lay open

Idioms

Expose; also, make vulnerable to. For example, The audit laid open some suspicious dealings, or She had not laid herself open to any charge of wrongdoing. The first usage dates from the mid-1500s, the second from the mid-1800s. Also see leave open.

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.

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lay open

His hard-shell suitcase lay open on the bed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 19, 2023

When it finally lay open on the table, I couldn’t help but gawk in wonder at my iPhone 13 Mini’s precisely packed guts, and I realized I was having fun!

From The Verge ● May 21, 2022

A Bible lay open to Proverbs on a dresser as a breeze turned the pages.

From Fox News ● May 28, 2019

“The years lay open before him,” Hammer writes, “a book of fresh, blank pages.”

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 6, 2015

She almost fell over the book that lay open on the rug.

From "In the Year of the Boar and Jackie Robinson" by Bette Bao Lord

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

lay open

Example Sentences

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