LAY IN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does lay in mean? 

• LAY IN (verb)
  The verb LAY IN has 1 sense:

1. keep or lay aside for future use

  Familiarity information: LAY IN used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LAY IN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Keep or lay aside for future use

Classified under:

Verbs of buying, selling, owning

Synonyms:

hive away; lay in; put in; salt away; stack away; stash away; store

Context example:

The bear stores fat for the period of hibernation when he doesn't eat

Hypernyms (to "lay in" is one way to...):

hold on; keep (retain possession of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lay in"):

bin (store in bins)

computerise; computerize (store in a computer)

victual (lay in provisions)

accumulate; amass; collect; compile; hoard; pile up; roll up (get or gather together)

hive (store, like bees)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

 Context examples 

There he lay in the hall, and we were at our wits’ end what to do.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It was so in very truth, for now both mother and daughter lay in it.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Then he took out a sack of pearls which lay in the rushes, and without another word he dragged it away and disappeared behind a stone.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Our only clue lay in the truncated telegram, and with a copy of this in his hand Holmes set forth to find a second link for his chain.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When the young leader lay in the snow and moved no more, One Eye stalked over to the she-wolf.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He reads the Agricultural Reports, and some other books that lay in one of the window seats—but he reads all them to himself.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Another had been shot at a loophole in the very act of firing into the house and now lay in agony, the pistol still smoking in his hand.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Her disappointment lay in that this man she had taken to mould, refused to be moulded.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

But the trouble lay in that the wind was not strong enough nor steady enough to keep the sail full.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

See, said Meg, coming up with a white, half-opened rose, I thought this would hardly be ready to lay in Beth's hand tomorrow if she—went away from us.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)