8. A share in a venture; esp. in Whaling, the proportion of the proceeds of a voyage which is allotted to a man.
On a lay, on shares (Cent. Dict.). Also, by the lay (Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., 1867).
1850. Scoresby, Cheever’s Whaleman’s Adv., iii. (1859), 35. With eager hope to obtain the oily material wherewith to … make good their ‘lay.’
1851. H. Melville, Moby Dick, xvi. 85. I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the ship’s company.
1859. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XX. I. 113. Every one on board … has ‘a lay’ in the venture.
1879. H. George, Progr. & Pov., I. iii. (1881), 47. On American whaling ships the custom is not to pay fixed wages, but a ‘lay,’ or proportion of the catch.
1898. F. T. Bullen, Cruise ‘Cachalot,’ iv. (1900), 33. Each of us was on the two hundredth ‘lay’ … which means that for every two hundred barrels taken on board, we were entitled to one.
9. In (good, full) lay: laying eggs.
1885. Bazaar, 30 March, 1267/3. 4 pullets, in full lay.
10. concr. (See quot.)
1794. W. Felton, Carriages (1801), II. Gloss., Lay, a strip of leather, which is sewed on the top of another that is broader, for the purpose of additional strength, or to confine a smaller buckle.
11. Comb.: † lay-layer, an assessor of rates.
1669. in Picton, L’pool Munic. Rec. (1883), I. 328. The common assessors or Leylayers of this towne.
