allay
[uh-ley]
- to put (fear, doubt, suspicion, anger, etc.) to rest; calm; quiet.
- to lessen or relieve; mitigate; alleviate: to allay pain.
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Origin of allay
Synonyms
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1. Allay, moderate, soothe mean to reduce excitement or emotion. To allay is to lay to rest or lull to a sense of security, possibly by making the emotion seem unjustified: to allay suspicion, anxiety, fears. To moderate is to tone down any excess and thus to restore calm: to moderate the expression of one's grief. To soothe is to exert a pacifying or tranquilizing influence: to soothe a terrified child.
Antonyms
1. excite.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
mitigateassuagelessencalmalleviatepacifymollifyeasecomposelightenquietsquaredecreaseabatemoderateExamples from the Web for allay
Contemporary Examples
Experts [predict] that over a million people in the region need food aid to allay shortages.
The report calls on the Palestinians to recognize that Israeli security concerns are legitimate and to take steps to allay these.
Official Dutch Report Calls for Break with Uncritical Approach to IsraelWillem Aldershoff
June 26, 2013
Friday morning, however, we got two pieces of data that should allay those concerns, at least for now.
The fact that the government employee in question is a McKinsey alumnus does not allay any of my concerns.
Your announcement that you will be hosting Avigdor Lieberman in London does nothing to allay our concerns.
Historical Examples
How calculated is this precedure to allay animosities and unite hearts!
Female Scripture Biographies, Vol. IIFrancis Augustus Cox
She will allay your intoxication by gentle degrees, and send you sober home.
Tales And Novels, Volume 8 (of 10)Maria Edgeworth
Still, Greta's nervousness increased; no reason, no sophistry could allay it.
A Son of HagarSir Hall Caine
There was alarm on her face, which La Boulaye now set himself to allay.
The Trampling of the LiliesRafael Sabatini
When it came, however, it was not calculated to allay the curiosity of his questioner.
The StrollersFrederic S. Isham
allay
- to relieve (pain, grief, etc) or be relieved
- (tr) to reduce (fear, anger, etc)
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Word Origin
Old English ālecgan to put down, from lecgan to lay 1
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for allay
v.
Old English alecgan "to put down, remit, give up," a Germanic compound (cf. Gothic uslagjan, Old High German irleccan, German erlegen), from a- "down, aside" + lecgan "to lay" (see lay).
Early Middle English pronunciations of -y- and -g- were not always distinct, and the word was confused in Middle English with various senses of Romanic-derived alloy and allege, especially the latter in an obsolete sense of "to lighten," from Latin ad- "to" + levis (see lever).
Amid the overlapping of meanings that thus arose, there was developed a perplexing network of uses of allay and allege, that belong entirely to no one of the original vbs., but combine the senses of two or more of them. [OED]
The double -l- is 17c., a mistaken Latinism. Related: Allayed; allaying.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper