Lie in Scrabble Dictionary

Valid words made from Lie

You can make 4 words from 'lie' in our Scrabble US and Canada dictionary.

• 3 letters words from 'lie'
• 2 letters words from 'lie'

3 letters words from 'lie'

LEI 3

LIE 3

2 letters words from 'lie'

EL 2

LI 2

Definitions and meaning of lie

lie

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /laɪ̯/
• Rhymes: -aɪ
• Homophones: lye, lai

Etymology 1

From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognate with West Frisian lizze, Dutch liggen, German liegen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ligge, Swedish ligga, Icelandic, Faroese and Norwegian Nynorsk liggja, Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan); and with Latin lectus (“bed”), Irish luighe, Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ), Albanian lag (“troop, band, encampment”).

As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.

Verb

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past lay, past participle lain or (obsolete) lien)

2. (intransitive) To rest in a horizontal position on a surface.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Dryden and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     The watchful traveller […] / Lay down again, and closed his weary eyes.

   • 1849, Henry David Thoreau, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers

     Our uninquiring corpses lie more low / Than our life's curiosity doth go.
3. (intransitive) To be placed or situated.
4. To abide; to remain for a longer or shorter time; to be in a certain state or condition.

5. Used with in: to be or exist; to belong or pertain; to have an abiding place; to consist.
   • (Can we date this quote by Arthur Collier and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     Envy lies between beings equal in nature, though unequal in circumstances.

   • (Can we date this quote by John Locke and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     He that thinks that diversion may not lie in hard labour, forgets the early rising and hard riding of huntsmen.

6. Used with with: to have sexual relations with.
7. Used with on/upon: to be incumbent (on); to be the responsibility of a person.
8. (archaic) To lodge; to sleep.
   • (Can we date this quote by John Evelyn and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     While I was now trifling at home, I saw London, […] where I lay one night only.

   • (Can we date this quote by Charles Dickens and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     Mr. Quinion lay at our house that night.

9. To be still or quiet, like one lying down to rest.
10. (law) To be sustainable; to be capable of being maintained.
    • (Can we date this quote by Ch. J. Parsons and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

      An appeal lies in this case.

Usage notes

The verb lie in this sense is sometimes used interchangeably with the verb lay in informal spoken settings. Additionally, the past tense and past participle can both become laid, instead of lay and lain respectively, in less formal settings. These usages are common in speech but rarely found in edited writing or in more formal spoken situations.

Derived terms

Related terms

• lay, a corresponding transitive version of this word
• lees
• lier

Translations

Noun

lie (plural lies)

1. (golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the ball before it is struck.
2. (disc golf) The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown.
3. (medicine) The position of a fetus in the womb.
4. A manner of lying; relative position.
5. An animal's lair.

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English lien (“to lie, tell a falsehood”), from Old English lēogan (“to lie”), from Proto-Germanic *leuganą (“to lie”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to lie, swear, bemoan”). Cognate with West Frisian lige (“to lie”), Low German legen, lögen (“to lie”), Dutch liegen (“to lie”), German lügen (“to lie”), Norwegian ljuge/lyge (“to lie”), Danish lyve (“to lie”), Swedish ljuga (“to lie”), and more distantly with Bulgarian лъжа (lǎža, “to lie”), Russian лгать (lgatʹ, “to lie”), ложь (ložʹ, “falsehood”).

Verb

lie (third-person singular simple present lies, present participle lying, simple past and past participle lied)

2. (intransitive) To give false information intentionally with intent to deceive.

   While a principle-based approach might claim that lying is always morally wrong, the casuist would argue that, depending upon the details of the case, lying might or might not be illegal or unethical. The casuist might conclude that a person is wrong to lie in legal testimony under oath, but might argue that lying actually is the best moral choice if the lie saves a life.^WP

3. (intransitive) To convey a false image or impression.

4. (intransitive, colloquial) To be mistaken or unintentionally spread false information.

Synonyms

• prevaricate

Derived terms

• belie
• liar
• lie along
• lie through one's teeth

Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English lie, from Old English lyġe (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Germanic *lugiz (“lie, falsehood”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewgʰ- (“to tell lies, swear, complain”). Cognate with Old Saxon luggi (“a lie”), Old High German lugī, lugin (“a lie”) (German Lüge), Danish løgn (“a lie”), Bulgarian лъжа́ (lǎžá, “а lie”), Russian ложь (ložʹ, “а lie”).

Noun

lie (plural lies)

1. An intentionally false statement; an intentional falsehood.

2. A statement intended to deceive, even if literally true; a half-truth
3. Anything that misleads or disappoints.
   • (Can we date this quote by Trench and provide title, author's full name, and other details?)

     Wishing this lie of life was o'er.

   • The cake is a lie. - Portal

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:lie

Antonyms

• truth

Derived terms

Translations

Further reading

• lie on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• %ile, -ile, Eli, Ile, Lei., ile, lei

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Finnish

Verb

lie

1. (nonstandard) third-person singular potential present of olla

   Se on missä lie.

   It's somewhere. / I wonder where it is.

   Tai mitä lie ovatkaan

   Or whatever they are.

Usage notes

• This form is chiefly used in direct and indirect questions.

Synonyms

• (3rd-pers. sg. potent. pres. of olla; standard) lienee

Anagrams

• eli, lei

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French

Etymology

Probably from Transalpine Gaulish *liga (“silt, sediment”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie, to lay”).

Noun

lie f (plural lies)

1. lees, dregs (of wine, of society)

Verb

lie

1. inflection of lier:
   1. first/third-person singular present indicative
   2. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
   3. second-person singular imperative

Further reading

• “lie” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• île

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Mandarin

Romanization

lie (Zhuyin ˙ㄌㄧㄝ)

1. Pinyin transcription of 咧

lie

1. Nonstandard spelling of liē.
2. Nonstandard spelling of lié.
3. Nonstandard spelling of liě.
4. Nonstandard spelling of liè.

Usage notes

• English transcriptions of Mandarin speech often fail to distinguish between the critical tonal differences employed in the Mandarin language, using words such as this one without the appropriate indication of tone.

---

Old French

Etymology

From Medieval Latin lias (“lees, dregs”) (descent via winemaking common in monasteries), from Gaulish *ligyā, *legyā (“silt, sediment”) (compare Welsh llai, Old Breton leh (“deposit, silt”)), from Proto-Celtic *legyā (“layer”), from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ- (“to lie”).

Noun

lie f (oblique plural lies, nominative singular lie, nominative plural lies)

1. dregs; mostly solid, undesirable leftovers of a drink

Descendants

• → English: lees

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Old Irish

Etymology

From Proto-Celtic *līwanks (compare *līwos), from Proto-Indo-European *leh₁w- (“stone”) (compare Ancient Greek λᾶας (lâas, “stone”), Albanian lerë (“boulder”)).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈl͈ʲi.e/

Noun

lie m (genitive lïac(c))

1. a stone
   • c. 800, Würzburg Glosses on the Pauline Epistles, published in Thesaurus Palaeohibernicus (reprinted 1987, Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies), edited and with translations by Whitley Stokes and John Strachan, vol. I, pp. 499–712, Wb. 4d15

Declension

Descendants

• → Breton: liac'h
• Middle Irish: lía
  • Irish: lia

Mutation

Further reading

• Gregory Toner, Maire Ní Mhaonaigh, Sharon Arbuthnot, Dagmar Wodtko, Maire-Luise Theuerkauf, editors (2019), “1 lía”, in eDIL: Electronic Dictionary of the Irish Language

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Spanish

Verb

lie

1. First-person singular (yo) present subjunctive form of liar.
2. Third-person singular (él, ella, also used with usted^?) present subjunctive form of liar.

---

Swedish

Etymology

From Old Swedish līe, lē, from Old Norse lé, from Proto-Germanic *lewô, from Proto-Indo-European *leu- (“to cut”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /liːɛ/

Noun

lie c

1. scythe; an instrument for mowing grass, grain, or the like.

Declension

Related terms

• lieblad
• liehugg
• lieknagg
• lieknagge
• lieman
• lieorv
• lieskaft
• lietag

References

• lie in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)

Source: wiktionary.org

• to make an intentional false statement.
  (source: Collins Scrabble Dictionary)

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