lie

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“
'A white lie,' he would often say, 'is a lie, and a lie is a sin--white or black, always a sin'; and I remember that he would often put mother to a serious inconvenience by his telling callers that she was in when she had wished it to be said that she was not at home.

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Definitions (116)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (27)

  1. intransitive verb To be or place oneself at rest in a flat, horizontal, or recumbent position; recline: He lay under a tree to sleep.
  2. intransitive verb To be placed on or supported by a surface that is usually horizontal: Dirty dishes lay on the table. See Usage Note at lay1.
  3. intransitive verb To be or remain in a specified condition: The dust has lain undisturbed for years. He lay sick in bed.
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Examples (50)

  • Thus neither the truth nor the lie was acceptable. —  Man from Mundania
  • And if you have lied to me, you will find the punishment I extract for a lie will be the equal of the other two offenses. —  forestmage
  • That's what you call a lie, as countless accounts of the persecution of priests and the faithful from Cuba indicate. —  City Journal
  • Although vindicated in court, a lie is a lie, that is one thing that Alfred Sant will never be accused of. —  timesofmalta.com
  • Perhaps the lie is the point, so children expect promises to be broken by those in whom they have placed their trust, making it easier for them to be co-opted. —  Thomas Paine's Corner
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

falsehood ·  one ·  mistake ·  trick ·  crime ·  go ·  creature ·  joke ·  folly ·  dream ·  talk ·  nonsense

Used in the same contextWord Family

lie:   lied ·  lay ·  lying ·  lain ·  lies
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (6)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. Middle English lien, from Old English licgan; see legh- in Indo-European roots.
  2. Middle English, from Old English lyge; see leugh- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (4)

  1. Early modern English also lye; from Middle English lien, lyen, liʒen, lyʒen, also liggen, lyggen (later English dial. lig) (preterit lay, lai, ley, plural layen, leyen, laye, leye, past participle layn, leyn, leyen, yleye, etc.), from Anglo-Saxon licgan (preterit læg, plural lǣgon, past participle legen) = Old Saxon liggian = OFries. liga, lidzia = Dutch liggen = Middle Low German liggen = Old High German ligan, liggan, lickan, Middle High German ligen, lichen, German liegen = Icelandic liggia = Swedish ligga = Danish ligge = Gothic (Moesogothic) ligan, lie, = Old Bulgarian lezhati, lie, leshti, lay oneself down, = Russian lejatĭ, lie (etc., the word having a wide development in the Slavic tongues), = Latin leg, legh, in deriv. lectus, a bed (later English lectual, etc.), lectica, a litter (later English litter), = Greek root λεχ in an old defective verb *λέχειν (aorist active ε̆λεξα, λέξα, future mid. λέξομαι, aorist mid. ἐλεξάμην, λεξα/μην, aorist passive ε̆λεκτο, λέκτο, infinitive λέχθαι, etc.), active lay down (to sleep), passive lie down, and in deriv. λέχος, a bed, λέκτρον, a bed (later ult. English lectern, q. v.), λόχος, a lying in wait, ambush, a lurking-place, lair, etc.; not found in Sanskrit From the English verb lie are derived many forms, some of them no longer felt to be connected with lie: namely, from Anglo-Saxon, lay, allay, belay, lair, law, layer, ledge, ledge, lidge, ledger, lidger, lidget, etc.; from D. G. or Scandinavian, leaguer, beleaguer, lager, log, log, low, etc.; from the L. and Greek are lectual, litter, lectern, etc.
  2. from lie, v. Cf. lay, n.
  3. Early modern English also lye; from Middle English lien, lyen, liʒen, lyʒen, leʒen (preterit lowe, also weak, lyʒede, past participle lowen, i-loʒe), from Anglo-Saxon leógan (preterit léah, plural lugon, past participle logen) = Old Saxon liogan = OFries. liaga = Dutch liegen = Middle Low German legen, leigen = Old High German liogan, Middle High German liegen, German lügen, dial. liegen = Icelandic ljūga = Danish lyve = Swedish ljuga = Gothic (Moesogothic) liugan, lie, tell a falsehood, = Old Bulgarian lugati = Russian luigatĭ, lie. Not found in L., Greek, or Sanskrit Hence lie, n., and ult. lain, v. and n.
  4. Early modern English also lye; from Middle English lie, lye, liʒe, from Anglo-Saxon lyge, lige = Old High German lugi, Middle High German lüge, luc, German lüge, lug = Icelandic lygi, a lie; also, with different suffix, Old Saxon lugina = Dutch leugen, logen = Middle Low German logen = Old High German lugina = Danish Swedish lögn = Goth, liugn, a lie (cf. lain); from the verb: see lie, v.
 

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