<B>lay analyst,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a psychoanalyst who is not a doctor of medicine. </DL>
<A NAME="layaway">
<B>layaway, </B>adjective, noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>adj. </I> of or having to do with a layaway plan. <BR> <I>Ex. layaway buying.</I> <DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a vat for tanning hides. <DD><B> 2. </B>the liquid in such vats. </DL>
<A NAME="layawayplan">
<B>layaway plan,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a method of purchase in which the consumer makes a number of part payments in advance of delivery, and the seller lays away or stores the article until full payment is made. </DL>
<A NAME="layback">
<B>layback, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the backward slant of the body in rowing. <DD><B> 2. </B>the characteristic backward slant of a bulldog's nose. </DL>
<A NAME="laybrother">
<B>lay brother,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a man who has taken the vows and habit of a religious order, but is employed chiefly in manual labor and is exempt from the studies and special religious services of other members. </DL>
<A NAME="layby">
<B>lay-by, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(British.) an area off the main highway, where vehicles may stop for repairs without interfering with traffic. <DD><B> 2. </B>a similar stopping place for barges on a river or canal. <DD><B> 3. </B>a siding for cars on a railroad, at a mine, etc. <DD><B> 4. </B>(British.) a deposit on goods bought on the layaway plan. </DL>
<A NAME="layday">
<B>lay day,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (Commerce.) <DD><B> 1. </B>any one of the total of days specified by a charter party or contract as allowed for loading or unloading a vessel without extra charge. <DD><B> 2. </B>each day allowed a ship to stay in port. <DD><B> 3. </B>a day when competition is suspended during a sailing race. </DL>
<A NAME="layer">
<B>layer, </B>noun, adjective, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1a. </B>one thickness or fold. <BR> <I>Ex. the layer of clothing next to the skin, a layer of clay between two layers of sand. A cake is often made of two or more layers put together.</I> <DD><B> b. </B>a particular level in an order or arrangement of elements. <BR> <I>Ex. Other "layers" of defense might engage the warhead later on (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person or thing that lays. <BR> <I>Ex. That hen is a champion layer.</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Horticulture.) <DD><B> a. </B>a branch of a plant bent down and covered with earth so that it will take root and form a new plant while still attached to the parent stock. <DD><B> b. </B>a plant propagated by layering. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=minelayer.</B> <BR> <I>Ex. The mines in the Elbe represented the ultimate triumph of layers over sweepers (Manchester Guardian Weekly).</I> <DD><B> 5. </B>(British Informal.) a layabout. <DD><I>adj. </I> made or arranged in layers. <BR> <I>Ex. The types will range from the ... two-layer, mainframe-centered configuration to the ... minicomputer and PC arrangement. (Adlittle Forecast).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to spread by layers. <DD><I>v.t. </I> <B>1. </B>to form (new plants) by layers. <BR> <I>Ex. to layer strawberry runners, to layer carnations.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>to form in layers. <BR> <I>Ex. Anxiety was layered on anxiety, a child's tower of blocks mounting shakily (New Yorker).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>to move along or through layers of an organization or a bureaucracy. <BR> <I>Ex. Inside the department our principal problem is layering (Time).</I> <DD><B> 4. </B>to remove or put (a person or employee) at a distance by advancement within a layer of a bureaucracy. <BR> <I>Ex. He feels he is being "layered" away from the Oval Office by having to report through someone else (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="layerage">
<B>layerage, </B>noun. <B>=layering.</B></DL>
<A NAME="layercake">
<B>layer cake,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a cake made in layers put together with filling and often covered with frosting. </DL>
<A NAME="layered">
<B>layered, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> arranged in or having layers. <BR> <I>Ex. the layered rocks are much more open-textured than the crystallines (Robert M. Garrels).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="layering">
<B>layering, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Horticulture.) a method of forming new plants by placing a shoot or twig of a plant in the ground so that it will take root while still attached to the parent stock. </DL>
<A NAME="layette">
<B>layette, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a set of clothes and bedding for a newborn baby. </DL>
<A NAME="layfigure">
<B>lay figure,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a jointed model of the human body. Lay figures are used by artists and in shop windows. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) an unimportant, weak, or stupid person; puppet. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) a character in fiction destitute of the attributes of reality. </DL>
<A NAME="layingonofhands">
<B>laying on of hands,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the act of placing a hand on a person's head or shoulder in order to bless or transmit grace to him, as practiced by the clergy of some Christian churches. It is traditionally performed in administering baptism, confirmation, ordination, or extreme unction. </DL>
<A NAME="layman">
<B>layman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a member of a church who is not a clergyman. <BR> <I>Ex. His father is a pastor but he and his brother are laymen.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a person outside any particular profession. <BR> <I>Ex. Whether or not scientists wish it, laymen are likely to push the scientists into the position of prophets (Saturday Review).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="layoff">
<B>layoff, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a dismissing of workmen temporarily. <BR> <I>Ex. The majority of those affected will be seasoned employes whose layoff dates will be advanced from one to two months as compared with last year (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a time during which workmen are out of work. <DD><B> 3. </B>a period of little or no activity in business; off-season for professional athletes. </DL>
<A NAME="layoftheland">
<B>lay of the land,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the nature of the place; the position of hills, water, woods, or the like. <BR> <I>Ex. Scouts were sent out to learn the lay of the land.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Figurative.) <BR> <I>Ex. Spies were sent to find out the lay of the land.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="layout">
<B>layout, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>an arrangement; plan. <BR> <I>Ex. He studied the layout of the city and saw its commercial center surrounded by a girdle of working-class sections (Edmund Wilson).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a plan or design for an advertisement, book, or other printed matter. <BR> <I>Ex. Typography and layout are beautiful (Harper's).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>something laid or spread out; display. <DD><B> 4. </B>the act of laying out. <DD><B> 5. </B>an outfit; supply; set. </DL>
<A NAME="layover">
<B>layover, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (U.S.) a stopping for a time in a place, especially as an interruption of a trip. <BR> <I>Ex. After a twenty-minute layover in Chicago we flew on to Los Angeles.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="layperson">
<B>layperson, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person outside the clergy or a particular profession; a layman or laywoman. <BR> <I>Ex. The NOVA Catholic Community [is] a group founded by laypersons ... out of dissatisfaction with the traditional liturgy (Washington Post).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="layreader">
<B>lay reader,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a layman in the Church of England appointed by the bishop to read from the Book of Common Prayer and otherwise assist at services. <DD><B> 2. </B>a layman in the Roman Catholic Church, usually a volunteer, who reads from the Scripture during church services; lector. </DL>
<A NAME="laysan">
<B>Laysan, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> of or inhabiting Laysan, a small island in the central Pacific belonging to Hawaii and noted for its bird life. <BR> <I>Ex. Laysan teal, Laysan finches.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laysister">
<B>lay sister,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a woman who occupies a position in a female religious order corresponding to that of a lay brother. </DL>
<A NAME="layup">
<B>lay-up, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Basketball.) a shot from close under the basket. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Nautical.) the laying up of a ship for repair, cleaning, or storage, especially of small boats. <BR> <I>Ex. Some newly-built vessels have gone into immediate lay-up as a result of the depressed shipping market (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laywoman">
<B>laywoman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-women.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a woman outside religious orders, the clergy, or a particular profession, as the law or medicine. </DL>
<A NAME="lazar">
<B>lazar, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Archaic.) a poor or diseased person, especially a leper. </DL>
<A NAME="lazaret">
<B>lazaret</B> or <B>lazarette, </B>noun. <B>=lazaretto.</B></DL>
<A NAME="lazaretto">
<B>lazaretto, </B>noun, pl. <B>-tos.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a hospital for people having contagious or loathsome diseases; pesthouse. <DD><B> 2. </B>a building or ship used for quarantine purposes. <DD><B> 3. </B>a place in some merchant ships, near the stern, in which supplies are kept. </DL>
<A NAME="lazarist">
<B>Lazarist, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a member of the Vincentian order of missionary priests. </DL>
<A NAME="lazarus">
<B>Lazarus, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1a. </B>the brother of Mary and Martha, whom Jesus raised from the dead (in the Bible, John 11:1-44). <DD><B> b. </B>a beggar in one of the parables who suffered on earth but went to heaven (in the Bible, Luke 16:19-25). <DD><B> 2. </B>any diseased beggar, especially a leper. </DL>
<A NAME="lazarusdrug">
<B>Lazarus drug,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a drug or medication capable of curing a disease diagnosed as incurable. <BR> <I>Ex. Such stories have given tacrine a reputation as a Lazarus drug, the one medication that could recall to life loved ones who are losing control of their minds and bodies (Time).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="laze">
<B>laze, </B>verb, <B>lazed,</B> <B>lazing.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><I>v.i. </I> to be lazy or idle. <BR> <I>Ex. As long as there is enough food the lion is quite content to laze all day in the shade of a rock (Punch).</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to pass (time) lazily (away). <BR> <I>Ex. to laze away the summer.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="lazily">
<B>lazily, </B>adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> in a lazy manner. </DL>
<A NAME="laziness">
<B>laziness, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a dislike of work; unwillingness to work or be active; being lazy. (SYN) indolence, sloth, sluggishness. </DL>
<A NAME="lazuli">
<B>lazuli, </B>noun. <B>=lapis lazuli.</B></DL>
<A NAME="lazulibunting">
<B>lazuli bunting,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a finch of western North America, the male of which has a greenish-blue head and back, white and tawny chest, and blackish wings. </DL>
