lay

the lay of the land

I was already aware that in the whaling business they paid no wages; but all hands, including the captain, received certain shares of the profits called lays, and that these lays were proportioned to the degree of importance pertaining to the respective duties of the ship’s company.

Worm and parcel with the lay; turn and serve the other way.

Over the years she'd tried to tell himself that his uptown girl was just another lay.

Listening to this dismissal of his work, [Tennessee] Williams thought to himself of Wilder, “This character has never had a good lay.”

I shall be on that lay nae mair

The hens are off the lay at present.

[…] lay in the bottom of an earthen pot some dried vine leaves, and so make a lay of Pears, and leaves till the pot is filled up, laying betwixt each lay some sliced Ginger […]

On this lay or ground we should also add the finishing colours.