lie
English
Pronunciation
Etymology 1
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From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian lizze, Dutch liggen, German liegen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ligge, Swedish ligga, Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk liggja, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan); and with Latin lectus (“bed”), Irish luighe, Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ), Albanian lag (“troop, band, encampment”).
As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.
Verb
lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past lay, past participle lain or (obsolete) lien)
- (intransitive) To rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
- The book lies on the table; the snow lies on the roof; he lies in his coffin
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Psalms 68:13:
- Though ye haue lien among the pots, yet shall yee bee as the wings of a doue, couered with siluer, and her feathers with yellow gold.
- (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The watchful traveller […] / Lay down again, and closed his weary eyes.
- 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers
- Our uninquiring corpses lie more low / Than our life's curiosity doth go.
- 1892, James Yoxall, chapter 5, in The Lonely Pyramid:
- The desert storm was riding in its strength; the travellers lay beneath the mastery of the fell simoom. Whirling wreaths and columns of burning wind, rushed around and over them.
- (intransitive) To be placed or situated.
- 1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, New York, N.Y.: Columbia University Press, →ISBN, page vii:
- Hepaticology, outside the temperate parts of the Northern Hemisphere, still lies deep in the shadow cast by that ultimate "closet taxonomist," Franz Stephani—a ghost whose shadow falls over us all.
- 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
- From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.
- To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in a certain state or condition.
- to lie waste; to lie fallow; to lie open; to lie hidden; to lie grieving; to lie under one's displeasure; to lie at the mercy of the waves
- The paper does not lie smooth on the wall.
- Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
- (Can we date this quote by Arthur Collier and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Envy lies between beings equal in nature, though unequal in circumstances.
- (Can we date this quote by John Locke and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard labour, forgets the early rising and hard riding of huntsmen.
- (Can we date this quote by Arthur Collier and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Used with with: to have sexual relations with.
- 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 39:7:
- And it came to passe after these things, that his masters wife cast her eyes vpon Ioseph, and shee said, Lie with me.
- Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
- (archaic) To lodge; to sleep.
- (Can we date this quote by John Evelyn and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- While I was now trifling at home, I saw London, […] where I lay one night only.
- (Can we date this quote by harles Dickens and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night.
- (Can we date this quote by John Evelyn and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
- (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- The wind is loud and will not lie.
- (Can we date this quote by William Shakespeare and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- (law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.
- (Can we date this quote by Ch. J. Parsons and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
- An appeal lies in this case.
- (Can we date this quote by Ch. J. Parsons and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)
Usage notes
The verb lie in this sense is sometimes used interchangeably with the verb lay in informal spoken settings. Additionally, the past tense and past participle can both become laid, instead of lay and lain respectively, in less formal settings. These usages are common in speech but rarely found in edited writing or in more formal spoken situations.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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Noun
lie (plural lies)
- (golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck.
- (disc golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown.
- (medicine) The position of a fetus in the womb.
- A manner of lying; relative position.
- An animal's lair.
Translations
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Etymology 2
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From Middle English lien (“to lie, tell a falsehood”), from Old English lēogan (“to lie”), from Proto-Germanic *leuganą (“to lie”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to lie, swear, bemoan”). Cognate with West Frisian lige (“to lie”), Low German legen, lögen (“to lie”), Dutch liegen (“to lie”), German lügen (“to lie”), Norwegian ljuge/lyge (“to lie”), Danish lyve (“to lie”), Swedish ljuga (“to lie”), and more distantly with Bulgarian лъжа (lǎža, “to lie”), Russian лгать (lgatʹ, “to lie”), ложь (ložʹ, “falsehood”).
Verb
lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past and past participle lied)
- (intransitive) To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive.
- When Pinocchio lies, his nose grows.
- If you are found to have lied in court, you could face a penalty.
- While a principle-based approach might claim that lying is always morally wrong, the casuist would argue that, depending upon the details of the case, lying might or might not be illegal or unethical. The casuist might conclude that a person is wrong to lie in legal testimony under oath, but might argue that lying actually is the best moral choice if the lie saves a life.WP
- (intransitive) To convey a false image or impression.
- Photographs often lie.
- (intransitive, colloquial) To be mistaken or unintentionally spread false information.
- Sorry, I haven't seen your keys anywhere...wait, I lied! They're right there on the coffee table.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Etymology 3
From Middle English lie, from Old English lyġe (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Germanic *lugiz (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to tell lies, swear, complain”). Cognate with Old Saxon luggi (“a lie”), Old High German lugī, lugin (“a lie”) (German Lüge), Danish løgn (“a lie”), Bulgarian лъжа́ (lǎžá, “а lie”), Russian ложь (ložʹ, “а lie”).
Noun
lie (plural lies)
- An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood.
- I knew he was telling a lie by his facial expression.
- A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true; a half-truth
- Anything that misleads or disappoints.
Synonyms
- See also Thesaurus:lie
Antonyms
Derived terms
Translations
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Further reading
Anagrams
Finnish
Verb
lie
- (nonstandard) third-person singular potential present of olla
- Se on missä lie.
- It's somewhere. / I wonder where it is.
- Tai mitä lie ovatkaan
- Or whatever they are.
- Se on missä lie.
Usage notes
- This form is chiefly used in direct and indirect questions.
Synonyms
- (3rd-pers. sg. potent. pres. of olla; standard) lienee
Anagrams
French
Etymology
Probably from Transalpine Gaulish *liga (“silt, sediment”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, to lay”).
Noun
lie f (plural lies)
Verb
lie
- inflection of lier:
Further reading
- “lie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Anagrams
Mandarin
Romanization
lie
- Nonstandard spelling of liē.
- Nonstandard spelling of lié.
- Nonstandard spelling of liě.
- Nonstandard spelling of liè.
Usage notes
- Transcriptions of Mandarin into the Latin script often do not distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without indication of tone.
Old French
Etymology
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From Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).
Noun
lie oblique singular, f (oblique plural lies, nominative singular lie, nominative plural lies)
- dregs; mostly solid, undesirable leftovers of a drink
Descendants
- → English: lees
Old Irish
Etymology
From Proto-Celtic *līwanks (compare *līwos), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁w- (“stone”) (compare Ancient Greek λᾶας (lâas, “stone”), Albanian lerë (“boulder”)).
Pronunciation
Noun
- a stone
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4d15
- In Belzefuth: is béss didu ind lïacc benir il-béim friss, et intí do·thuit foir ɔ·boing a chnámi, intí fora tuit-som immurgu at·bail-side.
- The Beelzebub: it is the custom, then, of the stone that many blows are hit against it, and he who falls upon it breaks his bones; however, he whom it falls on perishes
- c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4d15
Declension
Masculine k-stem | |||
---|---|---|---|
Singular | Dual | Plural | |
Nominative | lie | liicL | liic |
Vocative | lie | liicL | lïaca |
Accusative | liicN | liicL | lïaca |
Genitive | lïac, lïacc | lïac, lïacc | lïacN, lïaccN |
Dative | liicL | lïacaib | lïacaib |
Initial mutations of a following adjective:
|
Descendants
Mutation
Old Irish mutation | ||
---|---|---|
Radical | Lenition | Nasalization |
lie also llie after a proclitic |
lie pronounced with /l(ʲ)-/ |
unchanged |
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every possible mutated form of every word actually occurs. |
Further reading
- G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 lía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language
Spanish
Verb
lie
- First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of liar.
- Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted?) present subjunctive form of liar.
Swedish
Etymology
From Old Swedish līe, lē, from Old Norse lé, from Proto-Germanic *lewô, from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to cut”).
Pronunciation
Noun
lie c
- scythe; an instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like.
Declension
Declension of lie | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Singular | Plural | |||
Indefinite | Definite | Indefinite | Definite | |
Nominative | lie | lien | liar | liarna |
Genitive | lies | liens | liars | liarnas |
Related terms
References
- English 1-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/aɪ
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- en:Golf
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