Library / English Dictionary

LAY DOWN

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Institute, enact, or establish

Example:

make laws

Synonyms:

establish; lay down; make

Classified under:

Verbs of thinking, judging, analyzing, doubting

Hypernyms (to "lay down" is one way to...):

create; make (make or cause to be or to become)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "lay down"):

mark; set (establish as the highest level or best performance)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s that CLAUSE

Credits

 Context examples: 

The two forces made him lay down his gum-brush with a sigh of resignation and push back his chair.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Well, it was a odd thing, but when the animiles see us a-talkin' they lay down, and when I went over to Bersicker he let me stroke his ears same as ever.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

This had been one of the things taught him by the master, and White Fang obeyed, though he lay down reluctantly and sullenly.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

That night I never thought to sleep; but a slumber fell on me as soon as I lay down in bed.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

So Beth lay down on the sofa, the others returned to their work, and the Hummels were forgotten.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I found myself shaking with nervous excitement as I scrambled forward and lay down beside him, looking out through the bushes at a clearing which stretched before us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Mysteries of Udolpho, when I had once begun it, I could not lay down again; I remember finishing it in two days—my hair standing on end the whole time.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

It is such enjoyment to them, that if their uncle did not lay down the rule of their taking turns, whichever began would never give way to the other.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

I lay down flat in the bottom of that wretched skiff and devoutly recommended my spirit to its Maker.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Their shape was very singular and deformed, which a little discomposed me, so that I lay down behind a thicket to observe them better.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)