See lay a foundation in All languages combined, or Wiktionary
{
"etymology_text": "Figurative senses from the idea of laying a foundation as the first step in constructing a building.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "lays a foundation",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "laying a foundation",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "laid a foundation",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "laid a foundation",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "lay<,,laid> a foundation"
},
"expansion": "lay a foundation (third-person singular simple present lays a foundation, present participle laying a foundation, simple past and past participle laid a foundation)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lay, foundation."
],
"id": "en-lay_a_foundation-en-verb-DccvCGV7",
"links": [
[
"lay",
"lay#English"
],
[
"foundation",
"foundation#English"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
{
"kind": "topical",
"langcode": "en",
"name": "Law",
"orig": "en:Law",
"parents": [
"Justice",
"Society",
"All topics",
"Fundamental"
],
"source": "w"
},
{
"_dis": "16 74 10",
"kind": "other",
"name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
"parents": [
"Entries with incorrect language header",
"Entry maintenance"
],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "18 70 11",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with 1 entry",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
},
{
"_dis": "14 76 10",
"kind": "other",
"name": "Pages with entries",
"parents": [],
"source": "w+disamb"
}
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "In order to lay a foundation for the witness to describe the murder, the prosecutor first had to show that the witness was present when the murder occurred.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To elicit information from a witness to show that the witness has knowledge of a matter before the witness testifies to the matter itself."
],
"id": "en-lay_a_foundation-en-verb-0laRXJpI",
"links": [
[
"law",
"law#English"
],
[
"elicit",
"elicit"
],
[
"information",
"information"
],
[
"witness",
"witness"
],
[
"knowledge",
"knowledge"
],
[
"testifies",
"testifies"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(law) To elicit information from a witness to show that the witness has knowledge of a matter before the witness testifies to the matter itself."
],
"topics": [
"law"
]
},
{
"categories": [],
"examples": [
{
"text": "You should lay a foundation, even if you can't finish the project.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To make a start."
],
"id": "en-lay_a_foundation-en-verb-K0vcT2NZ",
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) To make a start."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"word": "lay a foundation"
}
{
"categories": [
"English entries with incorrect language header",
"English lemmas",
"English multiword terms",
"English verbs",
"Pages with 1 entry",
"Pages with entries"
],
"etymology_text": "Figurative senses from the idea of laying a foundation as the first step in constructing a building.",
"forms": [
{
"form": "lays a foundation",
"tags": [
"present",
"singular",
"third-person"
]
},
{
"form": "laying a foundation",
"tags": [
"participle",
"present"
]
},
{
"form": "laid a foundation",
"tags": [
"participle",
"past"
]
},
{
"form": "laid a foundation",
"tags": [
"past"
]
}
],
"head_templates": [
{
"args": {
"1": "lay<,,laid> a foundation"
},
"expansion": "lay a foundation (third-person singular simple present lays a foundation, present participle laying a foundation, simple past and past participle laid a foundation)",
"name": "en-verb"
}
],
"lang": "English",
"lang_code": "en",
"pos": "verb",
"senses": [
{
"glosses": [
"Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see lay, foundation."
],
"links": [
[
"lay",
"lay#English"
],
[
"foundation",
"foundation#English"
]
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples",
"en:Law"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "In order to lay a foundation for the witness to describe the murder, the prosecutor first had to show that the witness was present when the murder occurred.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To elicit information from a witness to show that the witness has knowledge of a matter before the witness testifies to the matter itself."
],
"links": [
[
"law",
"law#English"
],
[
"elicit",
"elicit"
],
[
"information",
"information"
],
[
"witness",
"witness"
],
[
"knowledge",
"knowledge"
],
[
"testifies",
"testifies"
]
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(law) To elicit information from a witness to show that the witness has knowledge of a matter before the witness testifies to the matter itself."
],
"topics": [
"law"
]
},
{
"categories": [
"English terms with usage examples"
],
"examples": [
{
"text": "You should lay a foundation, even if you can't finish the project.",
"type": "example"
}
],
"glosses": [
"To make a start."
],
"raw_glosses": [
"(figurative) To make a start."
],
"tags": [
"figuratively"
]
}
],
"word": "lay a foundation"
}
Download raw JSONL data for lay a foundation meaning in English (2.1kB)
This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2024-12-03 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2024-11-21 using wiktextract (94ba7e1 and 5dea2a6). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.
If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.