Synonyms of lay in

lay in

verb

as in to store

to put (something of future use or value) in a safe or secret place

be sure to lay in enough food for the long Alaska winter

Synonyms & Similar Words

• store
• stash
• lay up
• lay by
• hoard
• accumulate
• set aside
• put by
• lay away
• stow
• collect
• treasure
• save
• acquire
• conserve
• stockpile
• keep
• preserve
• cache
• gather
• salt away
• pile
• deposit
• round up
• stack
• squirrel (away)
• assemble
• set by
• scrape (together)
• pick up
• retain
• amass
• garner
• concentrate
• husband
• reserve
• bury
• heap
• hold
• conceal
• stock
• withhold
• secrete
• bank
• ensconce
• coffer

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• throw away
• throw out
• cast
• ditch
• use up
• dump
• discard
• unload
• fling (off or away)
• consume
• waste
• hand out
• jettison
• hand over
• spend
• relinquish
• run through
• squander
• surrender
• blow
• lavish
• dissipate
• expend
• exhaust
• deplete
• dispel
• impoverish
• disperse
• scatter
• misspend
• fritter (away)

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of lay in

The aroma filled my nostrils, fighting the overpowering perfume of the flowers that lay in a vivid blanket of color around the gaping grave. — Clare Mulroy, USA Today, 10 Sep. 2026

Those are solid efficiency metrics, but even more value lay in how that time was reinvested. — Ganesh Shankar, Forbes.com, 2 Sep. 2026

The true promise of BlackNet for crypto-anarchy lay in the indirect effect of monetizing secrets. — Finn Brunton, Harpers Magazine, 1 Sep. 2026

Tim Curry’s magic lay in his ability to be outrageous without being self-conscious, Tom Nichols writes. — David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 27 Aug. 2026

Video

Lay vs. Lie

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to Ask the Editor. I'm Emily Brewster, an associate editor at Merriam-Webster.
 
Sometimes we tell you that certain grammar rules are little more than the Latin-inspired whims of long dead grammarians. But not so with the verbs lay and lie. This pair is a doozy that's been tripping up English speakers for 700 years.
 
Lay's most common meaning is, to place something or someone down in a flat position. Lie's corresponding meaning is, to be in a flat position on a surface.
 
Lay is transitive. It requires that the verb have an object. There has to be a thing or a person being placed.
- Lay it down.
 
Lie, on the other hand, is intransitive. It's for something or someone moving on their own. Or something or someone that's already in position.
- You can lie down there.
- You can lie there all day.
 
That's tricky enough, but it gets worse when we start using the words beyond the now.
 
Here's lay in context in tenses that show its principal forms.
- I was told to lay the book down.
- I laid it down as I have laid other books down.
- I am laying more books down now.
 
And here's lie.
- I was told to lie down.
- I lay down.
- I have lain here since.
- I'm still lying here.
 
Did you catch that?
 
For lay, we have lay, laid, have laid, laying.
For lie, we have lie, lay, have lain, lying.
 
And then there's the unrelated verb meaning to tell an untruth.
That lie goes, lie, lied, have lied, lying.
 
What fascinates me about all this is that the language has continued to carry a torch for the distinction for 700 years. Enough writers and editors get these right generation after generation, that there continues to be a right and a wrong. It's not because dead grammarians said so, but because people like you get it right, often enough anyway, that it's still how the land lays.
 
I mean lies.
 
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