lie

• IPA^(key): /laɪ̯/

• Audio (GA)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: lye, lai, Leigh (some placenames)

A dog lying in the grass.

From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, 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 luí, Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ), Albanian lag (“troop, band, encampment”).

As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past lay or laid, past participle lain or laid or lien) See usage notes.

1. (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.

   • 1660, [John] Dryden, Astraea Redux:

     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.

2. (intransitive) To be placed or situated.
   • 1988, Robin D. S. Yates, “Selected Translations”, in Washing Silk: The Life and Selected Poetry of Wei Chuang (834?-910)‎, Harvard University Press, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, →OL, page 100:

     Ying-yang county lies 70 li southwest of the modern Teng-feng county, Honan.

   • 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.

3. (intransitive, copulative) 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.

4. Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
   • c. 1690, Jeremy Collier, Of Envy:

     Envy lies between beings equal in nature, though unequal in circumstances.

   • 1693, [John Locke], “§2016”, in Some Thoughts Concerning Education, London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], →OCLC:

     He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard labour, forgets the early rising and hard riding of huntsmen.

5. 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.

6. Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
7. (archaic) To lodge; to sleep.
   • 1632, John Evelyn, diary, entry 21 October 1632:

     While I was now trifling at home, I saw London, […] where I lay one night only.

   • 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, chapter 10, in The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC:

     Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night.

8. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
   • c. 1607–1608, William Shakeſpeare, The Late, And much admired Play, Called Pericles, Prince of Tyre. […], London: Imprinted at London for Henry Goſſon,  […], published 1609, →OCLC, [Act III, scene i]:

     The Wind is lowd, and will not lie till the Ship be cleard of the dead.

9. (law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.
   • 1737, Cart against Marsh (legal case)

     An appeal lies in this case from the ordinary to the arches.

See the usage notes of lay.

• lay, a corresponding transitive version of this word
• lees
• lier

lie (plural lies)

1. (golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck.
2. (disc golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown.
3. (medicine) The position of a fetus in the womb.
4. A manner of lying; relative position.
5. An animal's lair.

From Middle English lien (“to lie, tell a falsehood”), from Old English lēogan (“to lie”), from Proto-West Germanic *leugan, 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”).

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past and past participle lied)

1. (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.

   Don't lie to me!

2. (intransitive) To convey a false image or impression.

   Photographs often lie.

3. (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.

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”).

lie (plural lies)

1. An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood.

   Synonyms: alternative fact, bollocks, bullshit, deception, fabrication, falsehood, fib, leasing, nonsense, prevarication, rubbish, tall tale, whopper; see also Thesaurus:lie

   Antonym: truth

   I knew he was telling a lie by his facial expression.

2. A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true.

   Synonym: half-truth

3. (by extension) Anything that misleads or disappoints.
   • 1835, Richard Chenevix Trench, the Story of Justin Martyr:

     Wishing this lie of life was o'er.

   • 2007, Erik Wolpaw, Chet Faliszek, Portal:

     The cake is a lie.

• lie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

• %ile, -ile, EIL, Eli, Ile, Lei, Lei., ile, lei

• IPA^(key): /ˈlie̯(ˣ)/, [ˈlie̞̯(ʔ)]
• Rhymes: -ie
• Syllabification^(key): lie

lie

1. (dialectal) 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.

   Kyllä asia lie juuri näin.

   Yes, the thing supposedly is just like that.

• This form is commonly used in certain dialects, like the North Karelian dialect, and is also quite common colloquially in other regions. In standard Finnish, the word is only used in highly literary or solemn contexts. Can be used with any person. As a main verb, the form simply occurs in present tense. As an auxiliary verb form, it may take place in the perfect tense form of any verb. In dialectal use, the form can typically be seen in both direct and indirect questions.

• lienee

• “lie”, in Kielitoimiston sanakirja [Dictionary of Contemporary Finnish]‎ (in Finnish) (online dictionary, continuously updated), Kotimaisten kielten keskuksen verkkojulkaisuja 35, Helsinki: Kotimaisten kielten tutkimuskeskus (Institute for the Languages of Finland), 2004–, retrieved 2023-12-01

• eli, lei

Inherited from Old French lie, from Early 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”).

lie f (plural lies)

1. lees, dregs (of wine, of society)

• boire le calice jusqu’à la lie

lie

1. inflection of lier:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative/subjunctive
   2. second-person singular imperative

• “lie”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

• île

lie (lie⁵／lie⁰, Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄧㄝ)

1. Hanyu Pinyin reading of 咧

lie

1. Nonstandard spelling of liē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of lié.
3. Nonstandard spelling of liě.
4. Nonstandard spelling of liè.

• 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.

From Early 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”).

lie oblique singular, f (oblique plural lies, nominative singular lie, nominative plural lies)

1. dregs; mostly solid, undesirable leftovers of a drink

• → English: lees

From Proto-Celtic *līwanks (compare *līwos), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁w- (“stone”) (compare Ancient Greek λᾶας (lâas, “stone”), Albanian lerë (“boulder”)).

• IPA^(key): /ˈl͈ʲi.e/

lie m (genitive lïac or lïacc)

1. 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. 4^d15

     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. 845, St Gall Glosses on Priscian, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1975, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. II, pp. 49–224, Sg. 65^a1

     Níbu machdath do·rónta día dind lïac.

     It was not a wonder that a god would be made of the stone.

• → Breton: liac'h
• Middle Irish: lía
  • Irish: lia

• G. Toner, M. Ní Mhaonaigh, S. Arbuthnot, D. Wodtko, M.-L. Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 lía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

lie

1. inflection of liar:
   1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   2. third-person singular imperative

lie

1. first-person singular preterite indicative of liar

From Old Swedish līe, lē, from Old Norse lé, from Proto-Germanic *lewô, from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to cut”).

• IPA^(key): /liːɛ/

lie c

1. scythe; an instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like.

• lieblad
• liehugg
• lieknagg
• lieknagge
• lieman
• lieorv
• lieskaft
• lietag

• lie in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)