lay

Pronunciation: /leɪ/

The English word “lay” has 20 meanings listed here.

verb

To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
To cause to subside or abate.
To compel a supernatural entity to cease haunting a place, often by ritual or prayer; to exorcise or banish (a spirit or ghost).
To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
To produce and deposit (an egg or eggs).
To bet (that something is or is not the case).
To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
To have sex with.
To state; to allege.
To point; to aim.
To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
To place (new type) properly in the cases.
To apply; to put.
To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
To impute; to charge; to allege.
To present or offer.
To produce and deposit an egg or eggs.
To subside or abate.

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English leyen, leggen, from Old English leċġan (“to lay”), from Proto-West Germanic *laggjan, from Proto-Germanic *lagjaną (“to lay”), causative form of Proto-Germanic *ligjaną (“to lie, recline”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, recline”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian lääse (“to lay; to lie”), West Frisian lizze (“to lay, to lie”), Cimbrian leng (“to lay”),…

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Definitions are from Wiktionary, extracted by Kaikki.org, and are available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.