lay something on phrasal verb ( see also ↑ lay )
1 . lay something ↔ on especially British English to provide something such as food, entertainment, or transport for a group of people:
They laid on a buffet for his farewell party.
A bus has been laid on to take you home.
2 . lay something on somebody to ask someone to do something, especially something that is difficult or something they will not want to do:
Sorry to lay this on you, but we need someone to give a talk at the conference next week.
3 . lay it on (thick) informal
a) to praise someone or something too much, especially in order to get what you want
b) to talk about something in a way that makes it seem more important, serious etc than it really is SYN exaggerate