"lay" meaning in Middle English

See lay in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Etymology: Borrowed from Old French lai, from Latin lāicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós). Etymology templates: {{etymid|enm|nonclerical}}, {{bor+|enm|fro|lai|id=nonclerical}} Borrowed from Old French lai, {{der|enm|la|lāicus}} Latin lāicus, {{der|enm|grc|λαϊκός}} Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós) Head templates: {{head|enm|adjective}} lay
  1. Lay, non-clerical. Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them.
    Sense id: en-lay-enm-adj-enm:nonclerical Categories (other): Middle English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of Middle English entries with incorrect language header: 84 16
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

Etymology templates: {{etymid|enm|lying}} Head templates: {{head|enm|verb form}} lay
  1. alternative form of leie: simple past of lien Tags: alt-of, alternative Alternative form of: leie (extra: simple past of lien)
    Sense id: en-lay-enm-verb-fx2u7t0W
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 1
{
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "lying"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "lay",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "simple past of lien",
          "word": "leie"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of leie: simple past of lien"
      ],
      "id": "en-lay-enm-verb-fx2u7t0W",
      "links": [
        [
          "leie",
          "leie#Middle_English"
        ],
        [
          "lien",
          "lien#Middle_English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lay"
}

{
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "nonclerical"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "lai",
        "id": "nonclerical"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French lai",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "lāicus"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin lāicus",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "λαϊκός"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French lai, from Latin lāicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "lay",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "84 16",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Lay, non-clerical. Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them."
      ],
      "id": "en-lay-enm-adj-enm:nonclerical",
      "links": [
        [
          "clergy",
          "clergy"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "enm:nonclerical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lay"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English adjectives",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English non-lemma forms",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
    "Middle English terms derived from Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old French",
    "Middle English verb forms",
    "Pages with 12 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "lying"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "verb form"
      },
      "expansion": "lay",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "alt_of": [
        {
          "extra": "simple past of lien",
          "word": "leie"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "alternative form of leie: simple past of lien"
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "leie",
          "leie#Middle_English"
        ],
        [
          "lien",
          "lien#Middle_English"
        ]
      ],
      "tags": [
        "alt-of",
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lay"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "Middle English adjectives",
    "Middle English entries with incorrect language header",
    "Middle English lemmas",
    "Middle English terms borrowed from Old French",
    "Middle English terms derived from Ancient Greek",
    "Middle English terms derived from Latin",
    "Middle English terms derived from Old French",
    "Pages with 12 entries",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "nonclerical"
      },
      "expansion": "",
      "name": "etymid"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "fro",
        "3": "lai",
        "id": "nonclerical"
      },
      "expansion": "Borrowed from Old French lai",
      "name": "bor+"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "la",
        "3": "lāicus"
      },
      "expansion": "Latin lāicus",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "grc",
        "3": "λαϊκός"
      },
      "expansion": "Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Borrowed from Old French lai, from Latin lāicus, from Ancient Greek λαϊκός (laïkós).",
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "enm",
        "2": "adjective"
      },
      "expansion": "lay",
      "name": "head"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "Middle English",
  "lang_code": "enm",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Lay, non-clerical. Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "clergy",
          "clergy"
        ]
      ],
      "senseid": [
        "enm:nonclerical"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "lay"
}

Download raw JSONL data for lay meaning in Middle English (2.2kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable Middle English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-08-07 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-08-05 using wiktextract (d9fa233 and 9e92f4b). 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.