Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • transitive verb To calm or pacify (an emotion); set to rest.
  • transitive verb To reduce the intensity of; lessen or relieve: synonym: relieve.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun That which allays, lightens, or alleviates.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • To cite; quote; allege.
  • noun The act or process of alloying; an alloy.
  • noun Figuratively, admixture, especially of something inferior.
  • noun Mixture; dilution.
  • noun In hunting, the act of laying on the hounds; the addition of fresh hounds to the cry.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To diminish in strength; to abate; to subside.
  • transitive verb Archaic To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
  • noun obsolete Alloy.
  • noun obsolete Alleviation; abatement; check.
  • transitive verb To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm
  • transitive verb To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
  • verb transitive To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To subside, become peaceful.
  • verb archaic To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • verb lessen the intensity of or calm
  • verb satisfy (thirst)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English aleien, from Old English ālecgan, to lay aside, lay down : ā-, intensive pref. + lecgan, to lay; see lay.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

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.

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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 ...

    Fears fuel emotional health care protests 2009

  • The government has to do something to kind of allay their fears or we'll never get on track, right?

    CNN Transcript Mar 8, 2009 2009

  • The government has to do something to kind of allay their fears or we'll never get on track, right?

    CNN Transcript Mar 7, 2009 2009

  • 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.

    CNN Transcript Dec 5, 2005 2005

  • Now all of this is to kind of allay fears that have arisen here, and there's good reason for that.

    CNN Transcript Oct 16, 2001 2001

  • (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."

    Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible 1871

  • 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.

    pfblogs.org: The Ad-Free Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator 2008

  • 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.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2008

  • 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.

    pfblogs.org: The Ad-Free Personal Finance Blogs Aggregator 2008

  • 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.

    SeekingAlpha.com: Home Page 2008

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