What's the difference between back and lay?

Back


Definition:

  • (n.) A large shallow vat; a cistern, tub, or trough, used by brewers, distillers, dyers, picklers, gluemakers, and others, for mixing or cooling wort, holding water, hot glue, etc.
  • (n.) A ferryboat. See Bac, 1.
  • (n.) In human beings, the hinder part of the body, extending from the neck to the end of the spine; in other animals, that part of the body which corresponds most nearly to such part of a human being; as, the back of a horse, fish, or lobster.
  • (n.) An extended upper part, as of a mountain or ridge.
  • (n.) The outward or upper part of a thing, as opposed to the inner or lower part; as, the back of the hand, the back of the foot, the back of a hand rail.
  • (n.) The part opposed to the front; the hinder or rear part of a thing; as, the back of a book; the back of an army; the back of a chimney.
  • (n.) The part opposite to, or most remote from, that which fronts the speaker or actor; or the part out of sight, or not generally seen; as, the back of an island, of a hill, or of a village.
  • (n.) The part of a cutting tool on the opposite side from its edge; as, the back of a knife, or of a saw.
  • (n.) A support or resource in reserve.
  • (n.) The keel and keelson of a ship.
  • (n.) The upper part of a lode, or the roof of a horizontal underground passage.
  • (n.) A garment for the back; hence, clothing.
  • (a.) Being at the back or in the rear; distant; remote; as, the back door; back settlements.
  • (a.) Being in arrear; overdue; as, back rent.
  • (a.) Moving or operating backward; as, back action.
  • (v. i.) To get upon the back of; to mount.
  • (v. i.) To place or seat upon the back.
  • (v. i.) To drive or force backward; to cause to retreat or recede; as, to back oxen.
  • (v. i.) To make a back for; to furnish with a back; as, to back books.
  • (v. i.) To adjoin behind; to be at the back of.
  • (v. i.) To write upon the back of; as, to back a letter; to indorse; as, to back a note or legal document.
  • (v. i.) To support; to maintain; to second or strengthen by aid or influence; as, to back a friend.
  • (v. i.) To bet on the success of; -- as, to back a race horse.
  • (v. i.) To move or go backward; as, the horse refuses to back.
  • (v. i.) To change from one quarter to another by a course opposite to that of the sun; -- used of the wind.
  • (v. i.) To stand still behind another dog which has pointed; -- said of a dog.
  • (adv.) In, to, or toward, the rear; as, to stand back; to step back.
  • (adv.) To the place from which one came; to the place or person from which something is taken or derived; as, to go back for something left behind; to go back to one's native place; to put a book back after reading it.
  • (adv.) To a former state, condition, or station; as, to go back to private life; to go back to barbarism.
  • (adv.) (Of time) In times past; ago.
  • (adv.) Away from contact; by reverse movement.
  • (adv.) In concealment or reserve; in one's own possession; as, to keep back the truth; to keep back part of the money due to another.
  • (adv.) In a state of restraint or hindrance.
  • (adv.) In return, repayment, or requital.
  • (adv.) In withdrawal from a statement, promise, or undertaking; as, he took back0 the offensive words.
  • (adv.) In arrear; as, to be back in one's rent.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Arda Turan's deflected long-range strike puts Atlético back in control.
  • (2) In a debate in the House of Commons, I will ask Britain, the US and other allies to convert generalised offers of help into more practical support with greater air cover, military surveillance and helicopter back-up, to hunt down the terrorists who abducted the girls.
  • (3) Recent data collected by the Games Outcomes Project and shared on the website Gamasutra backs up the view that crunch compounds these problems rather than solving them.
  • (4) Northern Ireland will not be dragged back by terrorists who have nothing but misery to offer."
  • (5) Patrice Evra Evra Handed a five-match international ban for his part in the France squad’s mutiny against Raymond Domenech at the 2010 World Cup, it took Evra almost a year to force his way back in.
  • (6) On the way back to Pristina later, the lawyer told me everything was fine.
  • (7) Names, and the absence of them, could be important Facebook Twitter Pinterest Don’t look back … Daisy Ridley’s Rey and John Boyega’s stormtrooper Finn.
  • (8) David Cameron has insisted that membership of the European Union is in Britain's national interest and vital for "millions of jobs and millions of families", as he urged his own backbenchers not to back calls for a referendum on the UK's relationship with Brussels.
  • (9) Critics say he is unelectable as prime minister and will never be able to implement his plans, but he has nonetheless pulled attention back to an issue that many thought had gone away for good.
  • (10) The water is embossed with small waves and it has a chill glassiness which throws light back up at the sky.
  • (11) Now, as the Senate takes up a weakened House bill along with the House's strengthened backdoor-proof amendment, it's time to put focus back on sweeping reform.
  • (12) Anxious mood and other symptoms of anxiety were commonly seen in patients with chronic low back pain.
  • (13) When you have been out for a month you need to prepare properly before you come back.” Pellegrini will make his own assessment of Kompany’s fitness before deciding whether to play him in the Bournemouth game, which he is careful to stress may not be the foregone conclusion the league table might suggest.
  • (14) Sterile, pruritic papules and papulopustules that formed annular rings developed on the back of a 58-year-old woman.
  • (15) A recent visit by a member of Iraq's government from Baghdad to Basra and back cost about $12,000 (£7,800), the cable claimed.
  • (16) Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated previous LBP or back pain in another location of the spine were strongly associated with LBP during the study year.
  • (17) Former lawmaker and historian Faraj Najm said the ruling resets Libya “back to square one” and that the choice now faced by the Tobruk-based parliament is “between bad and worse”.
  • (18) He’s been so consistent this season.” Barkley took the two late penalties because the regular taker, Romelu Lukaku, had been withdrawn at half-time with a back injury that is likely to keep the striker out of Saturday’s trip to Stoke City.
  • (19) Environment groups Environment groups that have strongly backed low-carbon power have barely wavered in their opposition to nuclear in the last decade, although their arguments now are now much about the cost than the danger it might pose.
  • (20) United believe it is more likely the right-back can be bought in the summer but are exploring what would represent the considerable coup of acquiring the 26-year-old immediately.

Lay


Definition:

  • (imp.) of Lie, to recline.
  • (a.) Of or pertaining to the laity, as distinct from the clergy; as, a lay person; a lay preacher; a lay brother.
  • (a.) Not educated or cultivated; ignorant.
  • (a.) Not belonging to, or emanating from, a particular profession; unprofessional; as, a lay opinion regarding the nature of a disease.
  • (n.) The laity; the common people.
  • (n.) A meadow. See Lea.
  • (n.) Faith; creed; religious profession.
  • (n.) A law.
  • (n.) An obligation; a vow.
  • (a.) A song; a simple lyrical poem; a ballad.
  • (a.) A melody; any musical utterance.
  • (v. t.) To cause to lie down, to be prostrate, or to lie against something; to put or set down; to deposit; as, to lay a book on the table; to lay a body in the grave; a shower lays the dust.
  • (v. t.) To place in position; to establish firmly; to arrange with regularity; to dispose in ranks or tiers; as, to lay a corner stone; to lay bricks in a wall; to lay the covers on a table.
  • (v. t.) To prepare; to make ready; to contrive; to provide; as, to lay a snare, an ambush, or a plan.
  • (v. t.) To spread on a surface; as, to lay plaster or paint.
  • (v. t.) To cause to be still; to calm; to allay; to suppress; to exorcise, as an evil spirit.
  • (v. t.) To cause to lie dead or dying.
  • (v. t.) To deposit, as a wager; to stake; to risk.
  • (v. t.) To bring forth and deposit; as, to lay eggs.
  • (v. t.) To apply; to put.
  • (v. t.) To impose, as a burden, suffering, or punishment; to assess, as a tax; as, to lay a tax on land.
  • (v. t.) To impute; to charge; to allege.
  • (v. t.) To impose, as a command or a duty; as, to lay commands on one.
  • (v. t.) To present or offer; as, to lay an indictment in a particular county; to lay a scheme before one.
  • (v. t.) To state; to allege; as, to lay the venue.
  • (v. t.) To point; to aim; as, to lay a gun.
  • (v. t.) To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them; as, to lay a cable or rope.
  • (v. t.) To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone.
  • (v. t.) To place (new type) properly in the cases.
  • (v. i.) To produce and deposit eggs.
  • (v. i.) To take a position; to come or go; as, to lay forward; to lay aloft.
  • (v. i.) To lay a wager; to bet.
  • (n.) That which lies or is laid or is conceived of as having been laid or placed in its position; a row; a stratum; a layer; as, a lay of stone or wood.
  • (v. t.) A wager.
  • (v. t.) A job, price, or profit.
  • (v. t.) A share of the proceeds or profits of an enterprise; as, when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay.
  • (v. t.) A measure of yarn; a lea. See 1st Lea (a).
  • (v. t.) The lathe of a loom. See Lathe, 3.
  • (v. t.) A plan; a scheme.
  • (imp.) of Lie

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Typological and archaeological investigations indicate that the church building represents originally the hospital facility for the lay brothers of the monastery, which according to the chronicle of the monastery was built in the beginning of the 14th century.
  • (2) Labour MP Jamie Reed, whose Copeland constituency includes Sellafield, called on the government to lay out details of a potential plan to build a new Mox plant at the site.
  • (3) The hippocampus plays an essential role in the laying down of cognitive memories, the pathway to the frontal lobe being via the MD thalamus.
  • (4) The glory lay in the defiance, although the outcome of the tie scarcely looks promising for Arsenal when the return at Camp Nou next Tuesday is borne in mind.
  • (5) As of July 1987, 10 states have prohibitory laws, five states have grandmother clauses authorizing practicing midwives under repealed statutes, five states have enabling laws which are not used, and 10 states explicitly permit lay midwives to practice.
  • (6) Speaking at The Carbon Show in London today, Philippe Chauvancy, director at climate exchange BlueNext, said that the announcement last week that it is to develop China's first standard for voluntary emission reduction projects alongside the government-backed China Beijing Environmental Exchange, could lay the foundations for a voluntary cap-and-trade scheme.
  • (7) He speeded the process of decolonisation, and was the first British prime minister to appreciate that Britain's future lay with Europe.
  • (8) This situation suppressed egg laying and resulted in a clearly decreased bone mineralization.
  • (9) Agir, launched in June as the Sahel crisis was taking hold, lays out a roadmap for better co-ordination of humanitarian and development aid to protect the most vulnerable people when drought hits again.
  • (10) The charity Bite the Ballot , which persuaded hundreds of thousands to register before the last general election, is to set up “democracy cafes” in Starbucks branches, laying on experts to explain how to register and vote, and what the referendum is all about (Bite the Ballot does not take sides but merely encourages participation).
  • (11) To overcome some of these problems it is suggested that an investigation of lay evaluation of health care should be carried out within a conceptual framework which incorporates the following elements.
  • (12) Three of the abscesses were intrapulmonary, and each lay adjacent to a pleural surface.
  • (13) Nowadays hardly a publication comes out of the regulator without it laying down another "matter for government".
  • (14) An intelligence officer told Associated Press that they were aware of the movement, but that the military is acting with care as many civilians are still trapped in the town and Boko Haram is laying land mines around it.
  • (15) After 14 minutes, Rose got in behind the Hull defence to lay on the opening goal for Eriksen while the second followed an incision up the other flank from Walker.
  • (16) In contrast, bilateral lesions of all cerebral ganglion peripheral nerves did not abolish spontaneous egg laying, suggesting that sensory input to the cerebral ganglion is not necessary for activating the bag cells.
  • (17) Several axon terminals lay close to blood vessels, and may modulate the activity of these vessels.
  • (18) Seasonal and habitat influences on the egg-laying activity of four species of Culex were compared in south Florida using jar- and vat-type oviposition traps.
  • (19) Those fed royal jelly as larvae emerge as queens and do little but lay eggs.
  • (20) Prolactin secretion was stimulated less in incubating hens deprived of their nests for 24 h (nest-deprived) than in laying hens after administration of the 5-HT receptor agonist quipazine, or precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan.

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