Pronunciation guide: IPA symbols, stress and word endings

θ	thin	ð	this	ʃ	she	ʒ	measure
tʃ	church	dʒ	judge	ŋ	sing	j	yes

p b t d k g f v s z h m n l r w sound as in ordinary English spelling.

ˈ main stress, before the stressed syllable: /ˈwɔːtə/ water · ˌ lighter (secondary) stress: /ˌʌndəˈstænd/ understand
ː a long vowel · (r) an r said only in accents that pronounce it (most American, Scottish, Irish)

-s / -es (plurals; he/she form of verbs): /s/ after voiceless sounds (cats), /z/ after voiced (dogs), /ɪz/ after s, z, sh, ch, j sounds (buses, watches). Spelling: -es after s, x, z, ch, sh; consonant + y → -ies (city → cities).
-ed (past): /t/ after voiceless sounds (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ after t or d (wanted). Spelling: love → loved, stop → stopped, carry → carried.
-ing: make → making, run → running, see → seeing.
Irregular: go, went, gone · be, was, been · see, saw, seen · man → men · child → children · mouse → mice.
Older (King James) forms: -eth = -s (he loveth = he loves) · -est with “thou” (thou lovest) · spake = spoke.

lay down

verb

Forms lays down laying down laid down

verb (transitive) To give up, surrender, or yield (e.g. a weapon), usually by placing it on the ground. “The police urged the gunman to lay down his weapon.”
verb To place or install on the ground, e.g. a railway on a trackbed. “lay down a mat; lay down asphalt; lay down a road”
verb (transitive) To intentionally take a fall while riding a motorcycle, in order to prevent a more serious collision. “He laid down his brand-new Harley-Davidson to avoid the oncoming bus.”
verb (transitive) To specify, institute, enact, assert firmly, state authoritatively, establish or formulate (rules or policies). “Let's lay down the rules right at the beginning, so we are consistent.”
verb To stock, store (e.g. wine) for the future. See also lay by.
verb (African-American Vernacular, dated, transitive) To kill (someone).
verb (euphemistic, transitive) To euthanize an animal.
verb To sacrifice, especially in the phrase "to lay down one's life."

Synonyms

From Middle English leyen doun, leien doun (“to lay down”), equivalent to lay + down.

Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “lay down”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details