as in to store
to put (something of future use or value) in a safe or secret place
an eating disorder that would impel her to lay up candy bars in her closet for all-night food binges
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Recent Examples of lay up
Their ability to reproduce — a female can lay up to 2,500 eggs on a single animal — can worsen the situation.
—
Addy Bink, The Hill, 21 Sep. 2025
Tyrese Haliburton #0 of the Indiana Pacers attempts a lay up against Miles McBride #2 and Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks during the third quarter in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 27, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Adult female flies can lay up to 400 eggs at a time, and each larva in a human patient has to be physically dug out from infected flesh.
—Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 25 Aug. 2025
Now, researchers are discovering more in the Rio Grande Valley, where the crayfish are breeding rapidly, with each female capable of laying up to 5,000 eggs annually.
—Brandi D. Addison, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for lay up
Addy Bink, The Hill, 21 Sep. 2025
Tyrese Haliburton #0 of the Indiana Pacers attempts a lay up against Miles McBride #2 and Mitchell Robinson #23 of the New York Knicks during the third quarter in Game Four of the Eastern Conference Finals of the 2025 NBA Playoffs at Gainbridge Fieldhouse on May 27, 2025 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
—Alex Kirschenbaum, MSNBC Newsweek, 19 Sep. 2025
Adult female flies can lay up to 400 eggs at a time, and each larva in a human patient has to be physically dug out from infected flesh.
—Jon Brodkin, ArsTechnica, 25 Aug. 2025
Now, researchers are discovering more in the Rio Grande Valley, where the crayfish are breeding rapidly, with each female capable of laying up to 5,000 eggs annually.
—Brandi D. Addison, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025
See All Example Sentences for lay up
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lay up
Verb
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Before this week, water stored in snowpack was near record-minimum levels in Colorado and Utah, a critical portion of the Colorado River basin that serves approximately 40 million people.—
Doyle Rice,
USA Today,
17 Feb. 2026
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Stars use fusion to generate hundreds of times the energy stored even gravitationally.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
16 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Part of her genius lay in the ability to discover meaning where no one else imagined it could be found.—
Judith Shulevitz,
The Atlantic,
17 Feb. 2026
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Two days after the killings, a body still lay in blood on Thursday.—
Pelumi Salako,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In the calls, Mary detailed to the deputies the steps Nathan was taking to kill her, from affixing a tracker on her car to stashing a black backpack in her garage containing duct tape, zip ties and a note with the word ‘waterboarding’ written on it.—
Grethel Aguila,
Miami Herald,
15 Feb. 2026
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Plus, there are subtle side pockets to secretly stash your phone, keys, and other small essentials.—
Sophie Dodd,
Travel + Leisure,
15 Feb. 2026
Video
Lay vs. Lie
Editor Emily Brewster clarifies the difference.
Cite this Entry
“Lay up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lay%20up. Accessed 20 Feb. 2026.
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