forelay

forelay

English

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Etymology 1

From fore- +‎ lay.

Verb

forelay (third-person singular simple present forelays, present participle forelaying, simple past and past participle forelaid)

1. To lay down beforehand
   • a. 1639, Joseph Mede, Discourse V - Let a man so account of us as the Ministers of Christ, and Stewards of the Mysteries of God

     these grounds being forelaid and understood

   • 1822, The Whole Works of the Rev. John Howe, M.A. with a Memoir of the Author. Vol. VI.

     I shall, before I instance, only forelay this That we must consider […]

2. To waylay.
   • c. 1624, Joseph Hall, a sermon

     either some secret detractor hath forelaid thee by a whispering misintimation

   • 1913, James B. Connally, Sonnie-Boy's People

     Again Lavis heard him: "You thought to forelay me, eh — and breed panic above?”

3. To plan; contrive in advance
   • 1917, Charles Neville Buck, The Tyranny of Weakness:

     You folks had better forelay to come aboard by then.

Verb

forelay

1. simple past tense of forelie

References

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for forelay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913)