laid

«laid» in Mova's school dictionary: the past of lay: to put something down carefully, often… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb form (laid; past and past participle of lay)

meaning for a pupil

1) Laid is the past of lay: to put something down carefully, often flat: She laid the baby in the cot. tree →

2) Laid is used when a hen or another animal made an egg: The hen laid an egg. tree →

3) Laid the table means put plates and cutlery on it. tree →

4) Laid back (informal) means calm and relaxed. tree →

5) Laid can also mean arranged or prepared in advance, as when you lay plans for a trip. tree →

sense in the lessons

In maths, an action that adds: eggs laid, bricks or tiles laid in rows (rows × bricks per row). In science, birds, reptiles, fish and insects lay eggs. In everyday life: laying the table, laying a carpet. In stories, a goose laid golden eggs. Phrases: «laid the table», «laid out», «laid down», «laid back».

examples

• The hens laid 24 eggs. tree →
• He laid 5 rows of 10 bricks. tree →
• She laid 3 books on the table. tree →
• How many eggs were laid in a week? tree →
• The goose laid a golden egg. tree →
• I laid the table for dinner. tree →
• The turtle laid her eggs in the sand. tree →
• He laid his coat over the chair. tree →
• Uncle Pete is very laid back. tree →
• Nigel and the Princess laid their plans. tree →

note

Lay (put down) goes lay, laid, laid; lie (rest flat) goes lie, lay, lain — so «I lay on the bed» is the past of lie. Eggs laid add to the eggs collected; rows of bricks laid mean multiply. Trap: do not mix up with «lain» from lie, or with «lied» (said something untrue).

In the corpora

• Sea otters smash shellfish on a stone laid on the chest and keep a favourite stone in a loose skin pocket under the arm.
• Female Komodo dragons in British zoos laid eggs that hatched with no father, a rare virgin birth called parthenogenesis.
• Ants follow scent trails laid by other ants; a line of ants is made by feet and smell, not by a leader.
• Skin is the body's largest organ; an adult's skin would cover roughly two square metres if laid out flat.
• "Laid to rest" means buried.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «laid» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.