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Lay off   /leɪ ɔf/   Listen
Lay off

verb
1.
Put an end to a state or an activity.  Synonyms: cease, discontinue, give up, quit, stop.
2.
Dismiss, usually for economic reasons.  Synonym: furlough.






WordNet 3.0 © 2010 Princeton University








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"Lay off" Quotes from Famous Books



... jolly-boat had been cast-off shortly before we approached the shore, Captain Billings hailing Mr Macdougall and telling him to bring her head to the sea, and lay off until we got ashore; so, there she was, riding in safety, about half a cable's length out, beyond reach of the surf, while we were tumbling about in it after the long-boat had upset us so unexpectedly ...
— On Board the Esmeralda - Martin Leigh's Log - A Sea Story • John Conroy Hutcheson

... waterside, and there got a boat, and through bridge, and there saw a lamentable fire. Everybody endeavouring to remove their goods, and flinging into the river, or bringing them into lighters that lay off; poor people staying in their houses till the very fire touched them, and then running into boats or clambering from one pair of stairs by the waterside to another. And among other things, the poor pigeons, I perceive, were loth to leave their houses, but ...
— The World's Greatest Books, Vol X • Various

... with the islanders, some of whom came as much as fifteen miles out to them. The chief article of commerce was salt, which was of very good quality. On the 5th January the southern point of Owhyhee was rounded, and they lay off a large village, where they were quickly surrounded by canoes laden "with hogs and women": the latter are not held up as patterns of all the virtues. Vegetables seemed to be scarce, and Cook concluded that either the land could not produce them, or the crops had been ...
— The Life of Captain James Cook • Arthur Kitson

... "Ah, lay off!" growled a deep, sullen voice. "I ain't scared, but this looks fishy to me. Something's wrong down there 'tween the hulls—damn wrong, I tell you. We only found four skeletons, an' four, ain't the full crew for a ship ...
— Hawk Carse • Anthony Gilmore

... my feet and half carried, half dragged along in the midst of the gang. My horse had already been led away in the opposite direction. Our course lay off the road, down a very rocky and rugged ravine which sloped away towards the sea. There seemed to be no trace of a path, and I could only stumble along over rocks and bushes as best I might in my fettered and crippled state. The blood, however, had dried over my wounds, and the ...
— Micah Clarke - His Statement as made to his three Grandchildren Joseph, - Gervas and Reuben During the Hard Winter of 1734 • Arthur Conan Doyle

... also had reconnoitred the entire rebel lines about Atlanta, which were well built, but were entirely too extensive to be held by a single corps or division of troops, so I instructed Colonel Poe, United States Engineers, on my staff, to lay off an inner and shorter line, susceptible of defense by ...
— The Memoirs of General W. T. Sherman, Complete • William T. Sherman

... world, remote from all the main highroads of the new England. Ships now went past the North Foreland to London, and knew it only as a dangerous point, not without a sinister reputation for wrecking. On the other hand, on the land side, the island lay off the great highways, surrounded by marsh or half-reclaimed levels; and it seems rapidly to have sunk into a state resembling that of the more distant parts of Cornwall. The inhabitants degenerated into good wreckers and bad tillers. They say an Orkney man is a farmer who owns a boat, ...
— Science in Arcady • Grant Allen

... have not been near the place, give a look round beyond the rocks for anything that might show whether some of the crew got ashore—fires made, or anything of that sort. Should you see signs, we will fire a gun or two when you return, and lay off for a few hours to give them a chance of coming down to ...
— With Cochrane the Dauntless • George Alfred Henty

... said: "You look fagged, knocked out, done up, old man. You've been pegging away too long and too steadily. Why don't you let up for awhile? Lay off for a week or ...
— Their Yesterdays • Harold Bell Wright

... but lately that I followed a road that lay off the general travel through a pleasant country of hills and streams. As the road was not a thoroughfare and journeyed no farther than the near-by town where I was to get my supper, it went at a lazy winding pace. If a dog ...
— Chimney-Pot Papers • Charles S. Brooks

... which occupied the left bank of the river, and was very weak in point of numbers, we fell in with a very strong tribe upon the right bank. They numbered 211 in all. We lay off the bank, in order to escape their importunities; a measure that by no means satisfied them. The women appeared to be very prolific; but, as a race, these people are not to be compared with the natives of the mountains, or of the upper branches ...
— Two Expeditions into the Interior of Southern Australia, Complete • Charles Sturt

... the point of starting for Morte, and so round to Saunton Court, and the sands beyond it; where a Clovelly trawler, which we had chartered for the occasion, had promised to send a boat on shore and take us off, provided the wind lay off the land. ...
— Prose Idylls • Charles Kingsley

... engaged a private sitting room, so that we need not go down to the public table, and dinner will be laid for us there in a few minutes. You need not lay off your wraps until you go there; and if there is any special dish that you would particularly like, my dear, I hope you will order it at once. Come." And he offered his arm to Mrs. Stillwater, to whom, indeed, he had ...
— For Woman's Love • Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth

... it's the only sex here, three-fourths of the time. Even the children are mostly all girls. When the husbands come up Saturday nights, they don't want to go on a tramp Sundays. They want to lay off and rest. That's about how it is. Well, you see some changes about Lion's Head, I presume?" he asked, with what seemed an impersonal ...
— Henry James, Jr. • William Dean Howells

... departure on the 29th. The 2d May we were in the latitude of Cape Blanco, and passed the tropic of Cancer on the 5th. All this time we had a fair wind at north-east, sailing always before the wind, till the 13th May, when we came within eight degrees of the line, where we met a contrary wind. We lay off and on from that time till the 6th June, when we crossed the equinoctial line. While thus laying off and on, we captured a Portuguese caravel, laden by some merchants of Lisbon for Brasil, in which vessel we got ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Vol. VIII. • Robert Kerr

... lot to get my withes," said he. "Whilst I'm gone, you put me up a mite o' luncheon. I sha'n't lay off to come ...
— Tiverton Tales • Alice Brown

... a fireman—stokin' on de liners. [Then with sudden rage, rattling his cell bars.] I'm a hairy ape, get me? And I'll bust youse all in de jaw if yuh don't lay off kiddin' me. ...
— The Hairy Ape • Eugene O'Neill

... asking this question, the soldier who lay off to their left, and who had not discharged his piece for some time, fired simultaneously with a shot which came from the direction where ...
— The Kopje Garrison - A Story of the Boer War • George Manville Fenn

... buoy, similar to that which had floated on the bosom of the Neuse when the Ebba lay off Healthful House. ...
— Facing the Flag • Jules Verne

... Chloris, lay off the flapper stuff; What's fit for Pholoe, a fluff, Is not for Ibycus's wife— A woman at your ...
— Something Else Again • Franklin P. Adams

... of the power-deck cadet suddenly broke in over the intercom. "Lay off that space gas, Manning. Just see that this space wagon gets on the ground in one piece. Then you ...
— Danger in Deep Space • Carey Rockwell

... Zagozhi, in between three and four days they reached Egga, a large town situated behind a morass, several creeks leading out of it. A vast number of large canoes lay off the place, laden with all kinds of merchandise. The chief, a venerable man with a long, white beard, examined them from head to foot and, remarking that they were strange-looking people well worth seeing, ...
— Great African Travellers - From Mungo Park to Livingstone and Stanley • W.H.G. Kingston

... on in front, talking in a low tone about making another expedition into the mountainous part, in the hope of finding it, the higher we climbed, more free from risk of meeting natives, and we were now getting so near the shore that we could hear the beat of the waves upon a reef that lay off our hut, and sheltered the boat from being washed about, when all of a sudden, as we were traversing some low, scrubby bushes which were more thorny than was pleasant, Ebo suddenly struck us both on the shoulder, forcing us down amongst the leaves and twigs, and on looking sharply ...
— Nat the Naturalist - A Boy's Adventures in the Eastern Seas • G. Manville Fenn

... the Capitan, with big whiskers and dirty regimentals, came on board to dine. While at dinner a large ship appeared in the offing, and soon afterwards we saw a light whale-boat pulling into the harbor. The ship lay off and on, and a boat came alongside of us, and put on board the captain, a plain young Quaker, dressed all in brown. The ship was the Cortes, whaleman, of New Bedford, and had put in to see if there were any ...
— Two Years Before the Mast • Richard Henry Dana

... needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy considerably greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, lay off surplus workers, and develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to entry in their rivals' home markets than the barriers to entry of foreign firms in US markets. US firms ...
— The 2002 CIA World Factbook • US Government

... Have it large enough, or at least open on two ends, so that a horse can be used in plowing and harrowing. And if by any means you can have it within reach of an adequate supply of water, that will be a tremendous help in seasons of protracted drought. Then again, if you have ground enough, lay off two plots so that you can take advantage of the practice of rotation, alternating grass, potatoes or corn with the vegetable garden. Of course it is possible to practice crop rotation to some extent within the limits of even the small vegetable garden, but ...
— Home Vegetable Gardening • F. F. Rockwell

... all air leanin' toward promises of little work an' lots of pay," answered Jerry, with a laugh. "Morgan's on the fence about joinin'. But Andrew agreed. He's Dutch an' pig-headed. Jansen's only too glad to make trouble fer his boss. They're goin' to lay off the rest of to-day an' talk with Glidden. They all agreed to meet down by the culvert. An' thet's what they was arguin' with ...
— The Desert of Wheat • Zane Grey

... it," said Helen. "I want to talk to Daren." She gayly shoved the young people ahead of her in a mass, and called to Bessy: "Here, you kid vamp, lay off Daren." ...
— The Day of the Beast • Zane Grey

... on to Marseilles. The coasts were full of old ruins, which I sketched. We lay off Malaga for a day, but I could not go ashore, much as I longed to. At Marseilles, Sam and the captain and I went ...
— Memoirs • Charles Godfrey Leland

... desperate than that in which I was about to engage; and, having once made up my mind to the thing, I thought of nothing else till my trunk of clothes was ready and on board. That being effected, I went down with the captain, and took possession of my cabin and birth in the vessel, which lay off King's-road, and, as she was ready to sail with the first fair wind, I should have staid on board had not the captain insisted upon my taking leave of Mr. Gresley, and sending my horse back to my father. Although I considered the horse as my own, and had been offered thirty ...
— Memoirs of Henry Hunt, Esq. Volume 1 • Henry Hunt

... sick, and couldn't go, and—-stop—I'm before my story, I believe—they made their voyage without him. They landed, dug trenches, and blistered their hands, and spent over two days in the search, while the schooner lay off and on, waiting for them: but they found nothing. After they got back, however, the colonel he had a meeting with the owners, and satisfied them all, in some way—I never knew how—that they had just reversed the bearings, and hadn't been near the place. How he knew, I can't say, for he had ...
— Godey's Lady's Book, Vol. 42, January, 1851 • Various

... the whole state of the case laid before me in the clearest manner. Nothing could be more unpromising. The sloop had quitted the ice but eight-and-forty hours before making the Norway coast; she had not been able even to reach Bear Island. Two hundred miles of ice lay off the southern and western coast of Spitzbergen—(the eastern side is always blocked up with ice)—and then bent round in a continuous semicircle towards Jan Mayen. That they had not failed for want of exertion—the bows of his ships sufficiently testified. ...
— Letters From High Latitudes • The Marquess of Dufferin (Lord Dufferin)

... fir on the opposite slope. I have never seen purer tints in the sunshine—never a softer transparency in the shadows. The landscape was ideal in its beauty, except the houses, whose squalor and discomfort were real. Our first station lay off the road, on a hill. A very friendly old man promised to get us horses as soon as possible, and his wife set before us the best fare the house afforded—milk, oaten shingles, and bad cheese. The house was dirty, and the aspect of ...
— Northern Travel - Summer and Winter Pictures of Sweden, Denmark and Lapland • Bayard Taylor

... service of this Revenue, do attend the Surveyor of Sloops, &c. in London for the purpose of being examined on the several points submitted in the report of the said Surveyor, as essential for the qualification of officers of that description, namely, whether he understand navigation, is competent to lay off and ascertain courses and distances on the charts, can work a day's work and find the time of high and low water in any port of great Britain, and understand the use ...
— King's Cutters and Smugglers 1700-1855 • E. Keble Chatterton

... strange green fire, and did know that they spelled to me in the Set-Speech a swift warning that a grey monster, that was a Great Grey Man, had made scent of me in the dark, and was even in that moment of time, crawling towards me through the low moss-bushes that lay off beyond the fire-hole to my back. And the message was sharp; and bade me to leap into the bushes unto my left; and to hide there; so that I might chance to take the thing ...
— The Night Land • William Hope Hodgson

... in one of the noblest ballads of the English language. I had written my tame prose abstract, I shall beg the reader to believe, when I had no notion that the sacred bard designed an immortality for Greenville. Sir Richard Greenville was Vice-Admiral to Lord Thomas Howard, and lay off the Azores with the English squadron in 1591. He was a noted tyrant to his crew: a dark, bullying fellow apparently; and it is related of him that he would chew and swallow wine-glasses, by way of convivial levity, till the blood ran out of his mouth. ...
— The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson - Swanston Edition - Vol. 2 (of 25) • Robert Louis Stevenson

... be suited to the needs of Charmian and Claude, and it charmed them both by its strangeness and beauty. It lay off the high road, to the left of the Boulevard Brou, a little way down the hill; and though there were many villas near it, and from its garden one could look over the town, and see cavalry exercising on the Champs ...
— The Way of Ambition • Robert Hichens

... about 30 tons, having one gun mounted on a pivot and 30 men. She manned us with twelve men, Spaniards, French, Germans and Americans, and carried us towards the Florida coast. Being arrived on the coast nearly opposite to Havana, the privateer went in shore to reconnoitre, and our ship lay off and on. Next morning she returned with two small vessels, a schooner and sloop. We then all four steered over the reef towards the small islands, and on Tuesday afternoon were brought to anchor in a little harbour formed by the Florida isles and the Martyr's Reef, as snug a hole as buccaniers ...
— Piracy off the Florida Coast and Elsewhere • Samuel A. Green

... impassable barrier between them and a much-loved member of their family. In a seclusion almost hermetical they knew that a war existed between their country and the United States; but that was far away upon the Rio Grande. They had heard, moreover, that our fleet lay off Vera Cruz, and the pealing of the distant thunder of San Juan had from time to time reached their ears; but they had not dreamed, on seeing us, that the city was invested by land. The truth was now clear; and the anguish of the mother and daughters ...
— The Rifle Rangers • Captain Mayne Reid

... all, his clothes were the poorest. But he was scarcely noticed. The occasional patrolman did not more than glance at him. And he was fully as indifferent. At his Aunt Sophie's, a policeman—by name Mike Callaghan—had been a frequent visitor, when he was wont to lay off not only his cap but his coat as well, and sit around bareheaded in his shirt-sleeves, smoking. This glimpse of an officer of the law, shorn, as it were, of his dignity, had made Johnnie realize, even as a babe, that policemen are but mortals after all, as ready to ...
— The Rich Little Poor Boy • Eleanor Gates

... mouth, then practically blew the words at her. "Damn it, Ursula, you're spending too much time psycho-dreaming these cheap plays. You know the psychiatrist has warned you to lay off them. Stimulates your endocrine system too much. No wonder you live on ...
— The House from Nowhere • Arthur G. Stangland

... dragging step, approached an aspen log that lay off the ground, propped by the stump, and here he leaned for support. Columbine laid her ...
— The Mysterious Rider • Zane Grey

... To lay off the lines governing the positions and play off the Game known as Base ...
— Spalding's Baseball Guide and Official League Book for 1895 • Edited by Henry Chadwick

... the sympathy of the public in a horse's favour. Almost coincidentally with the completion of the Stable Commission it was found that the public were determined to support the Ambler at any price over seven to one. Barney's at once proceeded judiciously to lay off the Stable Money, and this having been done, George found that he stood to win four thousand pounds to nothing. If he had now chosen to bet this sum against the horse at the then current price of eight to one, it is obvious that he could have made an absolute certainty of five ...
— Forsyte Saga • John Galsworthy

... you hire niggers," said the major. "You'll find that they won't work when you want 'em to. They're not reliable, they have no sense of responsibility. As soon as they get a dollar they'll lay off to spend it, and leave yo' work at ...
— The Colonel's Dream • Charles W. Chesnutt

... He lay off the island till a trader's boat pulled across to see what we wanted, and by it we sent a note to Dr. Geddie, one of the Missionaries there. Early next horning, Monday, he arrived in his boat, accompanied by Mr. Mathieson, a newly ...
— The Story of John G. Paton - Or Thirty Years Among South Sea Cannibals • James Paton

... a lady's sigh would outsail either of us in this air, which breathes on us in some such fashion as a whale snores, Sir George, by sudden puffs. I would give the price of a steerage passage, if Great Britain lay off the Cape of Good Hope for a ...
— Homeward Bound - or, The Chase • James Fenimore Cooper

... was sure I heard a band at the hotel up in the rocks—could even make out some of the tunes. Only when our pipe stopp'd, I knew what caused it. Then at cape Eternity and Trinity rock, the pilot with his whistle producing similar marvellous results, echoes indescribably weird, as we lay off in the still bay ...
— Complete Prose Works - Specimen Days and Collect, November Boughs and Goodbye My Fancy • Walt Whitman

... that the wooden walls were the old thorn fence of the Acropolis, and these, being mostly old people, chose to stay, while all the rest went away; and while the wives and children were kindly sheltered by their friends in the Peloponnesus, the men all joined the fleet, which lay off Salamis, and was now 366 in number. The Persians overran the whole country, overcame the few who held out the Acropolis, and set Athens on fire. All the hope of Greece was now in the fleet, which lay in the strait between Attica and the isle of Salamis. Eurybiades, the Spartan commander, ...
— Aunt Charlotte's Stories of Greek History • Charlotte M. Yonge

... the whole art and mystery of excuse-making, in all its branches. Indeed, it was an axiom with her that the cook can do no wrong, and a cook in a Southern kitchen finds abundance of heads and shoulders on which to lay off every sin and frailty, so as to maintain her own immaculateness entire. If any part of the dinner was a failure, there were fifty indisputably good reasons for it, and it was the fault, undeniably, of fifty other people, whom ...
— The Wit and Humor of America, Volume II. (of X.) • Various

... year 1814 found the American coast still rigidly blockaded by the British men-of-war. Two or three of the enemy lay off the mouth of every considerable harbor, and were not to be driven from their post by the icy winds and storms of midwinter on the American coast. It was almost impossible for any American vessel to escape to sea, and a matter of almost ...
— The Naval History of the United States - Volume 2 (of 2) • Willis J. Abbot

... heard from a small boy belonging to the West End, who had climbed up into the rigging of a coaster which lay off one of the warehouses. "She's giving way! She's ...
— Garman and Worse - A Norwegian Novel • Alexander Lange Kielland

... Rochford lay off New Utrecht. On the third of September the officers that had been confined at Flatbush were brought on board the snow called the Mentor. "On the fifth," says Fitch, in his written account, of which ...
— American Prisoners of the Revolution • Danske Dandridge

... Ann. I was but now wishing to see you. Sit you down and lay off your cloak. Why, how pale you look, Ann! ...
— Giles Corey, Yeoman - A Play • Mary E. Wilkins Freeman

... The Beaver lay off the old Customs House for a long time, until taken by the Admiralty for hydrographic work. When done with for that purpose she was sold for ...
— Some Reminiscences of old Victoria • Edgar Fawcett

... was situated where the Telfair Academy now is. He was placed under parole, but nevertheless fled to Bonaventure, the Tabnall estate, not far from the city, where he was protected by friends until he could escape to the British fleet, which then lay off Tybee Island at the mouth of the Savannah River, some eighteen miles below the city. This same Joseph Habersham, it is said, led a party which went out in 1775 in skiffs—called bateaux along this part of the coast—boarded the British ship Hinchenbroke, ...
— American Adventures - A Second Trip 'Abroad at home' • Julian Street

... man, woman and child, as long as the sun shines and water flows. We are ready to promise to give $1,000 every year, for twenty years, to buy powder and shot and twine, by the end of which time I hope you will have your little farms. If you will settle down we would lay off land for you, a square mile for every family of five. Whenever you go to a Reserve, the Queen will be ready to give you a school and schoolmaster, and the Government will try to prevent fire-water from being sent among you. If you ...
— The Treaties of Canada with The Indians of Manitoba - and the North-West Territories • Alexander Morris

... was yet once more caught. Mr. Liddell (whom I had called) could stand this no longer; so we buoyed the line and ran into a bay in Siphano, waiting for calm weather, though I was by no means of opinion that the slight sea and wind had been the cause of our failures. - All next day (Monday) we lay off Siphano, amusing ourselves on shore with fowling pieces and navy revolvers. I need not say we killed nothing; and luckily we did not wound any of ourselves. A guardiano accompanied us, his functions being limited to preventing ...
— Memoir of Fleeming Jenkin • Robert Louis Stevenson

... the Parkes," she said, after a slow examination. "You look more like your Aunt Jerushy; she was on my mother's side. Your brown hair is hern, and your gray eyes; you feature her too. When you're warm through, you can go up-stairs and lay off your things. I don't have folks staying with me often, but ...
— Miss Ashton's New Pupil - A School Girl's Story • Mrs. S. S. Robbins

... 'way over from Nahum Brayton's place. I expect they were busy on the farm, and couldn't spare the horse in proper season. You just sly out an' set the teakittle on again, dear, an' drop in a good han'ful o' chips; the fire's all alive. I'll take her right up to lay off her things, as she'll be occupied with explanations an' gettin' her bunnit off, so you'll have plenty o' time. She's one I shouldn't like ...
— The Country of the Pointed Firs • Sarah Orne Jewett

... sowing, lay off beds four feet wide, so that the water from rains may run or drain off. For every bed four feet wide and twelve yards long, sow one chalk pipe bowl full of seed, after being mixed with ashes; tread with the feet or pat it over with weeding hoes, that it may be close and smooth; cover it with ...
— Tobacco; Its History, Varieties, Culture, Manufacture and Commerce • E. R. Billings

... purpose. Then we have another fleet in our Channel, ready to bombard the French coast. They have destroyed Gronville, and have made an attack upon Dunkirk, but they failed in that, I am sorry to say. But the worst matter, however, is, that the Marquis of Carmarthen, with a squadron under him, which lay off the islands of Scilly to protect our trade, fancying that a superior French fleet was coming out to attack him, when it was only a fleet of merchant-ships, left his station and retired into Milford Haven. This mistake has caused a great blow to our trade. Many of the ...
— John Deane of Nottingham - Historic Adventures by Land and Sea • W.H.G. Kingston

... 'em early in the cool of the day," he explained, "and lay off here for dinner and a rest. Pretty good lot of gash-fiddlers, there, Mr. Thornton. I ...
— The Ramrodders - A Novel • Holman Day

... together on shipboard for nearly two weeks, it was now expedient to get them on shore as soon as possible. But it was necessary to find out beforehand what defences were along the coast, and what forces of the enemy were likely to be encountered in landing. The fleet lay off from the shore about a mile, and it was no small undertaking to convey the 17,000 men on board with all their arms and equipments to the shore in small boats over a rough sea, especially should the landing ...
— The Colored Regulars in the United States Army • T. G. Steward

... the time that the Salsette lay off Cape Janissary that Lord Byron first undertook to swim across the Hellespont. Having crossed from the castle of Chanak-Kalessi, in a boat manned by four Turks, he landed at five o'clock in the evening half a mile above the castle of Chelit-Bauri, ...
— The Life of Lord Byron • John Galt

... stool make with the two 8-1/2 x 1-3/4 x 7/8 in. pieces the lower braces, a lap joint. Find the mid-line of each piece by measuring 4-1/4 in. from the ends. From this line lay off two other lines parallel to it and at a distance of 7/8 in. to the right and left. This makes a 1-3/4 in. square in the centre of each piece. Now transfer these lines down the edges of the lower brace pieces. Saw on the inside of the lines down one-half the thickness or saw and chisel ...
— The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. • Ellen Eddy Shaw

... please, before the toast gets cold. It's no good if the toast gets cold. They don't understand tea as a meal at these places," he said to Maud, as the mourner withdrew. "You have to go to the country to appreciate the real thing. I remember we lay off Lyme Regis down Devonshire way, for a few days, and I went and had tea at a farmhouse there. It was quite amazing! Thick Devonshire cream and home-made jam and cakes of every kind. This sort of thing here is just a farce. ...
— A Damsel in Distress • Pelham Grenville Wodehouse

... "the infamous Kincaid" himself had been stripped of his commission by a "rebel" court-martial. Irby promptly brought the sheet to the Valcours' lodgings, but Flora was out. When she came in, before she could lay off her pretty hat:— ...
— Kincaid's Battery • George W. Cable

... he, 'and you can lay off when you get back. I'm going South with my car and will take the ...
— Danger Signals • John A. Hill and Jasper Ewing Brady

... of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. US business firms enjoy considerably greater flexibility than their counterparts in Western Europe and Japan in decisions to expand capital plant, to lay off surplus workers, and to develop new products. At the same time, they face higher barriers to entry in their rivals' home markets than the barriers to entry of foreign firms in US markets. US firms are at or ...
— The 2004 CIA World Factbook • United States. Central Intelligence Agency

... the day of the bombardment of Caerdaff, Repeller No. 11, accompanied by her crabs, steamed for the English Channel. Two days afterward there lay off the coast at Brighton, with a white flag floating high above her, the old Tallapoosa, now naval ...
— The Great War Syndicate • Frank Stockton

... corpus and the constitution stop short of the ferry. Even Comstock's authority does not cross it: the one exception to the rule that dolls and sheep and babies shall not visit from ward to ward is in favor of the rubber dolls, and the etiquette of the island requires that they shall lay off their woollen jackets and go calling just as the factory turned them out, without a stitch or ...
— Children of the Tenements • Jacob A. Riis

... lazy day, And the good smack Emily idly lay Off Staten Island, in Raritan Bay, With her canvas loosely flapping, The sunshine slept on the briny deep, Nor wave nor zephyr could vigils keep, The oysterman lay on the deck asleep, And ...
— The Universal Reciter - 81 Choice Pieces of Rare Poetical Gems • Various

... kept up nearly one hour, but finding she could not answer it, I concluded she and the ships in shore were enemies. I immediately hauled off to the southward and eastward, and made all sail, having determined to lay off till day light, to see what they were. The ship that we had been chasing, hauled off after us, showing a light, and occasionally making signals, supposed to be ...
— The Medallic History of the United States of America 1776-1876 • J. F. Loubat

... points to be considered are to take slopes from points established on the sketch; to take several sights and average the angle of slope; to properly lay off the elevation by using the slope scale on the alidade; and finally to put in the contours along these lines of sight on the spot thus allowing for difference in topography between the point of sight and the station from which the elevation is taken. Careful note must be made of the drainage ...
— Military Instructors Manual • James P. Cole and Oliver Schoonmaker

... a little harbour, but he had never been in there, and numerous rocks, some beneath the surface, others rising but just above it, lay off its entrance, and the risk of running for it he considered was too great to be encountered. Those on shore might have seen his boat as she flew by, but, should they have done so, even the bravest might have been unwilling ...
— Michael Penguyne - Fisher Life on the Cornish Coast • William H. G. Kingston

... was the means of introducing Kangaroos for the first time to the notice of Europeans. In 1770, during his great voyage of discovery, his ship lay off the coast of New South Wales undergoing repair. One day some of the crew were sent ashore to procure food for several sick sailors. The men saw a number of animals with small fore legs, big hind ones, long and stout tails, which bounded away with incredible ...
— Little Folks (November 1884) - A Magazine for the Young • Various

... calm, and asked her to set down and lay off her things. She sot down but she said she couldn't lay off her things. Says she: "I was comin' down past, and I thought I would call and let you see the last numbah of the Augah. There is a piece in it concernin' the tariff that stirs men's souls. ...
— Masterpieces Of American Wit And Humor • Thomas L. Masson (Editor)

... personal friends, embarked upon it for Harrison's Landing, where she was to be associated with Mrs. John Harris in caring for the soldiers. The Spaulding arrived in due time in the James River, and lay off in the stream while the Ruffin house was burning. On landing, Mrs. Lee found Mrs. Harris, and the Rev. Isaac O. Sloan, one of the Agents of the Christian Commission ready to welcome her to the toilsome duties that were before her. Wretched indeed was the condition of the poor ...
— Woman's Work in the Civil War - A Record of Heroism, Patriotism, and Patience • Linus Pierpont Brockett

... by Admiral Paulding for their protection; and this morning six war-vessels, carrying in all over ninety guns, shotted and trained, could be seen drawn up, so as to command every avenue to the yard, while the iron-clad battery Passaic and a gun-boat lay off the Battery to protect Fort Columbus during the absence of its garrison. Marines armed to the teeth, and howitzers, guarded all the entrances to the Navy Yard. Broadway was almost deserted—no stages were running, street-cars had disappeared—only ...
— The Great Riots of New York 1712 to 1873 • J.T. Headley

... 8x9-inch rectangle for the body of the box and lay off a two-inch space all around. Cut on dotted lines. Score and crease, fold and glue. The laps are glued to the inside and each one turned to the right. When the partitions are put in the laps mark where the ends go, as well as brace the ends ...
— Construction Work for Rural and Elementary Schools • Virginia McGaw

... "Aw, lay off that don't-care stuff!" Johnny growled indignantly. "Caring for you has got nothing to do with it, I tell you. It's just simply a question of what kinda mark I am. You ...
— The Thunder Bird • B. M. Bower

... ship I was in split three top-sails, and at last brought the main-top-mast by the board; and, in a word, we were once or twice driven right ashore; and one time, had not the wind shifted the very moment it did, we had been dashed in a thousand pieces upon a great ledge of rocks which lay off about half-a-league from the shore; but, as I have said, the wind shifting very often, and at that time coming to the E.S.E., we stretched off, and got above a league more sea-room in half-an-hour. After that, it blew with some fury S.W. by S., then ...
— The Life, Adventures & Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton • Daniel Defoe

... doorway at that moment, a wholesome sweet-faced woman of middle age, and took the girls in to the spare bedroom to lay off their ...
— Blue Bonnet in Boston - or, Boarding-School Days at Miss North's • Caroline E. Jacobs

... "Suarez," called the captain, "lay off and on until eight bells, then call me. I'm going to take a nap. We can't make the ...
— A Voyage with Captain Dynamite • Charles Edward Rich

... far into the morning and woke with a headache. At twelve Hannay and Ransome called for him. It was a fine warm day with a southerly wind blowing and sails on the river. Ransome's yacht lay off the pier, with Mrs. Ransome in it. The sails were going up in Ransome's yacht. Hannay's yacht rocked beside it. Dick took Majendie by the arm. Dick, outside in the morning light, looked paler and puffier than ever, but his eyes were kind. He had an idea. Dick's idea was that Majendie ...
— The Helpmate • May Sinclair

... accomplice, Ricardo, awaited. What would they do, now that he was out of the way? The thought seared his brain. Great beads of water, distilled from his agony, burst through his pores. The Juncal river lay off to the west, and at a much less distance than Simiti. He might swim to it and secure a canoe at the village. But—the lake was alive ...
— Carmen Ariza • Charles Francis Stocking

... lay off the United States Navy Yard, on the west of Mare Island, in the straits of the same name. The nearest landing place on the ...
— Boy Scouts in a Submarine • G. Harvey Ralphson

... longer in the power of Behram to avoid putting into the harbour, for he had no alternative but to be dashed to pieces against the frightful rocks that lay off the shore. In this extremity he held a council with his pilot and seamen. "My lads," said he, "you see to what a necessity we are reduced. We must choose one of two things; either to resolve to be swallowed ...
— The Arabian Nights Entertainments Complete • Anonymous

... astonishment, Major Stanleigh's clue was right, for he had at last stumbled upon a man who had known Farquharson well and who was voluminous about him—quite willingly so. With the Sylph at anchor, we lay off Muloa for three nights, and Leavitt gave us our fill of Farquharson, along with innumerable digressions about volcanoes, neoplatonism, the Single Tax, and what not. There was no keeping Leavitt to a coherent narrative about the missing Farquharson. He was incapable of it, and Major Stanleigh and ...
— The Best Short Stories of 1920 - and the Yearbook of the American Short Story • Various

... made an attempt to discern where they were. Someone had shown him where the Chene road lay off to the northwest, passing over a hill beyond Quatre-Champs. Why had they turned to the right instead of to the left? Another object of interest to him was the general and his staff, who had established themselves at the Converserie, a farm on the edge of the plateau. There seemed to be a heated ...
— The Downfall • Emile Zola

... many Arctic foxes there. They gave a name to the country, and called it Helluland [the land of flat stones]. Then they sailed with northerly winds two "doegr," and land then lay before them, and upon it was a great wood and many wild beasts; an island lay off the land to the south-east, and there they found a bear, and they called this Biarney [Bear Island], while the land where the wood was they called Markland [Forest-land]. Thence they sailed southward along the land for a long time, and came ...
— The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985-1503 • Various

... any reason to advance against the baronet's proposal. Accordingly, he and Mildmay forthwith adjourned to consult the chart and lay off the course; and ten minutes later the remainder of the party, who were still sitting on deck, awaiting the return of the absentees, became conscious of the fact that the night-breeze had suddenly strengthened; and when they looked about them in search of ...
— With Airship and Submarine - A Tale of Adventure • Harry Collingwood

... made up my mind yet about that," said Grettir. "My present business is to know whether you will lay off some of the property which you ...
— Grettir The Strong - Grettir's Saga • Unknown

... great centres of disturbance, had begun to seethe with political activity, and even to publish a newspaper, so that it was necessary to show by a first-class massacre that true Russian men were still loyal to God and the Czar. Milovka lay off the pogrom route, and had not of itself caught the contagion; careful injection of the virus was necessary. Moreover, the town was two-thirds Jewish, and consequently harder to fever with the lust of Jewish blood. But in revenge the pogrom would be easier; the Jewish quarter formed a practically ...
— Ghetto Comedies • Israel Zangwill

... troops, was thinly enveloped in smoky vapour; scattered along its shores lay the numerous small craft and larger ships of the hostile fleet. A few skiffs were passing and repassing the Sound, and several American gun-boats lay off a point which jutted out from the main land, far to the eastward. Numberless summer insects mingled their discordant strains amidst the weedy herbage. A heavy black cloud was rising in the north west, which seemed to portend a shower, as ...
— Alonzo and Melissa - The Unfeeling Father • Daniel Jackson, Jr.

... in progress about ten days, abuse, misrepresentation, lying, together with the basest and most contemptible slanders, were hurled at him with unmeasured severity. It was a new ordeal, and he was tempted stronger than ever to lay off his armor and leave the meeting. He decided to go home, and so stated to the pastor, saying: "You have already kept me here longer than any man on earth could have done, and now I am determined to go." "Well," said the pastor, "I am sorry to hear it, ...
— There is No Harm in Dancing • W. E. Penn

... departed from Mona, and the next day after wee came to an Iland called Saona, about 5 leagues distant from Mona, lying on the Southside of Hispaniola neere the East end: betweene these two Ilands we lay off and on 4 or 5 dayes, hoping to take some of the Domingo fleete doubling this Iland, as a neerer way to Spaine then by Cape Tyburon, ...
— The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques and Discoveries of - the English Nation. Vol. XIII. America. Part II. • Richard Hakluyt

... standing on the bank of the river, looking at his boat, which had been thoroughly repaired, painted, and rigged, and lay off the lumber-yard. She was a beautiful craft, and after we had shut up the counting-room, I paused to look ...
— Desk and Debit - or, The Catastrophes of a Clerk • Oliver Optic

... five miles from the bay, the steamer came down upon her. The Yankee was evidently taken by surprise. The Alabama fired a gun, and brought her to. When first we got sight of the Alabama, it was difficult to make out what she was doing; the barque's head had been put about, and the Alabama lay off quite immovable, as if she were taking a sight at the "varmint!" The weather was beautifully calm and clear, and the sea was as smooth and transparent as a sheet of glass. The barque was making her way slowly from the steamer, with ...
— The Cruise of the Alabama and the Sumter • Raphael Semmes

... Then she went off with Mrs. Laval in the carriage, and was fitted with a warm little hat. Coming home towards evening, at the close of this eventful day, Matilda felt as if she hardly knew herself. To lay off her coat and hat in such a warm, cheery little room, where the fire in the grate bade her such a kind welcome; to come down to the drawing-room, where another fire shone and glowed on thick rugs and warm-coloured ...
— The House in Town • Susan Warner

... way to the castle where Fnelon first saw the light, and in order to reach it I had to cross the river. An old flat-bottomed boat, built for conveying men, asses, and other animals from one side to the other, lay off the bank, and two girls, who were in charge of a flock of geese as well as of the ferry, were willing to take me across. While the elder ferried, the younger examined me carefully at close quarters, and apparently with much interest. Presently she asked me ...
— Two Summers in Guyenne • Edward Harrison Barker

... of the Severn and Pearl, lat. 56, 29, long. 85 west. At ten last night fell in with two small islands; at eight in the morning the islands bore N.N.W., by the compass distant eight leagues, in the latitude 54, 00 south; we took 'em for the islands which lay off Brewer's Streights, lat. 54, 50 ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume 17 • Robert Kerr

... 14-20 clearly presupposes the exile, v. 19, towards the end of which it was probably written. Ch. ii. 11, iii. 9, 10, containing ideas which are hardly earlier than Deutero-Isaiah, are also probably exilic or post-exilic. The oracle against Moab and Ammon, ii. 8-10, countries which lay off the line of the Scythian march southwards from Philistia, v. 7, to Egypt, v. 12, are for linguistic, contextual, and ...
— Introduction to the Old Testament • John Edgar McFadyen

... lay off Kingswear Ferry when Mark Brendon arrived. The famous harbour was new to him and though his mind found itself sufficiently occupied, he still had perception disengaged and could admire the graceful river, the hills towering above ...
— The Red Redmaynes • Eden Phillpotts

... in. The heads of the men were on a level with the strip of turf that formed the land's margin. Fifty yards back was the outer edge of a belt of dark wood that covered the flat lands and swept up the sides of the hills that lay off ten or twelve miles to the east. Against such a background nothing would be visible in the darkness. Across on the Gatcombe side were the steep sandstone cliffs, storm-washed and clean, and topped ...
— Sea-Dogs All! - A Tale of Forest and Sea • Tom Bevan

... go again uninjured. According to the report of these Netherlanders, each of these ships carried 80 pieces of ordnance. They reported likewise, that Captain Drake (Sir Francis) lay with 40 English ships in the channel, watching for the fleet from Corunna; and that ten other English ships lay off Cape St Vincent, that if any ships escaped Frobisher at the islands, they might intercept them. These tidings greatly alarmed the islanders, lest if the English failed of catching the Spanish fleet, and got nothing by them, they might fall upon the islands, that they might not go ...
— A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels, Volume VII • Robert Kerr

... Leopold had the knack of investing all he did with an air of mystery, and the deepest interest was evinced in this conversation. At last, as if dismissing matters of first importance, the two men approached William, and he heard Watkins pressing Mr. Leopold to lay off ...
— Esther Waters • George Moore

... hint of sun. He had no idea of north, and he had forgotten the way he had come to this spot the night before. But he was not lost. He knew that. Soon he would come to the land of the little sticks. He felt that it lay off to the left somewhere, not far—possibly just over the next ...
— Love of Life - and Other Stories • Jack London

... can do is to put you at blossom-making to-day, and see how you take to it. It's too bad, though, you don't know anything about feathers; for the flower season ends in a month, anyway, and then I have to lay off all my girls till September, unless they can make feathers too. Then they get jobs on the next floor. There'll be lots of work here, though, for a month, and we might take you ...
— The Long Day - The Story of a New York Working Girl As Told by Herself • Dorothy Richardson

... a total of 180 men. [Footnote: James, vi. 487; while Cooper says 186, James says the British loss was 18 killed and 50 wounded; Major Appling says "14 were killed, 28 wounded, and 27 marines and 106 sailors captured."] They rowed up to Sandy Creek and lay off its mouth all the night, and began ascending it shortly after daylight on the 30th. Their force, however, was absurdly inadequate for the accomplishment of their object. Captain Woolsey had been reinforced by some Oneida Indians, ...
— The Naval War of 1812 • Theodore Roosevelt

... was tremendously interested in the girls and their adventures and experiences. When the ramparts of Fortress Monroe lay off the quarter he reluctantly said good-bye. But he beckoned Madge away from the other chums and walked with her slowly to the prow of ...
— Madge Morton's Secret • Amy D. V. Chalmers

... Lord every Sundown that yuh ain't a forty-dollar man that has got to drill right along or get fired; you'll pat yourself on the back more than once that you've got a cinch on your job and can lay off whenever yuh feel like it. From all the signs and tokens, us Ragged H punchers'll be wise to trade our beds off for lanterns to ride by. Your dad's bought a lot more cattle, and they've drifted like hell; we've got to cover mighty near the whole State uh Montana and part ...
— The Range Dwellers • B. M. Bower

... veritable discoverers. It was pretty to see with what discretion we approached and circled round it, searching for the most favorable point of attack. So much of an iceberg is beneath the surface of the water, ballasting the whole, that it is rather ticklish business cruising in its vicinity. We lay off and on, coquetting with the little beauty, while one of our boats pulled up to it, and threw a lariat over a glittering peak that flamed in the sun like a torch. Then we drew in the slack and made fast, while a half dozen of our men mounted the slippery ...
— Over the Rocky Mountains to Alaska • Charles Warren Stoddard

... sometimes entered the Spanish ports under pretence of being driven there by stress of weather, or by the need of refitting and refreshing; and that, once in the port, they managed to get their cargoes safely ashore. Sometimes, too, it was said, the vessels lay off the shore without going into the harbor; and then smugglers came off in their long, low, swift boats, and received the English goods and carried them into the port. The fact undoubtedly was that the English ...
— A History of the Four Georges, Volume II (of 4) • Justin McCarthy

... Hydrot lay off to starboard of our course: Arpan, where we were to re-outfit, was ahead and to port, and we were already swinging in that direction. The Ertak was working on a close schedule that ...
— The Terror from the Depths • Sewell Peaslee Wright

... have blown up a freight car with dynamite," replied the flagman. "They have threatened me, old and feeble as I am. I'm afraid I'll have to lay off till this ...
— Ralph on the Engine - The Young Fireman of the Limited Mail • Allen Chapman

... to the rear," called Wayland, whose bare, bandaged head made him look like a wounded young officer. "But I guess it's better for me to lay off for a week or two and ...
— The Forester's Daughter - A Romance of the Bear-Tooth Range • Hamlin Garland

... "Remember an' lay off your shawls when you get there, an' carry them over your arms," said the mother, clucking like an excited hen to her chickens. "They'll do to keep the dust off your new dresses goin' an' comin'. An' when you eat your dinners don't get spots ...
— The Life of Nancy • Sarah Orne Jewett

... Great Seal about with him; I told him I wondered how he could submit to be so bored; on which my lady put in about "Sense of Duty," etcetera-rorum. But I (having no Great Seal to carry) went off to Southwold on Wednesday, and lay off there in the calm nights till yesterday: going to Dunwich, which seemed ...
— Two Suffolk Friends • Francis Hindes Groome

... to go up-stairs and lay off her things, but Mrs. Lane refused, in the most positive manner, ...
— Married Life; Its Shadows and Sunshine • T. S. Arthur

... the crew of the Halfmoon while the vessel lay off Honolulu, and deep and ominous were the grumblings of the men. Only First Officer Ward and the second mate went ashore. Skipper Simms kept the men busy painting and holystoning as a ...
— The Mucker • Edgar Rice Burroughs

... said Aunt Debby, after a moment's inspection which seemed to be entirely satisfactory. "Jest lay off yer things thar on the bed, an' come out ter supper. I know ye're sharp-set. A ride from Nashville sech a day ez this is mouty good for the appetite, an' we've hed ...
— The Red Acorn • John McElroy

... lay in Jersey, watching them over in New York, until far into the summer, ready to take up the march when the news should come of the destination of the English fleet that lay off Sandy Hook. ...
— The Tory Maid • Herbert Baird Stimpson

... from view the vessels that lay off shore vainly attempting to check the fire. No water was available except from the waterside and it was not until almost dark that the department was able to turn its attention to ...
— Complete Story of the San Francisco Horror • Richard Linthicum

... against the town. I sailed for half an hour directly before the wind, and at last found myself aground on the shelving beach of a quiet little cove. Such a little cove! So bright, so still, so warm, so remote from the town, which lay off in the distance, white and semicircular! I leaped ashore, and dropped my anchor. Before me rose a steep cliff, crowned with an old ruined fort or tower. I made my way up, and about to the landward entrance. ...
— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 17, No. 100, February, 1866 • Various

... heap of chicken experience. They will do better when you get out there. You will feed them properly and regularly. Their laying streak has been broken up. We must train them to lay while eggs are expensive and lay off when ...
— Watch Yourself Go By • Al. G. Field

... "I say, Skeeter, lay off!" Vandeman looked selfconsciously from the painted ring in the picture to the real ring on his own well kept hand there on the mantel edge. "People aren't ...
— The Million-Dollar Suitcase • Alice MacGowan



Words linked to "Lay off" :   sign off, leave off, withdraw, cheese, terminate, force out, call it quits, close off, pull the plug, sack, knock off, break, continue, fire, shut off, can, give the sack, give notice, drop, retire, downsize, dismiss, layoff, displace, call it a day, send away, give the axe



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