/leɪ ||; le/verb [T] (
past tense past participle laid /leɪd
||; led/)
1 to put sb/sth carefully in a particular position or on a surface 放置: She laid a sheet over the dead body. 她把布盖在尸体上。He laid the child gently down on her bed. 他把小孩轻轻放到床上。‘Don't worry,’ she said, laying her hand on my shoulder. “别担心。”她一边说，一边用手搭着我的肩膀。
2 to put sth in the correct position for a particular purpose （为某用途）把…放在正确位置，铺设: They're laying new electricity cables in our street. 我们那条街道正在铺设新电缆。
3 to prepare sth for use 准备: The police have laid a trap for him and I think they'll catch him this time. 警方已经布下陷阱，我想这一次准可以把他逮住了。Can you lay the table please (= put the knives, forks, plates, etc on it)? 请你把餐具摆好，行吗？
4 to produce eggs 产卵: Hens lay eggs. 母鸡下蛋。
5 (used with some nouns to give a similar meaning to a verb) to put （跟某些名词连用，表达与动词相同的意思）: They laid all the blame on him (= they blamed him). 他们把过失全都推到他的头上。to lay emphasis on sth (= emphasize it) 强调某事物
lay sth down to give sth as a rule 制订规则:
It's all laid down in the rules of the club. 俱乐部的规则已清楚说明这一切。 lay off (sb)(
informal 非正式) to stop annoying sb 不再打扰:
Can't you lay off me for a bit? 你少打扰我，行吗？ lay sb off to stop giving work to sb （暂时）解雇；裁减（人员）:
They've laid off 500 workers at the car factory. 这家汽车厂已经裁减了500名工人。 lay sth on(
informal 非正式) to provide sth 提供:
They're laying on a trip to London for everybody. 他们正安排所有人去伦敦一趟。 lay sth out 1 to spread out a number of things so that you can see them easily or so that they look nice （为易见或美观而）摊开，陈列: All the food was laid out on a table in the garden. 所有食物都放在花园里的桌子上。
2 to arrange sth in a planned way 有计划地安排