lay on

verb

1. to provide or supply

   to lay on entertainment

2. to install

   to lay on electricity

3. informal

   1. to exaggerate, esp when flattering

   2. to charge an exorbitant price

   3. to punish or strike harshly

Idioms and Phrases

Cover with, apply; also, use. For example, He decided to lay on a second coat of primer , or She laid on a thick Southern accent . [c. 1600] Also see lay it on thick .

Inflict blows, attack, as in “Lay on, Macduff; and damn'd be him that first cries, 'Hold, enough!'” (Shakespeare, Macbeth, 5:8 ). [Early 1200s]

Impose or cast something on someone, as in The government laid a tax on landholders , or Dad had a way of laying the guilt for his shortcomings on his partners . This usage is also found in , as in Nancy could always find someone to lay the blame on , or Jerry put the blame on Bill . [1300s]

Example Sentences

At the heavily damaged Manay government hospital, patients lay on beds outside waiting for treatment.

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Corden said they bought two giant Cadbury's Easter eggs, and lay on the hotel bed, opened them and laid there with chocolate eggs on their faces.

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We lay on our backs and let the swells gently lift us, then fall.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

She lay on the road for five days after being hit by shell fire, before she was carried to the camp for people displaced by the conflict.

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“Death, at the time, was everywhere. Death lay on battlefields and in graveyards, rotting and decayed; on church altars and in funeral parlors, embalmed and pallid and waxen as candles, dire illustrations of the consequences of constitutional failure.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• award 
• bequeath 
• contribute 
• devote 
• give 
• give away 
• grant 
• hand out 
• present 
• provide