lay off
Britishverb
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(tr, adverb) to suspend (workers) from employment with the intention of re-employing them at a later date
the firm had to lay off 100 men
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informal (intr) to leave (a person, thing, or activity) alone
lay off me, will you!
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(tr, adverb) to mark off the boundaries of
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(tr, adverb) soccer to pass or deflect (the ball) to a team-mate, esp one in a more advantageous position
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gambling another term for hedge
noun
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the act of suspending employees
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a period of imposed unemployment
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Terminate a person from employment. For example, When they lost the contract, they had to lay off a hundred workers . This expression formerly referred to temporary dismissals, as during a recession, with the idea that workers would be hired back when conditions improved, but with the tendency of businesses to downsize in the 1990s it came to mean “terminate permanently.” [First half of 1800s]
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Mark off the boundaries, as in Let's lay off an area for a flower garden . [Mid-1700s]
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Stop doing something, quit, as in Lay off that noise for a minute, so the baby can get to sleep , or She resolved to lay off smoking . [Early 1900s]
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Stop bothering or annoying someone, as in Lay off or I'll tell the teacher . [ Slang ; c. 1900]
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Place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker so as to reduce the risk. For example, Some bookmakers protect themselves by laying off very large bets with other bookmakers . [Mid-1900s]
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.
Little more than a year later, Microsoft said it would lay off as many as 9,000 workers after setting out plans to double down on its multi-billion-dollar AI spending.
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
A year later, the company warned employees it could lay off 100 workers or even “shut down” in a company-wide memo obtained by TechCrunch.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Weeks had to fend off calls by shareholders to lay off employees, or reduce investment in R&D and factories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
The CEO has moved to cut costs by announcing plans to lay off staff.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
All that night I drifted, and in the sunrise, sure enough, I lay off Skylla mountain and Kharybdis deep.
From "The Odyssey" by Homer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
