Adjacent Words

Waylay definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WAYLAY, v.t. [way and lay.] To watch insidiously in the way, with a view to seize, rob or slay; to beset in ambush; as, to waylay a traveler. [In this word there is little difference of accent.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: wait in hiding to attack [syn: ambush, scupper, bushwhack, waylay, lurk, ambuscade, lie in wait]

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb (waylaid; -laying) Date: 1513 to lie in wait for or attack from ambush

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v.tr. (past and past part. waylaid) 1 lie in wait for. 2 stop to rob or interview. Derivatives: waylayer n.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Waylay Way"lay` (?; 277), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Waylaid; p. pr. & vb. n. Waylaying.] [Way + lay.] To lie in wait for; to meet or encounter in the way; especially, to watch for the passing of, with a view to seize, rob, or slay; to beset in ambush. Falstaff, Bardolph, Peto, and Gadshill shall rob those men that we have already waylaid. --Shak. She often contrived to waylay him in his walks. --Sir W. Scott.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(waylays, waylaying, waylaid) If someone waylays you, they stop you when you are going somewhere, for example in order to talk to you, to steal something from you, or to attack you. The trucks are being waylaid by bandits... I'm sorry, Nick, I got waylaid. VERB: V n, get V-ed

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. a. Lie in wait for (with evil intent), lie in ambush for.