Laying

Part of speech: verb

Pronunciation: /ˈleɪ.ɪŋ/

Definitions

1. The act of placing an object down in a position ; the process of organizing or preparing an event or plan ; the action of female animals depositing eggs
2. Placing something carefully onto a surface ; setting up arrangements or plans ; the biological process by which animals generate eggs
3. Putting objects flat on a surface ; arranging elements or plans for an intended outcome ; when birds or reptiles produce and deposit eggs

Etymology: Lay, the verb that "laying" comes from, is a causative: it means "to cause to lie," which is why it sounds like a shifted version of "lie." English "lie" (to recline) and "lay" (to set down) are separate verbs whose forms have tangled over centuries, and the confusion persists in everyday speech. The root goes back to a Germanic verb whose relatives are still spoken across the North Sea region. German "legen," Dutch "leggen," Swedish "lägga," and Icelandic "leggja" all mean "to lay," and the Gothic "lagjan" shows the same word in one of the oldest recorded Germanic languages. The "-ing" ending is a plain verbal suffix attached to the stem, so the word's history is essentially the history of "lay" itself. Its sense has widened from physically setting something down to organizing a plan, and, in the case of female animals, to depositing eggs. That last use is the original one in the sense of putting something in position, extended to birds, reptiles and insects laying their eggs.

Synonyms: placing, setting, putting, positioning, dropping

Antonyms: lifting, raising, removing, taking, elevating