lay aside
Britishverb
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to abandon or reject
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to store or reserve for future use
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Give up, abandon, as in He laid aside all hopes of winning first prize . [First half of 1400s]
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Also, lay away ; lay by . Set apart for a reason, save for the future, as in They lay aside enough to pay the rent , or Because coffee prices were rising, she laid by enough for a month , or The store laid away the winter coat I wanted . [Early 1700s] The first variant gave rise, about 1970, to the term layaway plan , in which merchandise is laid away for a buyer who pays a deposit and receives it when payment is made in full. Also see lay down , def. 4; set aside .
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.
But of course everything is only temporary, including the good health I felt sure would enable me to lay aside the cane when my back was better.
From The Wall Street Journal • Dec. 18, 2025
“Let’s lay aside the Facebook post we’ll use to justify our ‘rightness’ and skip the snarky meme demonizing the ‘other’ party,” she wrote in a post to her constituents.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 13, 2025
"I think it is incumbent on the leaders of the country to lay aside their differences and create an environment where their people can flourish."
From BBC • Feb. 4, 2023
Communities like mine need to lay aside rivalries and attract passengers to their future train.
From Seattle Times • Jul. 19, 2020
When gathering wild grains, they took care to lay aside part of the harvest to sow the fields next season.
From "Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind" by Yuval Noah Harari
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.
