Also 7 lye. [f. LIE v.1]
1. Manner of lying; direction or position in which something lies; direction and amount of slope or inclination. Also fig. the state, position or aspect (of affairs, etc.).
1697. Collect. Connect. Hist. Soc. (1897), VI. 248. Nott to alter the proper lye of the Land.
1843. Ruskin, Mod. Paint. (1851), I. II. VI. i. § 30. 399. The general lie and disposition of the boughs.
1849. J. F. Johnston, Exper. Agric., 101. On what geological formation the land rests—its physical position or lie.
1850. J. H. Newman, Diffic. Anglic., 325. To map out the field of thought … and to ascertain its lie and its characteristics.
1862. Trollope, N. Amer., II. 2. Washington, from the lie of the land, can hardly have been said to be centrical at any time.
1865. Carlyle, Fredk. Gt., XX. iii. (1872), IX. 44. Friedrich understands well enough … from the lie of matters, what his plan will be.
1894. Baring-Gould, Deserts S. France, I. 15. The horizontal lie of the chalk beds.
1894. Besant, In Deacon’s Orders, 83. The lie of his hair, his pose [etc.].
b. Golf. (a) ‘The inclination of a club when held on the ground in the natural position for striking.’ (b) ‘The situation of a ball—good or bad.’ (Badm. Libr., Golf, Gloss.).
1857. H. B. Farnie, Golfer’s Manual, in Golfiana Misc. (1887), 126. The precise lie [of the ball] it [the niblick] is intended for so seldom occurs. Ibid., 141. The lie of these spoons should be rather upright.
1887. Sir W. G. Simpson, Art Golf, 152. From a bad lie it is the only way I know of to loft a ball.
1890. Hutchinson, Golf, 58. An important consideration is the ‘lie’ of the driving club.
2. concr. A mass that lies; a stratum, layer.
a. 1728. Woodward, Nat. Hist. Fossils, I. (1729), I. 12. Not in regular orderly Strata … as Stone-lies, and various sorts of Earth which are in their original State.
1865. Swinburne, Phaedra, 153. The heifer … sleek under shaggy and speckled lies of hair.
3. The place where an animal, etc., is accustomed to lie; its haunt. Also, room for lying.
1869. Blackmore, Lorna D., vii. There were very fine loaches here, having more lie and harbourage than in the rough Lynn stream.
1886. Q. Rev., Oct., 359, note. At other times he [a salmon] is usually resting in his ‘stand’ or ‘lie.’
1888. Rider Haggard, Maiwa’s Revenge, i. 2. There lay a long narrow spinney, which was a very favourite ‘lie’ for woodcock.
4. Railways. ‘A siding or short offset from the main line, into which trucks may be run for the purpose of loading and unloading’ (Cent. Dict.).
