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• lay-up
  lay-up

  noun

  a shot with one hand from a point close to the basket, in which a player shoots the ball toward the basket, often off the backboard.
• lay up
  lay up

  verb

  to store or reserve for future use

lay-up

American  

[ley-uhp] / ˈleɪˌʌp /

Or layup

noun

1. Basketball. a shot with one hand from a point close to the basket, in which a player shoots the ball toward the basket, often off the backboard.

2. the operation of assembling veneers for pressing into plywood.

3. the operation of applying alternate layers of material and a binder to form a bonded material.

4. lay.

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lay up British  

verb

1. to store or reserve for future use

2. informal (usually passive) to incapacitate or confine through illness

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lay up Idioms  

1. see laid up; lay in.

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Etymology

Origin of lay-up

First recorded in 1940–45; noun use of verb phrase lay up

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

lay-up lay up

The case presented to them is a lay-up.

From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2024

Saint Peter’s had a sweet alley-oop toward the end of the half and Jaylen Murray finished the half with a buzzer-beating lay-up to possibly give the team some momentum going into the break.

From Fox News ● Mar. 25, 2022

Tyrese Maxey scored a driving lay-up in overtime as the Philadelphia 76ers edged the Memphis Grizzlies 122-119.

From BBC ● Feb. 1, 2022

He’d give it away, though, 33 seconds later after the ball hit his foot as he tried to go up for a lay-up to break the tie.

From Washington Times ● Feb. 1, 2022

For the third time that afternoon, Scott Spencer had gotten the drop on Evan, dribbling around him and then hitting the easy lay-up.

From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies

Female stink bugs can lay up to 400 eggs, which become adults a little more than a month after hatching.

From NewsForKids.net ● Apr. 15, 2024

Female bedbugs can deposit one to five eggs a day and may lay up to 200 to 500 eggs in their lifetime.

From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2024

Taylor two-putted for birdie from 40 feet on the 321-yard 17th hole and saved par on No. 18 after having to lay up from a fairway bunker.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 9, 2024

A three-year-old colony can hold as many as 100,000 fire ants and a mature queen can lay up to 5,000 eggs per day.

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2024

Doc lay up there with his rough, dark-skinned feet pointing at me while he folded and braided corn husks into the shape of a rose.

From "Root Magic" by Eden Royce