lay over
Britishverb
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(tr) to postpone for future action
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(intr) to make a temporary stop in a journey
noun
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Postpone, as in This issue will have to be laid over until our next meeting . [Late 1800s]
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Make a stop in the course of a journey, as in They had to lay over for two days in New Delhi until the next flight to Katmandu . This sense gave rise to the noun lay-over for such a stopover. [Late 1800s]
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.
He’s distracted when he decides to race a comet: “We roared and thundered along side by side, both doing our level best, because I’d never struck a comet before that could lay over me.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026
An eerie silence lay over the courtyard of Ramadan al-Suleiman's nursery in northern Syria on Sunday as he picked his way through smashed cinderblocks, twisted metal and broken plastic swings.
From Reuters ● Feb. 13, 2023
Fly back on Monday, lay over again in Las Vegas, this time for 10 hours, arrive home Tuesday morning — $335 round trip.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 11, 2022
“Even though you might use the same three colors in five different pieces, if you change the speed of each one, they lay over each other and make different pieces,” he said.
From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2022
Darkness lay over the world like a coffin lid.
From "Grendel" by John Gardner
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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.
