layoff
[ley-awf, -of]
noun
the act of dismissing employees, especially temporarily.
a period of enforced unemployment or inactivity.
RELATED CONTENT
RELATED WORDS
Nearby words
- layered,
- layering,
- layette,
- laying on of hands,
- layman,
- layout,
- layover,
- laypeople,
- layperson,
- laysan
Origin of layoff
1885–90, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase lay off
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019
Examples from the Web for layoff
layoff
also lay-off, lay off; 1889, "rest, respite;" from lay (v.) + off. Via seasonal labor with periodic down time, it came to have a sense of "temporary release from employment," and by 1960s was being used somewhat euphemistically for permanent releases of masses of workers by employers. The verbal phrase lay off is attested from 1868 as "dismiss" (an employee); meaning "stop disturbing" is from 1908.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
layoff
The temporary or permanent removal of a worker from his or her job, usually because of cutbacks in production or corporate reorganization.
The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.