lay out

verb lays out · laying out · laid out

1. transitive To expend or contribute money to an expense or purchase. She laid out hundreds of dollars to throw a great party.
2. transitive To arrange (physically) in a certain way, so as to spread or space apart; to display (e.g. merchandise or a collection). She laid the blocks out in a circle on the floor.

   Opposite: pick up, pack up

3. transitive To explain; to interpret. Let me lay it out for you: you're not going to get a better opportunity than this one.
4. transitive To arrange; to design; to concoct; to think up. He began to lay out the hull for an inexpensive but fast littoral drone.
5. To prepare a body for burial. They laid him out beautifully on a bier draped in satin.
6. US, colloquial, transitive To render (someone) unconscious; to knock out; to cause to fall to the floor; to kill. I laid him out on the sidewalk after he tried to grab me.
7. colloquial, transitive To scold or berate. She really laid him out for taking the money and then lying to try to cover it up.
8. colloquial, intransitive To cease playing one's instrument. Hey man can you lay out on the bridge?
9. colloquial, intransitive To sunbathe. It's been raining so much all week that I haven't had a chance to lay out.