lay off
verb
Forms lays off laying off laid off
- verb (transitive, chiefly US, idiomatic) (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package.
- verb (transitive, of a bookmaker) To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.
- verb (transitive, idiomatic) To cease, quit, stop (doing something). “Lay off the singing, will you! I'm trying to study.”
- verb (transitive and intransitive, idiomatic) To stop bothering, teasing, or pestering someone; to leave (someone) alone. “Just lay off, okay! I've had enough!”
- verb (ambitransitive, art) In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks. “He shows me how to lay off the paint — and moves his paintbrush across the section he had already painted, again and again.”
- verb (transitive) To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart.
Synonyms
make redundant let go hedge one's bets tip off can dismiss fire sack terminate give the axe give the boot give their cards give the chop give the elbow give the old heave-ho axe decruit dehire discard remove discontinue stop cease give up quit furlough
Antonyms
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “lay off”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details