lay off

British  

verb

1. (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

2. informal (intr) to leave (a person, thing, or activity) alone

   lay off me, will you!

3. (tr, adverb) to mark off the boundaries of

4. (tr, adverb) soccer to pass or deflect (the ball) to a team-mate, esp one in a more advantageous position

5. gambling another term for hedge

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noun

1. the act of suspending employees

2. a period of imposed unemployment

lay off Idioms  

1. 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]

2. Mark off the boundaries, as in Let's lay off an area for a flower garden . [Mid-1700s]

3. 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]

4. Stop bothering or annoying someone, as in Lay off or I'll tell the teacher . [ Slang ; c. 1900]

5. 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]

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Example Sentences

Cash App owner Block said in February that it would lay off 4,000 workers, or 40% of its workforce, citing changes in its industry driven by artificial intelligence.

From Barron's • May 8, 2026

Cloudflare said it chose to lay off so many people at once to avoid “dragging” its reorganization across multiple quarters, which would slow it down while prolonging uncertainty for workers.

From MarketWatch • May 7, 2026

At Meta, massive investments in data centers and other AI infrastructure are driving plans to lay off 8,000 people, about 10% of the workforce, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 6, 2026

Several days later, the company said it would lay off 800 workers, or roughly 6.5% of its global workforce.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 2, 2026

Emma was quite gay and responsive, but something about her hard, handsome face warned me to lay off.

From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison