The watchful traveler . . . Lay down again, and
closed his weary eyes. --Dryden.
2. To be situated; to occupy a certain place; as, Ireland
lies west of England; the meadows lie along the river; the
ship lay in port.
3. To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in
a certain state or condition; as, to lie waste; to lie
fallow; to lie open; to lie hid; to lie grieving; to lie
under one's displeasure; to lie at the mercy of the waves;
the paper does not lie smooth on the wall.
4. To be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding
place; to consist; -- with in.
Envy lies between beings equal in nature, though
unequal in circumstances. --Collier.
He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard
labor, forgets the early rising and hard riding of
huntsmen. --Locke.
Whiles I was now trifling at home, I saw London, . .
. where I lay one night only. --Evelyn.
Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night. --Dickens.
6. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
The wind is loud and will not lie. --Shak.
7. (Law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being
maintained. ``An appeal lies in this case.'' --Parsons.
Note: Through ignorance or carelessness speakers and writers
often confuse the forms of the two distinct verbs lay
and lie. Lay is a transitive verb, and has for its
preterit laid; as, he told me to lay it down, and I
laid it down. Lie is intransitive, and has for its
preterit lay; as, he told me to lie down, and I lay
down. Some persons blunder by using laid for the
preterit of lie; as, he told me to lie down, and I laid
down. So persons often say incorrectly, the ship laid
at anchor; they laid by during the storm; the book was
laying on the shelf, etc. It is only necessary to
remember, in all such cases, that laid is the preterit
of lay, and not of lie.
{To lie along the shore} (Naut.), to coast, keeping land in
sight.
{To lie at the door of}, to be imputable to; as, the sin,
blame, etc., lies at your door.
{To lie at the heart}, to be an object of affection, desire,
or anxiety. --Sir W. Temple.
{To lie at the mercy of}, to be in the power of.
{To lie by}.
(a) To remain with; to be at hand; as, he has the
manuscript lying by him.
(b) To rest; to intermit labor; as, we lay by during the
heat of the day.
{To lie hard} or {heavy}, to press or weigh; to bear hard.
{To lie in}, to be in childbed; to bring forth young.
{To lie in one}, to be in the power of; to belong to. ``As
much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.''
--Rom. xii. 18.
{To lie in the way}, to be an obstacle or impediment.
{To lie in wait}, to wait in concealment; to lie in ambush.
{To lie on} or {upon}.
(a) To depend on; as, his life lies on the result.
(b) To bear, rest, press, or weigh on.
{To lie low}, to remain in concealment or inactive. [Slang]
{To lie on one's hands}, to remain unsold or unused; as, the
goods are still lying on his hands; they have too much
time lying on their hands.
{To lie on the head of}, to be imputed to.
What he gets more of her than sharp words, let it
lie on my head. --Shak.
{To lie over}.
(a) To remain unpaid after the time when payment is due,
as a note in bank.
(b) To be deferred to some future occasion, as a
resolution in a public deliberative body.
{To lie to} (Naut.), to stop or delay; especially, to head as
near the wind as possible as being the position of
greatest safety in a gale; -- said of a ship. Cf. {To
bring to}, under {Bring}.
{To lie under}, to be subject to; to suffer; to be oppressed
by.
{To lie with}.
(a) To lodge or sleep with.
(b) To have sexual intercourse with.
(c) To belong to; as, it lies with you to make amends.
The proper notion of a lie is an endeavoring to
deceive another by signifying that to him as true,
which we ourselves think not to be so. --S. Clarke.
It is willful deceit that makes a lie. A man may act
a lie, as by pointing his finger in a wrong
direction when a traveler inquires of him his road.
--Paley.
2. A fiction; a fable; an untruth. --Dryden.
3. Anything which misleads or disappoints.
Wishing this lie of life was o'er. --Trench.
{To give the lie to}.
(a) To charge with falsehood; as, the man gave him the
lie.
(b) To reveal to be false; as, a man's actions may give
the lie to his words.
{White lie}, a euphemism for such lies as one finds it
convenient to tell, and excuses himself for telling.
Syn: Untruth; falsehood; fiction; deception.
Usage: {Lie}, {Untruth}. A man may state what is untrue from
ignorance or misconception; hence, to impute an
untruth to one is not necessarily the same as charging
him with a lie. Every lie is an untruth, but not every
untruth is a lie. Cf. {Falsity}.
He surveyed with his own eyes . . . the lie of the
country on the side towards Thrace. --Jowett
(Thucyd.).