different between allay vs disburden

English

Alternative forms

• alay (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English ?le??an (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjan? (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- +? lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic ???????????????????????????????? (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??le?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

allay (third-person singular simple present allays, present participle allaying, simple past and past participle allayed)

1. (transitive) To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.

   Synonyms: appease, assuage, compose, soothe, calm, quiet
2. (transitive) To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.

   Synonyms: alleviate, abate

3. (intransitive, obsolete) To subside, abate, become peaceful.
   • 1526, William Tyndale, trans. Bible, Mark IV:

     And the wynde alayed, and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?
4. (archaic) To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
5. (archaic, by extension) To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.

Translations

Noun

allay (plural allays)

1. Alleviation; abatement; check.
2. (obsolete) An alloy.

References

• allay in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

Anagrams

• Layla

Quechua

Noun

allay

1. harvest or digging up of potatoes or tubers

Declension

Verb

allay

1. (transitive) to dig, dig up, dig out, excavate; to harvest tubers

Conjugation

See also

• aymuray
• pallay

English

Etymology

dis- +? burden

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /d?s?b??(?)d?n/

Verb

disburden (third-person singular simple present disburdens, present participle disburdening, simple past and past participle disburdened)

1. (transitive) To rid of a burden; to free from a load carried; to unload.

   to disburden a pack animal

2. (transitive) To free from a source of mental trouble.
   • 1863, George Eliot, Romola, Volume I, Book I, Chapter XVII, page 295

     Romola's heart swelled again, so that she was forced to break off. But the need she felt to disburden her mind to Tito urged her to repress the rising anguish.

   • 1677, Owen Feltham, Of Improving by Good Examples

     He did it to disburden a conscience.

   • 1650, Henry Hammond, Of the reasonableness of Christian religion

     My meditations […] will, I hope, be more […] calm, being thus disburdened.

Related terms

• unburden

Anagrams

• underbids