Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- v. To reduce the intensity of; relieve: allay back pains. See Synonyms at relieve.
- v. To calm or pacify; set to rest: allayed the fears of the worried citizens.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- To lay down; cause to lie; lay: as, to allay the dust.
- To lay aside; set aside; suppress; annul.
- To put down; humble; overthrow.
- To put down; quiet; assuage; pacify, appease, calm, as a commotion of the elements, or, figuratively, civil commotions, mental excitement, or an agitated person.
- To abate, mitigate, or subdue; relieve or alleviate: as, to allay misery or pain; to allay the bitterness of affliction.
- Synonyms Alleviate, Relieve, Mitigate, Assuage, Allay (see alleviate), calm, quiet, soothe, compose, still, lull, tranquilize, check, repress, soften, ease, moderate.
- To abate; subside; grow calm.
- n. That which allays, lightens, or alleviates.
- To mix, as metals; especially, to mix a nobler with a baser metal; alloy. See alloy, v., I.
- Figuratively, to mix with something inferior; contaminate or detract from.
- To temper; abate or weaken by mixture; dilute, as wine with water; weaken; diminish.
- n. The act or process of alloying; an alloy.
- n. Figuratively, admixture, especially of something inferior.
- n. Mixture; dilution.
- To cite; quote; allege.
- n. In hunting, the act of laying on the hounds; the addition of fresh hounds to the cry.
Wiktionary
- v. transitive To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
- v. transitive To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
- v. intransitive, obsolete To subside, become peaceful.
- v. archaic To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
GNU Webster's 1913
- v. To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm
- v. To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
- v. To diminish in strength; to abate; to subside.
- n. obsolete Alleviation; abatement; check.
- n. obsolete Alloy.
- v. Archaic To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
WordNet 3.0
- v. lessen the intensity of or calm
- v. satisfy (thirst)
Etymologies
- From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English ālecgan ("to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold"), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjanan (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen ("to impose, cause to succumb, kill"), Gothic (uslagjan, "to lay down"). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English aleien, from Old English ālecgan, to lay down : ā-, intensive pref. + lecgan, to lay; see lay1. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Another fear Obama isn't going to be able to allay is that of the effects of spending a few trillion bucks we don't have: higher taxes, higher national debt, higher inflation ...”
“The government has to do something to kind of allay their fears or we'll never get on track, right?”
“So for Secretary Rice, it's a very delicate balance to kind of allay European concerns, at the same time, not compromise any U.S. intelligence matters.”
“Now all of this is to kind of allay fears that have arisen here, and there's good reason for that.”
“(Isa 9: 5; Ps 50: 3; Hab 3: 5; 2Th 1: 8; 2Pe 3: 7). chariots ... whirlwind -- (Jer 4: 13). render -- as the Hebrew elsewhere (Job 9: 13; Ps 78: 38) means to "allay" or "stay wrath.”
“So, how we address this it's a multiyear project obviously and we will look at it but we will kind of allay some of Horseshoe Canyon budget for the initial couple of years is what it looks right now.”
“* Partnership formed to "allay" concerns over Beal plan * Rival plan backed by Donald Trump is riskier-Icahn * Trump says was not involved in this transaction (New throughout; adds”
“I was, of course, whistling by the graveyard, trying to allay my own fears — or at least address them.”
“Earlier this month, Etisalat, the region's biggest telecom provider by market value, moved to allay fears about its Zain move, saying it was still keen on the nearly $12 billion transaction, even after a key advocate of the acquisition said it was no longer committed to helping broker an accord.”
The Wall Street Journal: Zain Gets $950 Million Bid for Saudi Assets
“The CPSC has done what it can to allay the fiasco of unintended costs and disruptions for small businesses, including staying large portions of the law.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘allay’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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Familiar
Just a list of words
fulminate, unctuous, malediction, lumpenproletariat, descry, surfeit, sententious, supernumerary, unabashed, picayune, obliterate, decry and 109 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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GRE Barron's 800
zealot, wistful, welter, wary, whimsical, warranted, vortex, vivisection, volatile, vitiate, viscous, visage and 787 more...
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501
Classic
abhor, mirth, obtuse, iota, vex, irk, teem, pith, moot, mete, ire, bane and 401 more...
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SAT Words
But only the ones that I don't already know.
abase, abash, abominate, abstruse, acclivity, accolade, accost, adroit, adulate, adulterate, adumbrate, affray and 241 more...
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501
Classic
aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august, banal, boisterous, dulcet, epitome, impudent, insolent, mellifluous and 401 more...
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EN - eloquence in public speaking
Key words from "The Training of a Public Speaker" by Grenville Kleiser (New York and London, 1920)
beget, imago, Vespasian, languid, studied, judgment, dwindle, artifice, contribute, observe, sonorous, gladiator and 264 more...
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501
Classic
bane, bilk, boor, elan, ado, toil, onus, aberration, abstruse, anomaly, assiduous, august and 401 more...
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Words build meanings from origins( et...
These come from gamma meditation ,I think.
discursive, exogenous, machinations, purportedly, sumptuous, congruity, cantankerous, incongruous, festoon, hessian, ratiocinative, stratigraphic and 2046 more...
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Philosophic , etymology
every major discipline has uniquely developed esoteric nomenclature to facilitate interdisciplinary dissemination
quale , qualia, elegy, tacet, lexicon, annunciate, caste, eros, contrive, purlicue, irony, venacular, dilapidate and 567 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1824 more...
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Barron's 1100 words you need to know ...
abjure, allay, complacent, connoisseur, debilitate, deter, discreet, evanescent, foment, glean, impetuous, occult and 8 more...
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5000 FREE SAT Words
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 229 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for allay.
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