laid
Americanverb
verb
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Explanation
Laid means "set down." If you built a brick wall, and then when it's done your neighbor complains that the wall crosses onto his property, tell him, "too late! The brick has already been laid." Laid is the past participle of the verb, lay, which means set down. So something that has been laid has already been set down. You might scramble up the eggs the chickens laid yesterday. Before your guests come over, your table should have been laid. Or you might examine the foundations that the builder laid down for the house you're building. We often use laid if we want to emphasize how carefully something has been done.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
CEO Elon Musk laid out ambitious targets of scaling the company’s data-center capacity to potentially 20 gigawatts by the end of 2027, up from just 1.7 gigawatts at the end of the third quarter.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 20, 2026
The company has not yet laid out how the fund will be governed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 20, 2026
Days after winning the championship last summer, Dolan laid out the difficulty of trying to retain a historic roster under modern salary rules.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 20, 2026
Both sides wore black armbands and several players shed tears during the period of silence, while Andrews' number five jersey was laid out on the turf in front of the Lions' team.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
We never fell asleep until he had arranged the blankets in his special way and laid his hand for a moment on each head.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
