waylay

verb

way·​lay ˈwā-ˌlā 

waylaid ˈwā-ˌlād  ; waylaying; waylays

transitive verb

1

: to lie in wait for or attack (someone) from ambush

… he had been waylaid, bound hand and foot, and thrown into a marsh. But he got out again, somehow, to cause a great deal of trouble yet.

—Charles Dickens

2

: to temporarily stop the movement or progress of (someone or something)

The barkeeper, Tony, would come out of his saloon and wait to waylay the men going home. He could always entice a man with a full pocket into his saloon.

—Meridel Le Sueur

I can get waylaid by tangential thoughts and associations in mid-sentence, and this leads to parentheses, subordinate clauses, sentences of paragraphic length. I never use one adjective if six seem to me better and, in their cumulative effect, more incisive.

—Oliver Sacks

Synonyms of waylay

• ambush
• attack

Examples of waylay in a Sentence

Gangs sometimes waylay travelers on that road.

We were waylaid by a group of kids with water balloons.

Recent Examples on the Web

Or the family might have simply gotten waylaid by other plans. — R. Eric Thomas, Mercury News, 27 July 2026

Weighty debates about what constitutes the minimum could readily waylay the AI legislative endeavor. — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 20 July 2026

That voyage is soon waylaid, however, when Ulysses' son, Telemachus, is abducted to become a sacrifice to a giant robot Cyclops. — Richard Edwards, Space.com, 17 July 2026

But unlike Odysseus, who survives being waylaid by giants, sorceresses, nymphs, and numerous other distractions, Nolan himself becomes dragged down by the details of his Odyssey. — Stephanie Zacharek, Time, 15 July 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1513, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for waylay

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• assez
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway

Kids Definition

waylay

verb

way·​lay ˈwā-ˌlā 

waylaid -ˌlād  ; waylaying

: to attack from a hiding place