unlaid

English

Etymology

From un- +‎ laid.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ʌnˈleɪd/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪd

Adjective

unlaid (not comparable)

1. not laid

   an unlaid egg

   unlaid paving stones

   The table was still unlaid, despite Mum asking us the kids to lay it five times.

   • 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):

     the first foundations of the world being as yet unlaid

   1. Not laid by exorcism
      • 1634 October 9 (first performance), [John Milton], edited by H[enry] Lawes, A Maske Presented at Ludlow Castle, 1634: […] [Comus], London: […] [Augustine Matthews] for Hvmphrey Robinson, […], published 1637, →OCLC; reprinted as Comus: […] (Dodd, Mead & Company’s Facsimile Reprints of Rare Books; Literature Series; no. I), New York, N.Y.: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1903, →OCLC:

        stubborn, unlaid ghost

   2. (of a person, slang) not having had sexual intercourse

      I've been unlaid since my boyfriend left me 5 months ago, so I'm desperate for a shag!

   3. Not laid out, as a corpse.
      • a. 1638 (date written), Benjamin Jonson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Under-woods. Consisting of Divers Poems. (please specify the poem)”, in The Workes of Benjamin Jonson. The Second Volume. […] (Second Folio), London: […] Richard Meighen, published 1640, →OCLC:

        With their pellets of small wit, / Parts of me they judg'd decay'd; / But we last out still unlay'd

   4. (of paper) Not marked with parallel lines.

Verb

unlaid

1. simple past and past participle of unlay

References

• “unlaid”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Lindau, dualin