Layby

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A paved recess beside a road where drivers can pull off the carriageway to stop or park ; a payment scheme where a shop holds goods until the customer has paid them off in instalments
2. A widened strip at the edge of a road that lets vehicles halt out of the traffic flow ; an arrangement in which a store reserves merchandise while the buyer makes regular part payments
3. A roadside bay for temporarily pulling over out of the way of passing traffic ; a method of buying goods by making a deposit and then paying the balance in stages before collection

Etymology: "Layby" is simply the alternative spelling of "lay-by," a compound built from two plain English words: "lay," meaning to put something down or set it aside, and "by," meaning beside or near. Together they describe a place set beside the main route where something can be put to one side, which is exactly what a lay-by is: a recessed stretch of road beside a highway where a vehicle can pull off and stop without blocking traffic. The word is a transparent compound rather than a borrowing, so its story lies in how the two parts combine. The spelling "layby" with no hyphen is the less common variant, but both forms point to the same literal idea of something laid aside next to the way.

Synonyms: pullout, siding, save, store