Word Confusion: Lay versus Lie

Posted June 13, 2013 by Kathy Davie in Author Resources, Self-Editing, Word Confusions, Writing

Revised as of
7 July 2023

Lay versus Lie confuses the heck out of me, and I’m constantly referring back to this entry in the Word Confusions. Ahem, anyone with more examples that would make things even clearer . . . would be most gratefully added and credited . . .

As an adjective, lay is easy since it applies to a person. When referring to someone attached to a religious organization, it means someone not ordained. For Catholics, it means someone who cannot perform Mass or hear confessions. In law or medicine, it would mean the person could not argue in a trial or claim to be a doctor.

As a noun, lay is most commonly used as slang and can be applied to a man or woman while lie is morally inappropriate in a great many circumstances, but easy enough to recognize.

It’s when lay or lie are in their verb form that my head starts to ache and wanna go home.

The main difference is:

  • lay = direct object with action, and
  • lie = doin’ nothin’
The Grammar Curmudgeon with interesting comparisons between . . .
Lay Lie
Lay the book on the desk, would you?

You are actively affecting a direct object, the book.

The book is lying on the desk . . .

. . . it is reclining, resting there.

If you find a lay on the beach . . .

. . . you found someone with whom to engage in sexual intercourse . . .

When you go to Bermuda for your vacation, you spend your time lying on the beach

getting a tan, sleeping, reading . . .

If you are laying on the couch . . .

. . . you are placing someone or something on the couch.

If you lie down on the sofa to watch TV and spend the entire evening lying there . . .

. . . you’re not doing anything.

If you see something laying on the ground . . .

. . . it must be doing something else, such as laying eggs.

If you see something lying on the ground . . .

it is just resting there, doing nothing.

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Exploring Later . . .

You may want to explore “Lays versus Laze“, “Lade versus Laid“, “Lie versus Lye“, “Liar vs Lier vs Lyre“, and “Lain versus Lane“.

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Word Confusions . . .

. . . started as my way of dealing with a professional frustration with properly spelled words that were out of context in manuscripts I was editing as well as books I was reviewing. It evolved into a sharing of information with y’all. I’m hoping you’ll share with us words that have been a bête noire for you from either end.

If you found this post on “Lay versus Lie” interesting, consider subscribing to KD Did It, if you’d like to track this post for future updates.

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Lay Lie

Four men in navy blue singlets, straining at the oars

The USA Lightweight 4 Rowing at the World Champs, 2003, was photographed by Joel Rogers and uploaded by Johnteslade~commonswiki. It is in the public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

A race encourages one to lay on with the oars.


A focused group of brightly painted, wooden puppets

Wooden Puppets by Nicolas Vollmer from Munich, Germany, is under the CC BY 2.0 license, via Wikimedia Commons.

That Pinocchio lies and lies and lies.

Part of Grammar:
Past tense for lie


Adjective 3;
Noun 1, 2 ;
Verb, intransitive 4 & transitive 1

Plural for the noun: lays
Gerund: laying

Third person present verb: lays
Past tense or past participle: laid
Present participle: laying

Noun; Verb, intransitive & transitive

Plural for the noun: lies
Gerund: lying

Third person present verb: lies
Past tense: lay
Past participle: lain, lied
Present participle: lying

An action in process
Put something/someone down


Adjective:
Belonging to, performed by, or pertaining to a person who is not of the clergy, law profession, medicine 3

Noun:
General appearance of an area 1

A short narrative or poem that is usually sung 2

[Slang] A partner for purposes of sexual intercourse

Verb, intransitive:
To lay eggs 4

To wager or bet

To apply oneself vigorously

To deal or aim blows vigorously (usually followed by on, at, about, etc.)

[Nonstandard] To be in a horizontal, recumbent, or prostrate position, as on a bed or the ground

  • Recline

[Of objects] To rest in a horizontal or flat position

To be or remain in a position or state of inactivity, subjection, restraint, concealment, etc.

To rest, press, or weigh (usually followed by on or upon)

To depend (usually followed by on or upon)

To be placed or situated

To be stretched out or extended

Verb, transitive:
As a verb, it requires a direct object 1:

You lay the book down on the sofa.

Legend:

  1. Green indicates the direct object

Put or place something or someone down gently or carefully into a horizontal position
Requires no movement at all
Recline


Noun:
An untruth, a fabrication, a statement that is purposefully false

Verb, intransitive:
As a verb, it does not require a direct object:

You lie down on the sofa.


The act of telling an untruth

Be in or assume a horizontal position, recline

Verb, transitive:
To bring about or affect by lying, often used reflexively (see “Pronoun” or “Me, Myself, & I” for more on the reflexive)

Examples:
Adjective:
Checking out the lay of the land.

The Catholic Church uses quite a few lay men these days.

Noun:
He is a lay preacher.

She was a sweet lay.

A minstrel may have sung a lay such as the poem by Sir Walter Scott, The Lay of the Last Minstrel.

Verb, intransitive:
The hens are laying.

“The shorter the price you wish to lay, the less money you have to risk compared to your potential reward” (Betfair).

They laid on their oars with enthusiasm.

He laid blows on right and left.

Dillinger will lay out his plans to rob the bank.

He often lays in bed all the morning.

The book lies on the table.

It’d be a good place to lie in ambush.

These things lie upon my mind.

There’s some nice land lying along the coast.

Explore the broad plain that lies before us.

When the wind lays, it’ll rain.

Verb, transitive:
Just lay the book down on the desk.

The hens are laying eggs.

Last week, Steve laid down on the floor.

The cat laid in the mud after it rained yesterday.

Legend:

  1. Green indicates the direct object with the verb

Help me lay a cover on the bed.

He laid his finger on her lips.

Noun:
He told a lie.

No, it’s lies, all lies!

The lies are getting crazier and more convoluted.

Verb, intransitive:
Just lie there until I’m done.

He just laid there!

Steve has lain on the floor for days.

The cat has lain in the mud for hours.

Verb, transitive:
He was always able to lie himself out of a difficulty.

Janey was accustomed to lying her way out of difficulties.

Derivatives:
Adjective: well-laid
Noun: lay-by, layaway, layman, laymen, layoff, layout, layperson, laypeople, laywoman, laywomen
Noun: lie-down, lie-in
Phrasal Verb
lay about
lay about one
lay about oneself
lay about someone
lay aside
lay aside something
lay before
lay down
lay down something
lay in
lay into
lay into someone
lay off
lay off someone
lay on
lay on something
lay out
lay out someone
lay out something
lay over
lay someone off
lay someone out
lay someone up
lay something aside
lay something before someone
lay something down
lay something in
lay something on
lay something on someone
lay something out
lay something up
lay up
lay up someone
lie about
lie ahead
lie around
lie behind
lie in
lie off
lie to
lie with
History of the Word:
  1. Old English lecgan is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch leggen and the German legen.
  2. Middle English from the Old French lai, corresponding to the Provençal lais, is of unknown origin.
  3. Middle English from the Old French lai, via the late Latin from the Greek laïkos, from laos meaning people.
  4. From Old English licgan, of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch liggen and the German liegen, from an Indo-European root shared by the Greek lektron, lekhos and the Latin lectus meaning bed.
Old English licgan is of Germanic origin and related to the Dutch liggen and the German liegen, from an Indo-European root shared by the Greek lektron, lekhos and the Latin lectus meaning bed.

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C’mon, get it out of your system, bitch, whine, moan . . . which words are your pet peeves? Also, please note that I try to be as accurate as I can, but mistakes happen or I miss something. Email me if you find errors, so I can fix them . . . and we’ll all benefit!

Satisfy your curiosity about other Word Confusions on its homepage or more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to more generally explore the index of self-editing posts. You may also want to explore Formatting Tips, Grammar Explanations, Linguistics, Publishing Tips, the Properly Punctuated, Writing Ideas and Resources, and Working Your Website.

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Resources for Lay versus Lie

Apple Dictionary.com

Betfair Help Centre. <https://en-betfair.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/417/~/exchange%3A-what-does-the-term-lay-mean-and-what-is-a-lay-bet%3F>.

Dictionary.com: lay and lie

Fogarty, Mignon. “Lay versus Lie.” Quick & Dirty Tips. Grammar Girl. 19 Apr 2018. Web. n.d. <http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/lay-versus-lie.aspx&gr;.

The Grammar Curmudgeon. n.d. <http://www.grammarmudge.cityslide.com/articles/article/992333/8992.htm>.

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Pinterest Photo Credits:

Sleeping on the Couch is via Pxhere and Hens, Chicks, Nest by logapradeep is via Pixabay. Both are in the public domain.

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