lay off
English · Thesaurus
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lay off¹
verb lays off · laying off · laid off
-
(of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package.
Four months after arriving in Denver, I was laid off when the pandemic hit. I took on freelance work, whatever I could get, to cover my expenses and stay afloat.
Similar: make redundant, let go
-
To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.
Similar: hedge one's bets
- To cease, quit, stop (doing something). Lay off the singing, will you! I'm trying to study.
- To stop bothering, teasing, or pestering someone; to leave (someone) alone. Just lay off, okay! I've had enough!
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In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks.
At any pro paint shop ask for laying off brushes. These are natural bristle, wide, thin brushes designed for tipping off, not for holding a paint load. (Sourced from a web forum exchange)
Similar: tip off
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To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart.
Similar: can, dismiss, fire, sack, terminate, give the axe, give the boot, give their cards, give the chop, give the elbow, give the old heave-ho
Opposite: employ, hire, recruit, take on, give notice, leave, quit, retire
lay off²
verb
-
simple past of lie off
Similar: axe, decruit, dehire, discard, remove, discharge, downsize, give someone the boot, give someone their cards, give someone the heave-ho, give someone the old heave-ho, lay off
Opposite: employ, hire, recruit, take on, give notice, leave, quit, retire
Thesaurus
Translations
Talk about this word "lay off." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/lay%20off. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. lay off. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/lay%20off "lay off." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/lay%20off.Cite this
@misc{lay_off_2026,
title = {lay off},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/lay%20off},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
