lie1
/lʌɪ
/verb (lies, lying /ˈlʌɪɪŋ/; past lay /leɪ/; past participle lain /leɪn/) [no object, with adverbial]
1(Of a person or animal) be in or assume a horizontal or resting position on a supporting surface: the body lay face downwards on the grass I had to lie down because I was groggy Lily lay back on the pillows and watched him...
- You'll lie here and rest until the young master recommends otherwise for you!
- By 11.30 pm, my stomach was growling and I was lying horizontal on the sofa yawning, as she made mention yet again of leaving.
- She was lying, asleep we assumed, on the carpet outside our bedroom door.
Synonyms
recline, lie down, lie back, be recumbent, be prostrate, be supine, be prone, be stretched out, stretch oneself out, lean back, sprawl, rest, repose, relax, lounge, loll, bask
1.1(Of a thing) rest flat on a surface: a book lay open on the table...
- The walls were made of stone and a small pallet lay by two book cases.
- Beer bottles and cups were scattered about the room and a pizza box lay open on the table.
- He circled around the machine to where a sole book lay on a work surface.
Synonyms
be placed, be set, be situated, be positioned, rest, repose, be
1.2(Of a dead person) be buried in a particular place: his body lies in a crypt his epitaph reads ‘Here lies Garcia, King of Galicia and Portugal’...
- For more than 400 years, the remains of James Hepburn, the 4th Earl of Bothwell, have lain in a Danish church where they were turned into a grisly tourist attraction.
- The corpses were left where they lay pending forensic examination today.
- He lies among the remains of pontiffs from centuries past and near the tomb traditionally believed to be of the Apostle Peter, the first pope.
Synonyms
be buried, be interred, be laid to rest, rest, be entombed
rare be inhumed, be sepulchred
2Be, remain, or be kept in a specified state: the abbey lies in ruins today putting homeless families into private houses that would otherwise lie empty...
- After all, there would be no point in saving a building just for it to lie empty and rot.
- As a child I wandered through it when it lay silent and empty.
- For 170 years Ballina's Augustinian Abbey has lain derelict and inconspicuous at the bottom of Ardnaree near St Muredach's Cathedral.
2.1(Of something abstract) reside or be found: the solution lies in a return to traditional values...
- Similarly, our comedies season is not just about laughter, but the yearning for harmony and reconciliation which lies at the heart of Shakespeare's great comedies.
- The Belgian band encapsulated the friendly spirit of fraternity that lies at the heart of folk.
- It's the coming together with a common purpose of two such different men that lies at the heart of his novel.
Synonyms
consist, be inherent, inhere, be present, be contained, exist, reside, have its existence/being
3(Of a place) be situated in a specified position or direction: Kexby lies about five miles due east of York...
- The town of Shanhaiguan lies on a five mile sliver of plain between mountains and sea, a pass that opens like an avenue into the heart of China.
- Bishop's Crossing is a small village lying ten miles in a south-westerly direction from Liverpool.
- The neutral locus lies at two different positions between two selected loci.
Synonyms
be situated, be located, be placed, be positioned, be found, be sited, be established, be
3.1(Of a scene) extend from the observer’s viewpoint in a specified direction: stand here, and all of Amsterdam lies before you...
- Wind whistled against the hole in the back wall, which heightened the eerie effect of the scene which lay before them.
- An open door lay beyond them and Chris could see the first few steps of the staircase that would lead him to the top floor.
3.2British (Of a competitor or team) be in a specified position during a competition or within a group: United are currently lying in fifth place...
- The first team currently lie mid-table in the York and District League division one, while the reserves prop up reserve ‘B’.
- On Wednesday night, against a team lying fifth in the Portuguese league, United made their earliest exit from the Champions League in a decade.
- The Cape Town team is currently lying mid-table and will be desperate to prove their cup success last season was no fluke.
4 Law (Of an action, charge, or claim) be admissible or sustainable: an action for restitution would lie for money paid in breach of the law...
- Before the judge and before us there was some debate whether such a claim lies for breach of fiduciary duty generally or only those which also involve the misapplication of property.
- Where a policy provides cover against one of two or more concurrent causes of a casualty, a claim will lie under the policy provided that there is no relevant exclusion.
- Prerogative remedies for criminal charges will not ordinarily lie where an appeal is available.
noun (usually the lie)
1The way, direction, or position in which something lies: he was familiarizing himself with the lie of the streets...
- With the lie of Scottish theatreland already shifting, we are seeing a nascent, semiconscious shuffling for position for next year's awards.
- Then, too, I am scared of tying too much money up here, not being entirely sure where the lie of the politics is.
- You should brush along the lie of the hair, and in the places hardest for the cat to reach such as under the chin and the back of the neck.
1.1 Golf The position in which a golf ball comes to rest, especially as regards the ease of the next shot: the lie, in deep rough on a bank, was not good...
- Change the lie and the shot to keep your mind engaged.
- You can play this shot off any lie, even bare ground if your wedge has minimal bounce.
- As the lie gets deeper, the ball automatically goes farther back in your stance.
1.2The lair or place of cover of an animal.
Usage
The verb lie is often confused with the verb lay, giving rise to incorrect uses such as he is laying on the bed (correct use is he is lying on the bed) or why don’t you lie it on the bed? (correct use is why don’t you lay it on the bed?). See lay1 (usage).
Phrases
let something lie
lie heavy on one
lie in state
lie low
the lie (lay) of the land
take something lying down
Phrasal verbs
lie ahead
lie around/about
lie behind
lie in
lie off
lie over
lie to
lie up
lie with
Origin
Old English licgan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch liggen and German liegen, from an Indo-European root shared by Greek lektron, lekhos and Latin lectus 'bed'.
lager from mid 19th century:
The fuller name for lager, no longer much used, is lager beer. It comes from German Lagerbier ‘beer brewed for keeping’, from Lager ‘storehouse’, which shares its root with an animal's lair (Old English), and also with lie (Old English). Since the 1980s we have had the lager lout, the young man who drinks too much and then behaves in an unpleasant or violent way. See also beer
Rhymes
lie2
/lʌɪ/noun
1An intentionally false statement: they hint rather than tell outright lies the whole thing is a pack of lies...
- And I told the world that your case for the war was a pack of lies.
- It implies that everything up until now has been a pack of lies.
- I was appalled at the political mileage that was made out of a pack of lies told about desperate people in need.
Synonyms
untruth, falsehood, fib, fabrication, deception, made-up story, trumped-up story, invention, piece of fiction, fiction, falsification, falsity, fairy story/tale, cock and bull story, barefaced lie;
(little) white lie, half-truth, exaggeration, prevarication, departure from the truth;
yarn, story, red herring, fable, myth, flight of fancy, figment of the imagination;
pretence, pretext, sham;
(lies) misinformation, disinformation, perjury, dissimulation, mendacity, gossip, propaganda
informal tall story, tall tale, whopper
British informal porky, pork pie, porky pie
humorous terminological inexactitude
vulgar slang bullshit
Australian/New Zealand vulgar slang bulldust
1.1Used with reference to a situation involving deception or founded on a mistaken impression: all their married life she had been living a lie...
- To be forced to present themselves as if they were lay persons is for them a very painful deception; they feel that they are living a lie.
- It encouraged me to live deceitfully; I enjoyed living a lie.
- Eight ordinary people have left behind their regular lives to take part in the series, taking on a fake alias and living a lie.
verb (lies, lying, lied /ˈlʌɪɪŋ/) [no object]
1Tell a lie or lies: why had Ashenden lied about his visit to London? [with direct speech]: ‘I am sixty-five,’ she lied...
- The police later lied and said he had damaged the bus.
- If we do, that would be tantamount to lying, deceit or unprofessionalism.
- At every stage he has lied, prevaricated and obstructed this process of disarmament.
Synonyms
say something untrue, tell an untruth, tell a lie, tell a falsehood, fib, fabricate, invent a story, make up a story, falsify, dissemble, dissimulate, bear false witness;
tell a white lie, prevaricate, exaggerate, stretch the truth;
perjure oneself, commit perjury, forswear oneself, be forsworn;
bluff, pretend, depart from the truth;
deceive, delude, mislead, trick, hoodwink, hoax, take in, lead astray, throw off the scent, send on a wild goose chase, put on the wrong track, pull the wool over someone's eyes
informal lie through one's teeth, con
humorous be economical with the truth, tell a terminological inexactitude
vulgar slang bullshit
1.1(Of a thing) present a false impression: the camera cannot lie
Phrases
give the lie to
I tell a lie (or that's a lie)
lie through one's teeth
Origin
Old English lyge (noun), lēogan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch liegen and German lügen.