lay down

verb

laid down; laying down; lays down

transitive verb

1

: to give up : surrender

lay down your arms

2

a

: establish, prescribe

lay down a scale for a map

b

: to assert or command dogmatically

lay down the law

3

a

: store, preserve

laid down a young wine

b

: record

laying down songs for their new album

4

a

: to direct toward a target

lay down a barrage

b

: to hit along the ground

laid down a sacrifice bunt

intransitive verb

nonstandard : to lie down

Synonyms

• constitute
• enact
• legislate
• make
• ordain
• pass

Examples of lay down in a Sentence

the city council promises to lay down new ordinances that will force dog walkers to clean up after their animals

at the risk of their popularity, the parents laid down the rules for the party and wouldn't accept any arguments

Recent Examples on the Web

Kim Kardashian is feeling proud of herself for finally laying down the law with her kids. —Hannah Sacks, People.com, 6 Mar. 2025

After the first layer has been laid down, each subsequent IC layer is slightly reduced in size and rotated 90 degrees, leaving the wiring pads of the previous lower layers exposed. —IEEE Spectrum, 5 Mar. 2025

Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Poland have very visibly laid down new fortifications to trip up advancing tanks. —Dan Perry, Newsweek, 1 Mar. 2025

About a decade ago, Ocalan made a similar call to his followers to lay down their arms. —Eyad Kourdi, CNN, 1 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at transitive sense 1

Rhymes for lay down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown

Video

Lay vs. Lie

Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference.

Kids Definition

lay down

verb

1

: establish sense 1, prescribe

lay down standards

2

: to state or declare forcefully

lay down the law