lie upon

English

Verb

lie upon (third-person singular simple present lies upon, present participle lying upon, simple past lay upon, past participle lain upon)

1. (archaic) To be incumbent upon; to be up to (someone); to be obligatory upon.

   It lies upon the prosecution to prove that the defendant is guilty.

2. To lie on.

   She was lying upon the bed.

3. (obsolete) To importune; to urge; to solicit.

   The judge in the parable granted the widow's suit merely because she lay upon him, and was troublesome to him.

References

• John A. Simpson and Edmund S. C. Weiner, editors (1989), “lie upon”, in The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd edition, Oxford: Clarendon Press, →ISBN.
• “Lie” in John Walker, A Critical Pronouncing Dictionary […] , London: Sold by G. G. J. and J. Robinſon, Paternoſter Row; and T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1791, →OCLC, page 325, column 1.

Anagrams

• unipole