I. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a mist hangs/lies somewhere (= stays in a place )
▪
A thick mist lay on the hills.
a web of intrigue/deceit/deception/lies etc
barefaced lies
▪
Why are you telling such barefaced lies ?
be/lie at the root of sth (= be the cause of something )
▪
Allergies are at the root of a lot of health problems.
be/lie at the root of sth
▪
the liberal economic policies which lie at the root of American power
draw up/lay down a code (= create one )
▪
The syndicate decided to draw up a code of conduct for its members.
fit/lay a carpet (= cut it to fit a room and fix it to the floor )
▪
Will it cost extra to have the carpet fitted?
give your life/lay down your life (= die in order to save other people, or because of a strong belief )
▪
These men gave their lives during the war to keep us free.
have a lie down
▪
I’m going upstairs to have a lie down .
hope lies in/with sth (= something gives people hope )
▪
Our real hope lies with a vaccine.
lay a pipe
▪
They were digging a trench to lay water pipes.
lay down a principle (= describe a principle and make it accepted )
▪
The report lays down general principles for the teaching of English.
lay down/establish ground rules for sth
▪
Our book lays down the ground rules for building a patio successfully.
lay down/set/impose conditions (= say what sb must agree to )
▪
They laid down certain conditions before agreeing to the ceasefire.
lay flat on...back
▪
That night I lay flat on my back and stared up at the ceiling.
lay flat
▪
He lay flat on the floor.
lay mines (= put them in place )
▪
They learnt how to lay mines .
lay off employees (= stop employing them because there is no work for them to do )
▪
Unions fear that many part-time employees will be laid off.
lay on/put on entertainment (= organize and provide it )
▪
The organizers laid on some entertainment for the children.
lay reader
lay...eggs
▪
Blackbirds lay their eggs in March.
lay...foundations
▪
It took the builders three weeks to lay the foundations .
lay/place sth end to end (= in a line, with the ends touching )
▪
The roof tiles are laid end to end.
lay/run a cable (= put one in position somewhere )
▪
In the 1860s the first cables were laid under the oceans.
lay/set a trap (for sb)
▪
Mr Smith has walked straight into a trap laid by the Tories.
leave...lying about
▪
Don’t leave tools lying about .
lie ahead
▪
Problems may lie ahead .
lie awake
▪
Kate lay awake thinking about what had happened.
lie dead
▪
If I’m late, Mum worries that I’m lying dead somewhere.
lie detector test
▪
He was asked to take a lie detector test .
lie detector
▪
He was asked to take a lie detector test .
lie down
▪
I’m going upstairs to have a lie down .
lie fallow
▪
They let the land lie fallow for a year.
lie on the beach
▪
I find it boring just lying on the beach all day.
lie/remain dormant
▪
The seeds remain dormant until the spring.
lie/wait in ambush
▪
Armed police lay in ambush behind the hedge.
lying idle
▪
I cannot afford to leave the land lying idle .
lying prostrate
▪
They found him lying prostrate on the floor.
place/lay emphasis on sth formal
▪
The coach has placed the emphasis firmly on youth by including three teenagers in the team.
place/put/lay a bet on sth
▪
She placed a bet on a horse called Beethoven.
prepare/lay the ground (= to provide the situation or conditions in which something can develop successfully )
sb's/sth's strength lies in sth
▪
The show's strength lies in the fact that it appeals to all ages.
sb’s/sth’s future lies in/with sth (= it is in a particular thing )
▪
The country’s economic future lies with its skilled workforce.
set/lay down a standard
▪
The government sets standards that all hospitals must reach.
set/lay the table (= put knives, forks etc on a table before a meal )
▪
The table was set for fourteen.
sit/lie/sleep on the floor
▪
Officers found her lying face down on the floor.
spread lies/gossip
▪
How dare you spread such vicious lies!
▪
Has someone been spreading malicious gossip?
stand/sit/lie motionless
▪
The men stood motionless as Weir held his finger to his lips.
sth’s origins lie in sth (= something comes from a particular place or or develops from a particular situation )
▪
a grape whose origins lie in northern Italy
▪
The technique’s origins lie in the popular arts of the time.
tell a lie
▪
They told lies about us.
the blame lies with sb (= used to say that someone is responsible for something bad )
▪
In this case, the blame lay with the police.
the problem lies in/with sth
▪
The problem lies in the design of the rocket.
the responsibility lies with sb (= they are responsible for it )
▪
Ultimate responsibility for admissions lies with the Course Co-ordinator.
where your loyalties lie (= who or what you are going to be loyal to )
▪
Do your loyalties lie with your friends or your family?
white lie
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪
Cod, for instance, lay about nine million eggs into the plankton.
▪
Would I lie about a thing like this?
▪
At least he's not lying about one thing.
▪
What is there to lie about ?
▪
He was, in other words, fired for refusing to lie about what he thought were proper marks.
▪
He was testing me out, leaving that cash lying about .
▪
For a while they hang about on trees; then they die, fall off and lie about on the ground.
ahead
▪
Already she was terrified of what lay ahead .
▪
Although generally optimistic, Dan knew that more challenges lay ahead .
▪
We the undersigned, senior members of the world's scientific community, hereby warn all humanity what lies ahead .
▪
Months of testing still lie ahead , with work being done at laboratories across the country.
▪
But that life was over now and a new one lay ahead .
▪
It is my first view of the road that lies ahead .
▪
Then the nakedness was covered: he had seen what lay ahead .
▪
Her surviving crew members, rich with prize money, are unprepared, perhaps, for what lies ahead -- peace.
around
▪
It is also dangerous to pick up needles or syringes that you see lying around .
▪
A writer should write, not lie around dozing in the middle of the day.
▪
Whenever possible he selected ones that contained pieces on the menopause and left them lying around where his wife could see them.
▪
Fossil bones were just lying around in the open.
▪
Falling over toys that have been left lying around can be fatal for elderly people and very serious for children. 3.
▪
Thou shalt not leave illegal things lying around in plain sight.
▪
The rye was growing so tall that Sharpe could not see what lay around the bend.
▪
When it was hot, we all lay around in the grass and talked about stuff.
back
▪
He walked without hesitation to the very front row, sat down and lay back , gazing up at the screen.
▪
Finally she lay back and cradled the crawling-already? girl in her arms.
▪
He lay back on his thick pile of cushions and chuckled.
▪
She held the in her hands in front of her chest and lay back down, facing him.
▪
Ianthe lay back on her pillows.
▪
Thinbill lay back and looked up at the stars.
▪
She lay back in the chair.
▪
It is real-time when you lay back on the delivery table and push like the doctor says.
down
▪
But Will took it lying down - all in a good cause of course.
▪
I used to lie down and have a sleep because I got very tired towards the end with the baby.
▪
You lay down and think about your animals.
▪
They took a peek, and then did everything but lay down and wag their tails.
▪
He was lying down and crying.
▪
They are not taking things lying down as many other Third World people tend to do.
▪
Some one like you is likely to lie down in the street and starve to death.
still
▪
He threw himself, face down, into the two-foot-deep trench and lay still .
▪
Months of testing still lie ahead, with work being done at laboratories across the country.
▪
He lay still , feeling the warm pulse of her body neatly folded against his.
▪
Still lying down, clasp your hands together and reach them as high as you can above your head.
▪
It still lay there on the keys, the fingers extended to form the shape.
▪
It still lay under the trees.
▪
Duncan lay still , confused and wondering why the Army had moved in from the south.
▪
We saw Hunter lying still , after a knock on the head.
there
▪
They lay there together for several minutes gasping and perspiring.
▪
On one particular day I lay there watching a strong, high wind move the clouds.
▪
If it was my father lying there what would I say to him?
▪
Louis to see what opportunity lay there .
▪
Partner reads ... While you are lying there concentrate on your breathing.
▪
She made no attempt to move when he came in, just lay there looking vulnerable.
▪
I also wondered how it was that I could feel so good in an apartment in which there lay a corpse.
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a tissue of lies
▪
The Springall business was hidden by a tissue of lies.
be a good/quick/easy etc lay
▪
I don't deny it was a good lay .
be/lie at the bottom of sth
▪
His girlfriend had been woken by the noise, and had found him lying at the bottom of the stairs.
▪
Holman lay at the bottom of the open grave where he'd been roughly dumped.
▪
Knowing that self-interest lay at the bottom of his proposal did not prevent my being grateful.
▪
Mind you're not found lying at the bottom of the steps with a broken neck like Amy Robsart.
▪
The female's sperm storage tubules are sausage-shaped and sperm lie at the bottom of the tube.
▪
The rest, including your own clothes, now lie at the bottom of some deep, evil-smelling swamp.
▪
To deliver water from these depths the pumping machine has to be at the bottom of the well.
▪
Your name will be at the bottom of the letter-why write it twice?
be/lie in ruins
▪
Our economy lies in ruins .
▪
Whole blocks of the city were in ruins after the war.
▪
Abingdon's trade had been waning for some time, with its fulling mills lying in ruins and unemployment rife by 1538.
▪
Elizabeth Jarvis said it was like St Paul's Cathedral, miraculously saved while all around it lay in ruins .
▪
He thought the surrounding towns must lie in ruins now, too.
▪
I have said, and I say again, that Trantor will lie in ruins within the next five centuries.
▪
It was to lie in ruins for another sixty-one years.
▪
Large rural areas lay in ruins .
▪
The centrepiece was a gradual revaluation of the lira against the dollar-a strategy which now lies in ruins .
be/lie/sit sprawled (out)
▪
He was lying sprawled across the pillow leaning on his elbow, his head propped to one side, reading the letter.
▪
His rear gunner lay sprawled dead in the back.
▪
The next thing she knew, she was lying sprawled across the pavement.
▪
The observer lay sprawled across his gun, his blond hair streaming romantically in the wind.
▪
We may see a road accident but we shall never be sprawled out on the tarmacadam like that.
lay a guilt trip on sb
lay an egg
▪
The first episode of the series laid an egg .
▪
A few species laid eggs beneath mounds of rotten vegetation that warmed as it decayed.
▪
Adults grow to varying sizes, depending on food available, and lay eggs in late summer.
▪
Female brush turkeys visit the males' mounds, lay eggs in them, and depart.
▪
Gravid female fig wasps enter figs, lay eggs and die.
▪
In turn the later reptiles could diversify on land when they could lay eggs away from a watery environment.
▪
The wasp lays eggs inside the eggs laid by the whitefly, thereby destroying the whitefly eggs.
▪
These mate, fly away and the females find new plants to lay eggs on.
▪
Within it, they copulate and lay eggs .
lay it on with a trowel
lay sb to rest
▪
At nightfall she was tired and lay down to rest .
▪
Rather it attempted to lay the movement to rest .
▪
She took the pills and lay down to rest with her eyes closed.
▪
Then she lay down to rest in the lounge, surrounded by other women who even here never stopped talking.
▪
We can't even lay him to rest .
▪
Without proof I should really lay the idea to rest .
lay siege to sb/sth
▪
After his victory Edward rallied his troops and marched north to lay siege to Calais.
▪
Almost ten years had passed since they had first laid siege to the town, and it seemed as strong as ever.
▪
He laid siege to the fortress and gradually weakened it to the point of collapse.
▪
In 476 they laid siege to Eion, which guarded the Strymon bridge.
▪
In June 1176 Richard laid siege to Limoges; after a few days resistance Aimar's citadel capitulated.
▪
In less than two generations, since the Second World War, they have laid siege to the academic world.
▪
She had laid siege to the typists' room for some minutes before Marshall had persuaded her downstairs.
lay sth bare
▪
The depth of the problem is laid bare in the fact that 40% of 18- to 25- year-olds are unemployed.
▪
The excavation laid bare the streets of the ancient city.
lay your hands on sth
▪
Government reports, social legislation, anything she could lay her hands on that would better acquaint her with her work.
▪
He will sell anything he can lay his hands on in exchange for drugs, which includes any information he may have.
▪
I know exactly where to lay my hands on them.
▪
I like writing letters and reading anything I can lay my hands on!
▪
Kabari women use whatever birth control technology they can lay their hands on.
▪
Looters carried clothes out of shop windows along with anything else they could lay their hands on.
▪
Monday I felt driven to eat everything I could lay my hands on.
▪
Some one had to overturn the present political arrangements in the Limousin if he was ever to lay his hands on Hautefort.
lay/provide the foundation(s) for sth
▪
Tests on healthy people may lay the foundation for a vaccine to prevent AIDS.
▪
I think you have to lay the foundation for your success in terms of defense and rebounding.
▪
It laid the foundation for an organisation with greater appeal to the deaf themselves, particularly the young.
▪
These arguments provide the foundation for Simmel's account of the contradictory nature of modern life.
▪
This theory also laid the foundation for the modern revolution in our understanding of the deepest parts of the earth.
▪
To generate fundamental knowledge that can lay the foundation for future advances in high-performance computing and communications.
▪
We could say that she is laying the foundations for dressing herself later on.
▪
What is stressed rather is that the same phenomenon provides the foundation for both historical tendencies.
▪
While incomplete, the steps that were taken laid the foundation for Workplace 2000.
lay/put sth to rest
▪
Many of the public's doubts have now been laid to rest .
▪
A second glance put my mind to rest , but for a moment there it gave me a turn.
▪
I think this definitely puts it to rest .
▪
Kwasniewski has said he may dissolve parliament to put the issue to rest and call for new elections.
▪
Rather it attempted to lay the movement to rest .
▪
She took the pills and lay down to rest with her eyes closed.
▪
The time has come to put this to rest .
▪
Then she lay down to rest in the lounge, surrounded by other women who even here never stopped talking.
▪
Without proof I should really lay the idea to rest .
lie back and think of England
lie in state
▪
He lay in state , for ever disgraced.
▪
He lay on the marble slab in the centre of the tiny oblong chapel like a king lying in state .
▪
He may as well have been lying in state .
▪
Jane was fearful for a moment that Flopsy might be lying in state .
▪
President to lie in state while he was still alive.
not lay a finger on sb
pack of lies
▪
It's a pack of lies.
▪
It could all have been a pack of lies that Uncle Max cooked up because it gave him such power over Tawno.
▪
Nicholas frankly admitted that for the most part the reports were a pack of lies.
▪
Or was it all a pack of lies to make me give in?
patent lie/nonsense/impossibility etc
put/lay your cards on the table
▪
If they're willing to put all their cards on the table and negotiate, that's good.
▪
If we want to reach an agreement, we'll have to lay all our cards on the table.
▪
They're willing to put all their cards on the table and negotiate.
▪
Come on, you can lay your cards on the table in this house.
▪
The new rules appear to encourage parties to lay their cards on the table and facilitate early settlements.
put/lay/set down a marker
see/find out how the land lies
set/lay/clap eyes on sb/sth
▪
Bedford disliked Halsey the minute he set eyes on him.
▪
How could she possibly know, since he had not set eyes on the girl?
▪
I bonded on the second night I laid eyes on Hyakutake.
▪
Just hours earlier she had set eyes on the pretty two-year-old and sister Anna-Camilla, seven, for the first time.
▪
Never anywhere have I set eyes on such a one.
▪
No sooner did she set eyes on the gentleman than she recognised his pecuniary position to be merely temporary.
▪
The couple fell in love before they had even set eyes on each other during a six-month long distance courtship.
sit/lie/lean back
▪
Craig sighed and leaned back in his chair.
▪
But no one can sit back in investment clubs and just listen.
▪
He must generate all his own internal discipline against the possible inclination to lie back and enjoy his good fortune.
▪
He sat back on his heels, sorrowfully examining the ruined glove.
▪
He walked without hesitation to the very front row, sat down and lay back , gazing up at the screen.
▪
She heard him returning just as she sat back to admire her handiwork.
▪
Then she lay back on her pillow and they looked at each other as if it was for the first time.
▪
We started to sit back because we were up on the No. 1 team in the nation.
▪
Whatever some think, we don't sit back .
the lay of sth
▪
A lot of people, especially those new to the city, have no concept of the lay of the land.
▪
Failure to recognise slopes until committed to landing Make a point of looking for the lay of the surrounding countryside.
▪
It was therefore an important moment when Tolkien gave Lewis the Lay of Leithian to read in manuscript.
the lay of the land
▪
He's got to get the lay of the land before he makes any decisions.
▪
A lot of people, especially those new to the city, have no concept of the lay of the land.
therein lies sth
▪
The treaty was imposed by force, and therein lay the cause of its ineffectiveness.
time hangs/lies heavy on your hands
you've made your bed and you must lie on it
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
"The witness was lying through his teeth," said Davis, "and should be charged with perjury."
▪
Lie on the floor and put your legs in the air.
▪
Almost every night I lie awake in bed worrying about my family.
▪
Don't lie to me! I know where you were last night.
▪
Frank was lying there flat on his back, snoring away.
▪
Her packed suitcase was lying near the door.
▪
I looked at her face and just knew that she was lying.
▪
I spent most of the morning lying in bed.
▪
Libby switched off the light and lay on the couch, staring into the darkness.
▪
Movie stars always lie about their age.
▪
Now the town lay in ruins.
▪
Recent storms destroyed a wall that had lain undisturbed underwater for thousands of years.
▪
Several letters were lying on the table.
▪
The baby was lying on his back in his crib, perfectly content.
▪
The camera doesn't lie .
▪
The children's clothes were lying all over the bedroom floor.
▪
When they found him, he was lying face down in a pool of blood.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
He lay on the track for five minutes before being rescued by two friends who were also out riding.
▪
It doesn't set out to lie , of course, but it sometimes succeeds.
▪
Now, with the founder gone, these ominous flaws lay glaringly exposed.
▪
Public servants, like children with guns, learn to lie .
▪
She was dressed in a silk kimono and lying on the daybed when he went in.
▪
The immorality lies in the inherent wrongness of people deliberately killing other people.
▪
The jelly cupboard was on its back, its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.
▪
We were both lying on our backs, our heads on our clasped hands.
II. verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
about
▪
Their droppings lay about like scattered handfuls of raisins.
▪
Would I lie about a thing like this?
▪
Cod, for instance, lay about nine million eggs into the plankton.
▪
Brown said some have deliberately injured ducks swimming in the lake and have left fishing lines lying about .
▪
At least he's not lying about one thing.
▪
Dietz could not say whether Erik is lying about alleged abuse by his father.
▪
What is there to lie about ?
ahead
▪
Currently, attention is centred on the Irkutsk region's gas and oil resources, but many obstacles lie ahead .
▪
And almost alone among the early Hmong arrivals, he could see that storm signals lay ahead .
▪
Then the nakedness was covered: he had seen what lay ahead .
▪
But remember, dangers lie ahead .
▪
The horse-trading that lies ahead will end only when the three key players have said their piece.
▪
It had been a good spring for the President, but trouble lay ahead .
▪
And what lies ahead in 1993?
▪
What surfaces is the inevitable reckoning with what lies ahead .
around
▪
Lopped off brambles lay around and the long grass was all trampled.
▪
Perhaps there was a bit of bread lying around somewhere.
▪
These can be just those pieces which they find lying around the surface or they can be ripped off the growing plants.
▪
Thou shalt not leave illegal things lying around in plain sight.
▪
It is also dangerous to pick up needles or syringes that you see lying around .
▪
Then parents put up with the toy lying around for another couple of months before they want to get rid of it.
▪
The property room looked like a theatrical battlefield with masks and armour lying around in different stages of completion.
back
▪
The convulsions stopped and Charles lay back exhausted.
▪
I grope; then lie back .
▪
Frank was lying back on the pillows with his eyes closed.
▪
He covered his face and lay back and let the giggles take him.
▪
Laying my pack of cigarettes on the table, I lay back on the bed and looked at the ceiling.
▪
Thinbill lay back and looked up at the stars.
▪
He lay back on his thick pile of cushions and chuckled.
▪
She moaned and lay back , her eyes wide in the darkness.
down
▪
Still shivering, we were made to lie down , men and women in adjoining beds.
▪
He scooped out a hollow and lying down piled the leaves over him like a thick coverlet.
▪
I lay down across the path.
▪
Never mind that old sergeant major of yours won't lie down , you're not doin' any ironing.
▪
His own father would lie down after dinner, light a cigar, and listen to classical music.
▪
Then she lay down , still with her shoes on, and let herself cry.
▪
We set him on the coat, lay down on either side and sobbed along with him.
here
▪
And here lies a fundamental difference of opinion - how should a National Park operate?
▪
I lie here thinking, and then all at once my eyes close.
▪
And here lies a contradiction at the heart of AT&T's original business, even before it tried to get into computers.
▪
Her clothes and hair are soaked; she must have been lying here for a long time.
▪
The key here lies not with personal rivalries, as administrative historians would have us believe.
▪
Now you just lie here and enjoy the rest.
▪
A new territory lay here , in which she must live.
▪
Here lies a central dispute throughout the social sciences, and it is one to which we will often revert.
just
▪
The other phosphorylated region of c-Jun lies just upstream from the C-terminal bZIP domain that specifies dimerisation and DNA-binding.
▪
She had passed out there-or perhaps just lain down and drifted into sleep.
▪
I wasn't going to just lie down and die.
▪
He was just lying there looking at her as if he was dreaming with his eyes open.
▪
You are just lying there with these people washing, dressing and at the same time inflicting pain on you.
▪
He was just lying in the road, looking straight up.
▪
Now you just lie here and enjoy the rest.
▪
And then it just lies there on the screen, with all the inert charm of a well-dressed mannequin.
still
▪
He threw himself, face down, into the two-foot-deep trench and lay still .
▪
The bear fell over and lay still in the water.
▪
This one is about three hours old and still lying in the foetal position in which it emerged from the egg.
▪
The parcel still lay on the table, and both girls had stood up.
▪
It was quite obvious where Miss Rose's interests still lay .
▪
The sixth tanker still lay in the ravine, waiting for a crew to pull it out of the ditch.
▪
Rolling on to his back, he lay still as a corpse with only his face breaking the surface.
▪
We lay still , afraid to show that we were awake.
there
▪
It still lay there on the keys, the fingers extended to form the shape.
▪
But he was tired so he just lay there , listening to the street sounds, and waited for morning.
▪
He lay there , feeling very tender and protective, and put an arm rather tentatively around her.
▪
He lay there for a minute to get his breath.
▪
Both her dear sisters lay there in the basin, cruelly murdered, and cut in pieces.
▪
Between geologist and geology there lies a daunting barrier: the deep and rolling ocean.
▪
Well, then, lie there and believe what you like.
therein
▪
And therein lies the key criticism of Mr Lamont's move towards an energy efficient Britain.
▪
The theory of evolution by natural selection reached out far beyond biology, and therein lies its significance.
▪
She is not afraid of the outside world, but recognizes its beauty, and therein lies a danger.
▪
Not that she dared to hope for a reference from this place! Therein lay her difficulty.
▪
And therein lies a Daley legend.
▪
And therein lies the deepest fascination about records and milestones.
▪
More importantly, the adoption of these practices made the individual worker feel insignificant. Therein lies the problem.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
He lay on the track for five minutes before being rescued by two friends who were also out riding.
▪
It doesn't set out to lie , of course, but it sometimes succeeds.
▪
Now, with the founder gone, these ominous flaws lay glaringly exposed.
▪
Public servants, like children with guns, learn to lie .
▪
She was dressed in a silk kimono and lying on the daybed when he went in.
▪
The immorality lies in the inherent wrongness of people deliberately killing other people.
▪
The jelly cupboard was on its back, its contents lying in a heap in the corner of the bottom shelf.
▪
We were both lying on our backs, our heads on our clasped hands.
III. noun
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADJECTIVE
big
▪
These are three big lies that nutritionists and obesity experts say are making the rounds this season.
▪
Having tracked the reform process from the start, we can say the official line is a big , fat lie .
blatant
▪
However, it was obviously a blatant lie that he had no idea that Hewett and Charlton were police officers.
complete
▪
That was her claim, but what followed was a complete lie in terms of the manifesto pledge.
outright
▪
Nothing so tempts us to believe outright lies and unfounded stories posing as science than the sensationalistic schlock therein.
▪
He got up and briefly stepped outside to avoid telling an outright lie .
white
▪
Some orange badges, quite obviously, are gained by telling white lies .
▪
There are white lies and white heat.
▪
Why hadn't she told a white lie and claimed she had a licence?
▪
What did it matter, a little white lie like that?
▪
Do you get just a little sort of tap for a white lie but minced up for murder?
■ VERB
believe
▪
Yet at times such as this Charlotte wished she could still believe all the lies she had been told.
▪
Nothing so tempts us to believe outright lies and unfounded stories posing as science than the sensationalistic schlock therein.
give
▪
But the Cambridgeshire result gives lie to the notion that nice guys can't win.
▪
He heard the calm voice, but could feel the trembling body which gave it the lie .
▪
Does not that hostility to the charter give the lie to the Opposition parties' request for freedom of information?
▪
The quatrain poems give the lie to that.
▪
The Bomb gives the lie to the false Enlightenment doctrine of perpetual progress.
▪
They posed for photographers at the star-studded show, giving the lie to rumours they had been separated for several weeks.
▪
Not far, she said, and then gave the lie by saying she'd plenty of petrol.
live
▪
If I accepted this relationship you seem to want, you'd come to hate me for making you live a lie .
▪
If you live a lie , what is the next step?
▪
It is toiling to live with a lie .
▪
Now Diana will feel she need no longer go on living a lie trapped in a sham relationship.
▪
He said he would not live with a lie .
▪
All their married life she had been living a lie .
▪
By refraining from questioning I've allowed Liza to go on living a lie .
spread
▪
Let them then spread all these lies .
tell
▪
She did not think Matilda was meaning to tell a lie .
▪
But if there is no punishment, it is perfectly acceptable to tell lies .
▪
In the process, it will inevitably begin to tell itself plausible lies .
▪
Perhaps Lou had told him the monstrous lie that I didn't love him any more?
▪
We can not tell a lie , so we confessed we were getting way too many.
▪
Why hadn't she told a white lie and claimed she had a licence?
▪
Hear me, my friends, for it is not the time for me to tell you a lie .
PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
a tissue of lies
▪
The Springall business was hidden by a tissue of lies.
be a good/quick/easy etc lay
▪
I don't deny it was a good lay .
be/lie at the bottom of sth
▪
His girlfriend had been woken by the noise, and had found him lying at the bottom of the stairs.
▪
Holman lay at the bottom of the open grave where he'd been roughly dumped.
▪
Knowing that self-interest lay at the bottom of his proposal did not prevent my being grateful.
▪
Mind you're not found lying at the bottom of the steps with a broken neck like Amy Robsart.
▪
The female's sperm storage tubules are sausage-shaped and sperm lie at the bottom of the tube.
▪
The rest, including your own clothes, now lie at the bottom of some deep, evil-smelling swamp.
▪
To deliver water from these depths the pumping machine has to be at the bottom of the well.
▪
Your name will be at the bottom of the letter-why write it twice?
be/lie in ruins
▪
Our economy lies in ruins .
▪
Whole blocks of the city were in ruins after the war.
▪
Abingdon's trade had been waning for some time, with its fulling mills lying in ruins and unemployment rife by 1538.
▪
Elizabeth Jarvis said it was like St Paul's Cathedral, miraculously saved while all around it lay in ruins .
▪
He thought the surrounding towns must lie in ruins now, too.
▪
I have said, and I say again, that Trantor will lie in ruins within the next five centuries.
▪
It was to lie in ruins for another sixty-one years.
▪
Large rural areas lay in ruins .
▪
The centrepiece was a gradual revaluation of the lira against the dollar-a strategy which now lies in ruins .
be/lie/sit sprawled (out)
▪
He was lying sprawled across the pillow leaning on his elbow, his head propped to one side, reading the letter.
▪
His rear gunner lay sprawled dead in the back.
▪
The next thing she knew, she was lying sprawled across the pavement.
▪
The observer lay sprawled across his gun, his blond hair streaming romantically in the wind.
▪
We may see a road accident but we shall never be sprawled out on the tarmacadam like that.
lay a hand/finger on sb
▪
He wouldn't dare lay a finger on any of us.
▪
I laid a hand on his hair.
▪
I lay a hand on his chest and felt him breathe, mile after mile through the Kentucky night.
▪
If she laid a hand on him, what could he do besides run for it?
▪
Some one laid a hand on me.
▪
Stuyvesant responded by laying hands on To bias Feake, who delivered the document, arresting and eventually banishing him.
▪
The odds are that the young man would not have laid a finger on her, but what if ...?
lay bricks/carpet/concrete/cables etc
▪
Compact the base, then lay concrete, using a 1 cement to 5 parts ballast mix.
▪
During the week I found work in town painting houses, laying carpets and delivering telephone books.
▪
Trying to raise efficiency and morale without first setting this structure to rights is like trying to lay bricks without mortar.
▪
Why didn't he lay concrete you ask?
lay claim to (doing) sth
▪
Dole himself did not expect to lay claim to the title of presumptive nominee until after the March 26 primary in California.
▪
I'd guess it also can lay claim to the oldest leader of a still-functioning organisation today.
▪
Initially these had been one hundred and seventy-five men and twenty-five horses laying claim to an empire of fourteen million.
▪
They seem to lay claim to being purely of the mind's eye, a manifestation of pure objectivity.
▪
This latter idea could lay claim to a basis in ideas of collegiality - but only of a limited nature.
▪
With his victory in Florida officially certified, Bush announced new moves to lay claim to the White House.
lay down the law
▪
If Bob starts laying down the law, just tell him to shut up.
▪
Parents need to lay down the law regarding how much TV their children watch.
▪
By eleven o'clock I was standing in front of Patterson's desk laying down the law.
▪
It is unfortunate that Mrs Gardner's thoroughness did not extend to laying down the law about insurance.
▪
MacFarland said I would do well in his class and laid down the law about doing well in the others.
▪
Ron, too, was laying down the law.
▪
She would lay down the laws.
▪
Steadily I disappointed Paquita, who believed it was my job to lay down the law with Clarisa.
▪
They made a move for the piano, but we laid down the law and soon redirected their energy to sightseeing.
▪
Well, there was nothing for it, I had to lay down the law in no uncertain terms.
lay down your life
▪
He considered it a privilege to lay down his life for his country.
▪
He remembered the words of Izz Huett: She would have laid down her life for you.
▪
I would lay down my life for it.
▪
They had true grievances to settle and were ready to lay down their lives for vengeance.
lay emphasis/stress on sth
▪
In addition to the need for humility, discipline and singleminded devotion in the quest for Truth Gandhi lays stress on prayer.
▪
In the matter of ultimate aesthetic evaluation it laid stress on the intuitive response of the general public.
▪
She said that her interview had laid stress on personal circumstances rather than experience and qualifications.
lay it on (thick)
▪
He laid it on top of one of the garbage cans lined up in front of his building.
▪
I laid it on soil; the shoulders managed a few slow twitches, pulled it an inch forward.
▪
I laid it on the line.
▪
I took a card out and laid it on the counter.
▪
She laid it on the floor of the car.
▪
She took her coat off and laid it on the bed.
▪
Tenderly she laid it on the bed.
▪
That way, unless I've really laid it on thick, I can get along at a cracking pace.
lay it on with a trowel
lay off (sb)
▪
An estimated 3 million workers have been laid off be-tween 1989 and 1995 as corporate profits have soared.
▪
He and Dean had just been laid off during a seniority lapse because of a drastic reduction of crews.
▪
He must lay off the kif.
▪
The sort of business which flourished in the eighties but suffered in the recession hit nineties, laying off workers.
▪
The station has laid off one-third of its staff.
▪
Three years later, it reported its worst quarterly loss ever and laid off 16 percent of its work force.
▪
We must lay off the booze even during Holy Communion.
▪
We sought out people who had been laid off from large corporations and were forced to create new lives.
lay off (sth)
▪
An estimated 3 million workers have been laid off be-tween 1989 and 1995 as corporate profits have soared.
▪
He and Dean had just been laid off during a seniority lapse because of a drastic reduction of crews.
▪
He must lay off the kif.
▪
The sort of business which flourished in the eighties but suffered in the recession hit nineties, laying off workers.
▪
The station has laid off one-third of its staff.
▪
Three years later, it reported its worst quarterly loss ever and laid off 16 percent of its work force.
▪
We must lay off the booze even during Holy Communion.
▪
We sought out people who had been laid off from large corporations and were forced to create new lives.
lay plans/a trap etc
▪
And the speaker may be totally unaware of laying a trap.
▪
Clare wouldn't put it past Sam to use a rat to lay a trap for her.
lay sb low
▪
The infection laid her low for a month.
lay sb to rest
▪
She was laid to rest next to her husband, who died in 1993.
▪
At nightfall she was tired and lay down to rest.
▪
Rather it attempted to lay the movement to rest.
▪
She took the pills and lay down to rest with her eyes closed.
▪
Then she lay down to rest in the lounge, surrounded by other women who even here never stopped talking.
▪
We can't even lay him to rest.
▪
Without proof I should really lay the idea to rest.
lay sb ↔ off
lay sb/sth on the line
▪
And Moonshake lay theirs on the line. right now; today, not yesterday.
▪
I laid it on the line.
▪
I couldn't blame her; she'd laid things on the line from the start, as I had.
▪
You give somebody else a chance, and guys lay it on the line for you.
lay sb/sth open to sth
▪
And he has laid himself wide open to the kind of criticism that will cloak him in a dark shroud of misery.
▪
If he had said he was acting under his own authority, he would have laid himself open to ridicule.
▪
Is it something you should do, or do you lay yourself open to terrible legal proceedings?
▪
It is not difficult to see how this approach lays itself open to abuse and drastic criticism.
▪
It is not only those who dismiss the arts as self-indulgent who lay themselves open to such a charge.
▪
Not to have taken action, she said, would have laid her department open to a charge of negligence.
▪
The Evangelicals have become a powerful influence in the land and this lays them open to the wooing of politicians.
▪
This would amount to a breach of their contract of employment and lay them open to disciplinary proceedings.
lay siege to sb/sth
▪
After his victory Edward rallied his troops and marched north to lay siege to Calais.
▪
Almost ten years had passed since they had first laid siege to the town, and it seemed as strong as ever.
▪
He laid siege to the fortress and gradually weakened it to the point of collapse.
▪
In 476 they laid siege to Eion, which guarded the Strymon bridge.
▪
In June 1176 Richard laid siege to Limoges; after a few days resistance Aimar's citadel capitulated.
▪
In less than two generations, since the Second World War, they have laid siege to the academic world.
▪
She had laid siege to the typists' room for some minutes before Marshall had persuaded her downstairs.
lay siege to sb/sth
▪
After his victory Edward rallied his troops and marched north to lay siege to Calais.
▪
Almost ten years had passed since they had first laid siege to the town, and it seemed as strong as ever.
▪
He laid siege to the fortress and gradually weakened it to the point of collapse.
▪
In 476 they laid siege to Eion, which guarded the Strymon bridge.
▪
In June 1176 Richard laid siege to Limoges; after a few days resistance Aimar's citadel capitulated.
▪
In less than two generations, since the Second World War, they have laid siege to the academic world.
▪
She had laid siege to the typists' room for some minutes before Marshall had persuaded her downstairs.
lay sth at the door of sb/sth
lay sth bare
▪
The depth of the problem is laid bare in the fact that 40% of 18- to 25- year-olds are unemployed.
▪
The excavation laid bare the streets of the ancient city.
lay sth bare/open
▪
Krushchev laid bare Stalin's crimes.
▪
New bricks were removed, laying bare the old foundations.
lay sth on sb
lay sth ↔ off
lay sth ↔ on
lay sth ↔ up
lay the foundations/groundwork/base
▪
Because Save the Children want to lay the foundations for a better future.
▪
He laid the foundations by cutting one percent off interest rates, scrapping special car tax, and boosting the housing industry.
▪
He said he hoped they had laid the foundations for peace - but admitted obstacles could lie ahead.
▪
One of my officials chairs the experts committee that laid the groundwork for this achievement.
▪
Progress in primary schools has laid the foundations for the drive to raise standards in secondary schools, announced last month.
▪
The defense Monday seemed to lay the groundwork for an argument about damages.
▪
Then the elite persuaded the newly elected mayor to appoint a committee to lay the groundwork for redevelopment.
▪
Will took advantage of this opportunity to lay the groundwork for his epitaph.
lay the ghost (of sth)
▪
Max So-you've laid the ghost.
lay waste sth
lay your hands on sth
▪
Government reports, social legislation, anything she could lay her hands on that would better acquaint her with her work.
▪
He will sell anything he can lay his hands on in exchange for drugs, which includes any information he may have.
▪
I know exactly where to lay my hands on them.
▪
I like writing letters and reading anything I can lay my hands on!
▪
Kabari women use whatever birth control technology they can lay their hands on.
▪
Looters carried clothes out of shop windows along with anything else they could lay their hands on.
▪
Monday I felt driven to eat everything I could lay my hands on.
▪
Some one had to overturn the present political arrangements in the Limousin if he was ever to lay his hands on Hautefort.
lay/provide the foundation(s) for sth
▪
Tests on healthy people may lay the foundation for a vaccine to prevent AIDS.
▪
I think you have to lay the foundation for your success in terms of defense and rebounding.
▪
It laid the foundation for an organisation with greater appeal to the deaf themselves, particularly the young.
▪
These arguments provide the foundation for Simmel's account of the contradictory nature of modern life.
▪
This theory also laid the foundation for the modern revolution in our understanding of the deepest parts of the earth.
▪
To generate fundamental knowledge that can lay the foundation for future advances in high-performance computing and communications.
▪
We could say that she is laying the foundations for dressing herself later on.
▪
What is stressed rather is that the same phenomenon provides the foundation for both historical tendencies.
▪
While incomplete, the steps that were taken laid the foundation for Workplace 2000.
lay/put sth to rest
▪
Many of the public's doubts have now been laid to rest .
▪
A second glance put my mind to rest , but for a moment there it gave me a turn.
▪
I think this definitely puts it to rest .
▪
Kwasniewski has said he may dissolve parliament to put the issue to rest and call for new elections.
▪
Rather it attempted to lay the movement to rest .
▪
She took the pills and lay down to rest with her eyes closed.
▪
The time has come to put this to rest .
▪
Then she lay down to rest in the lounge, surrounded by other women who even here never stopped talking.
▪
Without proof I should really lay the idea to rest .
let sleeping dogs lie
▪
The best plan is just to let sleeping dogs lie.
let sth drop/rest/lie
lie back and think of England
lie in state
▪
He lay in state , for ever disgraced.
▪
He lay on the marble slab in the centre of the tiny oblong chapel like a king lying in state .
▪
He may as well have been lying in state .
▪
Jane was fearful for a moment that Flopsy might be lying in state .
▪
President to lie in state while he was still alive.
live a lie
▪
Betts said he announced his homosexuality because he couldn't go on living a lie.
▪
I had to leave him - I couldn't go on living a lie.
▪
A few miles from the house where Irina and I live lies an old churchyard.
▪
All their married life she had been living a lie.
▪
But she was living a lie wasn't she?
▪
By refraining from questioning I've allowed Liza to go on living a lie.
▪
If I accepted this relationship you seem to want, you'd come to hate me for making you live a lie.
▪
If you live a lie, what is the next step?
▪
Now Diana will feel she need no longer go on living a lie trapped in a sham relationship.
nail a lie/myth
pack of lies
▪
It's a pack of lies.
▪
It could all have been a pack of lies that Uncle Max cooked up because it gave him such power over Tawno.
▪
Nicholas frankly admitted that for the most part the reports were a pack of lies.
▪
Or was it all a pack of lies to make me give in?
patent lie/nonsense/impossibility etc
put/lay your cards on the table
▪
If they're willing to put all their cards on the table and negotiate, that's good.
▪
If we want to reach an agreement, we'll have to lay all our cards on the table.
▪
They're willing to put all their cards on the table and negotiate.
▪
Come on, you can lay your cards on the table in this house.
▪
The new rules appear to encourage parties to lay their cards on the table and facilitate early settlements.
put/lay/set down a marker
see/find out how the land lies
set/lay/clap eyes on sb/sth
▪
Bedford disliked Halsey the minute he set eyes on him.
▪
How could she possibly know, since he had not set eyes on the girl?
▪
I bonded on the second night I laid eyes on Hyakutake.
▪
Just hours earlier she had set eyes on the pretty two-year-old and sister Anna-Camilla, seven, for the first time.
▪
Never anywhere have I set eyes on such a one.
▪
No sooner did she set eyes on the gentleman than she recognised his pecuniary position to be merely temporary.
▪
The couple fell in love before they had even set eyes on each other during a six-month long distance courtship.
sit/lie/lean back
▪
Craig sighed and leaned back in his chair.
▪
But no one can sit back in investment clubs and just listen.
▪
He must generate all his own internal discipline against the possible inclination to lie back and enjoy his good fortune.
▪
He sat back on his heels, sorrowfully examining the ruined glove.
▪
He walked without hesitation to the very front row, sat down and lay back , gazing up at the screen.
▪
She heard him returning just as she sat back to admire her handiwork.
▪
Then she lay back on her pillow and they looked at each other as if it was for the first time.
▪
We started to sit back because we were up on the No. 1 team in the nation.
▪
Whatever some think, we don't sit back .
the lay of sth
▪
A lot of people, especially those new to the city, have no concept of the lay of the land.
▪
Failure to recognise slopes until committed to landing Make a point of looking for the lay of the surrounding countryside.
▪
It was therefore an important moment when Tolkien gave Lewis the Lay of Leithian to read in manuscript.
the lay of the land
▪
He's got to get the lay of the land before he makes any decisions.
▪
A lot of people, especially those new to the city, have no concept of the lay of the land.
therein lies sth
▪
The treaty was imposed by force, and therein lay the cause of its ineffectiveness.
time hangs/lies heavy on your hands
you've made your bed and you must lie on it
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪
Davenport said the congressman's allegations were nothing more than "downright lies".
▪
He called the report "a pack of lies".
▪
How can the newspapers print all these lies about her?
▪
Jim said that he was planning to stay home and watch TV, but I knew it was a lie .
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪
And yet parents press children to be truthful, admonishing against wild stories and silly lies.
▪
But she was afraid that some evil tongue might poison me with lies ....
▪
Jean Cocteau said that history is facts which become lies and that legends are lies which become history.
▪
Otherwise, it would sound like some kind of weird, fawning lie .
▪
That would be a bit of a lie .