/lay"up'/ , n.
1. Basketball. a shot with one hand from a point close to the basket, in which a player shoots the ball toward the basket, often off the backboard.
2. the operation of assembling veneers for pressing into plywood.
3. the operation of applying alternate layers of material and a binder to form a bonded material.
4. lay 1 (def. 64).
Also, layup .
[ 1940-45; n. use of v. phrase lay up ]