WAYLAY (waylaid)

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

Irregular inflected form: waylaid   

 Dictionary entry overview: What does waylay mean? 

• WAYLAY (verb)
  The verb WAYLAY has 1 sense:

1. wait in hiding to attack

  Familiarity information: WAYLAY used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WAYLAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they waylay    ... he / she / it waylays   
Past simple: waylaid   
Past participle: waylaid   
-ing form: waylaying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Wait in hiding to attack

Classified under:

Verbs of fighting, athletic activities

Synonyms:

ambuscade; ambush; bushwhack; lie in wait; lurk; scupper; waylay

Hypernyms (to "waylay" is one way to...):

wait (stay in one place and anticipate or expect something)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What of his bushwhacking and waylaying tactics, the young dogs were afraid to run by themselves.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

He says, publicly, that if they want anything he'll give it 'em. He names individuals among them (myself included), whom he could undertake to settle with one hand, and the other tied behind him. He waylays the smaller boys to punch their unprotected heads, and calls challenges after me in the open streets. For these sufficient reasons I resolve to fight the butcher.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice she has been waylaid. There has been no result.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

A puppy alone by the river bank meant a puppy dead or a puppy that aroused the camp with its shrill pain and terror as it fled back from the wolf-cub that had waylaid it.

(White Fang, by Jack London)