different between allay vs waylay

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

From way +? lay, likely a calque of Middle Dutch wegelagen (“besetting of ways, lying in wait with evil or hostile intent along public ways”). Compare Middle Low German wegelagen, German wegelagern (“to waylay; rob”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?we??le?/, /?we?le?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?we?le?/
• Rhymes: -e?

Verb

waylay (third-person singular simple present waylays, present participle waylaying, simple past and past participle waylaid or (nonstandard) waylayed)

1. (transitive) To lie in wait for and attack from ambush.

   Synonyms: ambush, lurk

2. (transitive) To accost or intercept unexpectedly.

   Synonym: buttonhole

Translations