LIE IN

Pronunciation (US):

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does lie in mean? 

• LIE IN (verb)
  The verb LIE IN has 2 senses:

1. originate (in)

2. be in confinement for childbirth

  Familiarity information: LIE IN used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• LIE IN (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Originate (in)

Classified under:

Verbs of being, having, spatial relations

Synonyms:

consist; dwell; lie; lie in

Context example:

The problems dwell in the social injustices in this country

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

be; exist (have an existence, be extant)

Sentence frame:

Something is ----ing PP

Sense 2

Meaning:

Be in confinement for childbirth

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

"Lie in" entails doing...:

bear; birth; deliver; give birth; have (cause to be born)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

 Context examples 

He would lie in a screen of bushes, watching for a squirrel to venture far enough out on the ground from its tree-refuge.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

I have already shown you that it could only lie in some large house, and that the number of large houses is limited.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He loved to lie in the very centre of five millions of people, with his filaments stretching out and running through them, responsive to every little rumour or suspicion of unsolved crime.

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

He can’t lie in the street. May we bring him in, madam?

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

To lie in wait for me now would mean that the creature had appreciated what had happened to me, and this in turn would argue some power connecting cause and effect.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

My greatest danger would lie in her consulting Mrs. Fraser, and I at a distance unable to help my own cause.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

Neither of Tau Ceti's "super-Earths" lie in the center of its habitable zone.

(Potentially Habitable 'Super-Earths' Found Orbiting around Sun's near Neighbor, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

Dust appears to lie in a belt that extends a few hundred million kilometres from Proxima Centauri and has a total mass of about one hundredth of the Earth’s mass.

(ALMA Discovers Cold Dust Around Nearest Star, ESO)

After that I determined to lie in wait, so I got out my revolver and I sat up in my study, which overlooks the lawn and garden.

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

She was to have my bed, and I was to lie in the sitting-room, to keep guard over her.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)