Air vs Lay - What's the difference?
air | lay | Synonyms |
(uncountable, historical, astrology, alchemy, science) The atmospheric substance above the surface of the earth which animals breathe, formerly considered to be a single substance, one of the four basic elements of ancient philosophy and one of the five basic elements of Eastern traditions.
(uncountable, physics, meteorology) That substance, now understood as the mixture of gases comprising the earth's atmosphere.
(usually, with the) The apparently open space above the ground; the mass of this substance around the earth.
A breeze; a gentle wind.
A feeling or sense.
* November 2 2014 , Daniel Taylor, "
* 1900 , , (The House Behind the Cedars) , Chapter I,
A sense of poise, graciousness, or quality.
* 1815 , (Jane Austen), (Emma) , :
(usually plural) Pretension]]; [[snobby, snobbishness; pretence that one is better than others.
* {{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers), title=(A Cuckoo in the Nest)
, chapter=1 (music) A song, especially a solo; an aria.
* 1813 , (Jane Austen), (Pride and Prejudice) , :
(informal) Nothing; absence of anything.
An air conditioner or the processed air it produces. Can be a mass noun or a count noun depending on context; similar to hair .
(obsolete, chemistry) Any specific gas.
(snowboarding, skateboarding, motor sports) A jump in which one becomes airborne.
To bring (something) into contact with the air, so as to freshen or dry it.
To let fresh air into a room or a building, to ventilate.
To discuss varying viewpoints on a given topic.
* 1917 , National Geographic , :
To broadcast, as with a television show.
(label) To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position.
* Bible, (w) vi. 17
* 1735 , author unknown, The New-England Primer'', as reported by Fred R. Shapiro in ''The Yale Book of Quotations (2006), Yale University Press, pages 549–550:
*
, title=(The Celebrity), chapter=1
, passage=He used to drop into my chambers once in a while to smoke, and was first-rate company. When I gave a dinner there was generally a cover laid for him.}}
*
*:An indulgent playmate, Grannie would lay aside the long scratchy-looking letter she was writing (heavily crossed ‘to save notepaper’) and enter into the delightful pastime of ‘a chicken from Mr Whiteley's’.
:: A corresponding intransitive version of this word is .
To cause to subside or abate.
* 1590 , (Edmund Spenser), (The Faerie Queene) , II.viii:
* 1662 , , Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two World Systems , Dialogue 2:
(label) To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle).
* 2006 , (Clive James), North Face of Soho , Picador 2007, p. 48:
(label) To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another.
(label) To produce and deposit an egg.
(label) To bet (that something is or is not the case).
(label) To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk.
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
To have sex with.
* 1944 , (Raymond Chandler), The Lady in the Lake , Penguin 2011, p. 11:
(label) To take a position; to come or go.
(label) To state; to allege.
(label) To point; to aim.
(label) To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them.
(label) To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
(label) To place (new type) properly in the cases.
To apply; to put.
* Bible, (w) xxxi. 19
To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.).
* Bible, (w) liii. 6
To impute; to charge; to allege.
* Bible, (w) xxiv. 12
* (William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
To present or offer.
Arrangement or relationship; layout.
A share of the profits in a business.
* 1851 ,
The direction a rope is twisted.
(colloquial) A casual sexual partner.
* 1996 , JoAnn Ross, Southern Comforts , MIRA (1996), ISBN 9780778315254,
* 2000 , R. J. Kaiser, Fruitcake , MIRA (2000), ISBN 1551666251,
* 2011 , Kelly Meding, Trance , Pocket Books (2011), ISBN 9781451620924,
(colloquial) An act of sexual intercourse.
* 1993 , David Halberstam, The Fifties , Open Road Integrated Media (2012), ISBN 9781453286074,
* 2009 , Fern Michaels, The Scoop , Kensington Books (2009), ISBN 9780758227188,
* 2011 , Pamela Yaye, Promises We Make , Kimani Press (2011), ISBN 9780373861996,
(slang, archaic) A plan; a scheme.
Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution.
* {{quote-book
, year=1960
, author=
, title=(Jeeves in the Offing)
, section=chapter VII
, passage=He hasn't caught a mouse since he was a slip of a kitten. Except when eating, he does nothing but sleep. [...] It's a sort of disease. There's a scientific name for it. Trau- something. Traumatic symplegia, that's it. This cat has traumatic symplegia. In other words, putting it in simple language adapted to the lay mind, where other cats are content to get their eight hours, Augustus wants his twenty-four.}}
Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
(obsolete) Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.
(lie) when pertaining to position.
(proscribed) To be in a horizontal position; to lie (from confusion with lie).
* 1969' July, Bob Dylan, “'''Lay''' Lady '''Lay ”, ''Nashville Skyline , Columbia:
* a.'' 1970 , Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, ''Bridge over Troubled Water , Columbia Records:
* 1974 , John Denver, “Annie’s Song”, Back Home Again , RCA:
A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung.
(obsolete) A law.
* Spenser
(obsolete) An obligation; a vow.
* Holland
To don (put on) (tefillin (gloss)).
Air is a synonym of lay.
As a noun air
is .As a proper noun lay is
a river in western france.air
English
Noun
Sergio Agüero strike wins derby for Manchester City against 10-man United," guardian.co.uk
- Smalling’s quick one-two of yellow cards towards the end of the first half had left an air of inevitability about what would follow and, if anything, it was probably a surprise that City restricted themselves to Sergio Agüero’s goal bearing in mind another of United’s defenders, Marcos Rojo, was taken off on a stretcher early in the second half with a dislocated shoulder.
- The girl stooped to pluck a rose, and as she bent over it, her profile was clearly outlined. She held the flower to her face with a long-drawn inhalation, then went up the steps, crossed the piazza, opened the door without knocking, and entered the house with the air of one thoroughly at home.
- "He is very plain, undoubtedly--remarkably plain:--but that is nothing compared with his entire want of gentility. I had no right to expect much, and I did not expect much; but I had no idea that he could be so very clownish, so totally without air . I had imagined him, I confess, a degree or two nearer gentility."
citation, passage=He read the letter aloud. Sophia listened with the studied air of one for whom, even in these days, a title possessed some surreptitious allurement.}}
- "If I," said Mr. Collins, "were so fortunate as to be able to sing, I should have great pleasure, I am sure, in obliging the company with an air ; for I consider music as a very innocent diversion, and perfectly compatible with the profession of a clergyman"
Synonyms
* * atmosphere * aura * nimbusDerived terms
* airbag * air base * air bed * airborne * air bounce * airbrake * airbrush * air bubble * airbus * air cargo * air carrier * air chamber * Air Chief Marshal * air cleaner * Air Commodore * air compressor * air-conditioned * air-conditioner * air-conditioning * air-cooled * air corridor * aircraft * aircrew * air cushion * air display * airdrome * airdrop * air duct * airfield * air flow * air force * airframe * air freight * air freshener * air guitar * airgun * air hole * air hostess * airing cupboard * air intake * air lane * airless * air letter * airlift * airline * airliner * airlock * airmail * airman * Air Marshal * air mattress * air navigation * air out * airplane * air pocket * airport * air pressure * air pump * air purifier * air quotes * air raid * air rifle * airscrew * air-sea rescue * air shaft * airshed * airship * air show * airsick * airsickness * air sign * airspace * airspeed * airstrike * airstrip * airsuit * air support * airtaxi * air terminal * airtight * air time * air-to-air * air-to-ground * air-to-surface * air traffic control * air traffic controller * air vent * Air Vice Marshal * airwaves * airway * airwoman * airworthiness * airworthy * airy * alkaline air * breath of fresh air * build castles in the air * catch air * castle in the air * clear the air * dead air * dephlogisticated air * fire air * fixed air * fluoro acid air * fresh air * get some air / take some air * give oneself airs * hepatic air * hot air * inflammable air * in the air * into thin air * mid-air * mephitic air * nitrous air * on air * on the air * phlogisticated air * pure air * put on airs * too many balls in the air * up in the air * vital air * vitriolic acid air (air)Verb
(en verb)- It's getting quite stuffy in this room: let's open the windows and air it.
- Thus, in spite of all opposition, the rural and urban assemblies retained the germ of local government, and in spite of the dual control, as the result of which much of their influence was nullified, they did have a certain value in airing abuses and suggesting improvements.
Statistics
*lay
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) layen, leggen, from (etyl) .Verb
- to lay''' a book on the table; to '''lay a body in the grave
- A shower of rain lays the dust.
- A stone was brought, and laid upon the mouth of the den.
- Now I lay me down to sleep, / I pray the Lord my Soul to keep. / If I should die before I ’wake, / I pray the Lord my Soul to take.
- The cloudes, as things affrayd, before him flye; / But all so soone as his outrageous powre / Is layd , they fiercely then begin to shoure
- But how upon the winds being laid , doth the ship cease to move?
- Even when I lay a long plan, it is never in the expectation that I will live to see it fulfilled.
- lay''' brick; '''lay flooring
- I'll lay that he doesn't turn up on Monday.
- I dare lay mine honour / He will remain so.
- ‘It's because he's a no-good son of a bitch who thinks it is smart to lay his friends' wives and brag about it.’
- to lay''' forward; to '''lay aloft
- to lay the venue
- (Bouvier)
- to lay a gun
- to lay a cable or rope
- She layeth her hands to the spindle.
- to lay a tax on land
- The Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
- God layeth not folly to them.
- Lay the fault on us.
- to lay''' an indictment in a particular county; to '''lay a scheme before one
Derived terms
* lay a finger on * lay a foundation * lay an egg * lay about * lay away * lay bare * lay-by/lay by * lay claim * lay down * lay hands on * lay-in * laying on of hands * lay into * lay low * layoff * lay on the line * lay on the table * lay out * lay siege * lay the groundwork * lay to rest * lay up * lay waste * get laidReferences
*Etymology 2
From the verb.Noun
(en noun)- the lay of the land
- I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays', and that these ' lays were proportioned to the degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the ship’s company.
- Worm and parcel with the lay ; turn and serve the other way.
page 166:
- Over the years she'd tried to tell himself that his uptown girl was just another lay .
page 288:
- To find a place like that and be discreet about it, Jones figured he needed help, so he went to see his favorite lay , Juan Carillo's woman, Carmen.
pages 205-206:
- “Because I don't want William to be just another lay . I did the slut thing, T, and it got me into a lot of trouble years ago.
- What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest?
unnumbered page:
- Listening to this dismissal of his work, [Tennessee] Williams thought to himself of Wilder, “This character has never had a good lay .”
pages 212-213:
- She didn't become this germ freak until Thomas died. I wonder if she just needs a good lay , you know, an all-nighter?" Toots said thoughtfully.
unnumbered page:
- “What she needs is a good lay . If she had someone to rock her world on a regular basis, she wouldn't be such a raging bit—”
- (Charles Dickens)
Synonyms
* (casual sexual partner) see also .Derived terms
* lay of the landEtymology 3
From (etyl) laie, lawe, from (etyl) .Etymology 4
From (etyl)Adjective
(en adjective)- They seemed more lay than clerical.
- a lay''' preacher; a '''lay brother
Etymology 5
: See lieVerb
(head)- The baby lay in its crib and slept silently.
- Lay', lady, '''lay'''. / ' Lay across my big brass bed.
- Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters / Where the ragged people go
- Let me lay down beside you. / Let me always be with you.
Derived terms
* layaboutEtymology 6
From (etyl) lay, from (etyl) . See lake.Noun
(en noun)- 1805' ''The '''Lay of the Last Minstrel , Sir Walter Scott.
Derived terms
* layoffEtymology 7
Etymology 8
Noun
(en noun)- many goodly lays
- They bound themselves by a sacred lay and oath.