Lay vs Work - What's the difference?
lay | work |
(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)).
Employment.
#Labour, occupation, job.
#:
#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#*:Come on, Nerissa; I have work in hand / That you yet know not of.
#*Bible, 2 (w) xxxi. 21
#*:In every work that he beganhe did it with all his heart, and prospered.
#*, chapter=15
, title= #The place where one is employed.
#:
Effort.
#Effort expended on a particular task.
#:
##Sustained human effort to overcome obstacles and achieve a result.
##:
#(lb) A measure of energy expended in moving an object; most commonly, force times distance. No work is done if the object does not move.
#:
#*{{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author=
, title= #(lb) A nonthermal First Law energy in transit between one form or repository and another. Also, a means of accomplishing such transit.
Sustained effort to achieve a goal or result, especially overcoming obstacles.
:
*
*:The Bat—they called him the Bat. Like a bat he chose the night hours for his work of rapine; like a bat he struck and vanished, pouncingly, noiselessly; like a bat he never showed himself to the face of the day.
(lb) Product; the result of effort.
# The result of a particular manner of production.
#:
# Something produced using the specified material or tool.
#:
#(lb) A literary, artistic, or intellectual production.
#:
#:
#*(William Shakespeare) (1564-1616)
#*:to leave no rubs or blotches in the work
#*(John Milton) (1608-1674)
#*:The work some praise, / And some the architect.
#*
#*:“[…] We are engaged in a great work , a treatise on our river fortifications, perhaps? But since when did army officers afford the luxury of amanuenses in this simple republic?”
#(lb) A fortification.
#:
The staging of events to appear as real.
(lb) Ore before it is dressed.
:(Raymond)
To do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.
# Followed by in'' (or ''at , etc.) Said of one's workplace (building), or one's department, or one's trade (sphere of business).
# Followed by as . Said of one's job title
#* , chapter=17
, title= # Followed by for . Said of a company or individual who employs.
# Followed by with . General use, said of either fellow employees or instruments or clients.
To effect by gradual degrees.
* Addison
To embroider with thread.
To set into action.
To cause to ferment.
To ferment.
* Francis Bacon
To exhaust, by working.
To shape, form, or improve a material.
To operate in a certain place, area, or speciality.
To operate in or through; as, to work the phones.
To provoke or excite; to influence.
To use or manipulate to one’s advantage.
To cause to happen or to occur as a consequence.
To cause to work.
To function correctly; to act as intended; to achieve the goal designed for.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-21, author=(Oliver Burkeman)
, volume=189, issue=2, page=48, magazine=(The Guardian Weekly)
, title= (figuratively) To influence.
To effect by gradual degrees; as, to work into the earth.
To move in an agitated manner.
* Addison
To behave in a certain way when handled;
(transitive, with two objects, poetic) To cause (someone) to feel (something).
* {{quote-book, passage=So sad it seemed, and its cheek-bones gleamed, and its fingers flicked the shore; / And it lapped and lay in a weary way, and its hands met to implore; / That I gently said: “Poor, restless dead, I would never work you woe; / Though the wrong you rue you can ne’er undo, I forgave you long ago.”
, author=Robert W. Service
, title=(Ballads of a Cheechako), chapter=(The Ballad of One-Eyed Mike), year=1909}}
(obsolete) To hurt; to ache.
* 1485 , Sir (Thomas Malory), ''(w, Le Morte d'Arthur), Book XXI:
As a proper noun lay
is a river in western france.As a noun work is
employment .As a verb work is
to do a specific task by employing physical or mental powers.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.
Etymology 9
.Verb
Statistics
*work
English
(wikipedia work)Etymology 1
From (etyl) (m), (m), from (etyl) worc, weorc, . English cognates include bulwark, energy, erg, georgic, liturgy, metallurgy, organ, surgeon, wright.Noun
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=Edward Churchill still attended to his work in a hopeless mechanical manner like a sleep-walker who walks safely on a well-known round. But his Roman collar galled him, his cossack stifled him, his biretta was as uncomfortable as a merry-andrew's cap and bells.}}
Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
The Adaptable Gas Turbine, passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo , meaning "vortex", and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work .}}
See http://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0004055.
Synonyms
* (employment) See also * (productive activity) See alsoDerived terms
* artwork * at work * body of work * bodywork * breastwork * bridgework * busy work * casework * clockwork * derivative work * dirty work * dreamwork * earthwork * field work, fieldwork * finger work * firework * fretwork * groundwork * guesswork * hard work * handiwork * homework * housework * ironwork * leg work, legwork * lifework * masterwork * needlework * openwork * overwork * paintwork * paperwork * patchwork * piece of work * piecework * public works * reference work * road work, roadwork * schoolwork * shift work, shiftwork * spadework * teamwork * waterworks * waxwork * wickerwork * woodwork * work ethic * work of art * worklist * workly * workout * workplace * workroom * workshop * workstation * workstead * workupSee also
* -ingReferences
Etymology 2
From (etyl) .Verb
- I work''' in a national park; she '''works''' in the human resources department; he mostly '''works in logging, but sometimes works in carpentry
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=This time was most dreadful for Lilian. Thrown on her own resources and almost penniless, she maintained herself and paid the rent of a wretched room near the hospital by working as a charwoman, sempstress, anything.}}
- I work as a cleaner.
- she works''' for Microsoft; he '''works for the president
- I work''' closely with my Canadian counterparts; you '''work''' with computers; she '''works with the homeless people from the suburbs
- he worked''' his way through the crowd; the dye '''worked''' its way through; using some tweezers, she '''worked the bee sting out of her hand
- So the pure, limpid stream, when foul with stains / Of rushing torrents and descending rains, / Works itself clear, and as it runs, refines, / Till by degrees the floating mirror shines.
- the working of beer when the barm is put in
The tao of tech, passage=The dirty secret of the internet is that all this distraction and interruption is immensely profitable. Web companies like to boast about
- A ship works in a heavy sea.
- confused with working sands and rolling waves
- ‘I wolde hit were so,’ seyde the Kynge, ‘but I may nat stonde, my hede worchys so—’