waylay

English edit

Etymology edit

From way +‎ lay, likely a calque of Middle Dutch wegelagen (“besetting of ways, lying in wait with evil or hostile intent along public ways”). Compare Middle Low German wegelagen, German wegelagern (“to waylay; rob”).

Pronunciation edit

(UK) IPA^(key): /ˌweɪˈleɪ/, /ˈweɪleɪ/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Audio (Southern England) (file)
(US) IPA^(key): /ˈweɪleɪ/
Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb edit

waylay (third-person singular simple present waylays, present participle waylaying, simple past and past participle waylaid or (nonstandard) waylayed)

(transitive) To lie in wait for and attack from ambush.
Synonyms: ambush, lurk
(transitive) To accost or intercept unexpectedly.
Synonym: buttonhole
- 1986 November 24, Susan Sontag, “The Way We Live Now”, in The New Yorker‎^[1]:
  And when some of the friends, the ones who came every day, waylaid the doctor in the corridor, Stephen was the one who asked the most informed questions, who’d been keeping up not just with the stories that appeared several times a week in the Times […]

Translations edit

to lie in wait for and attack from ambush

Armenian: դարանակալել (hy) (daranakalel)
Bengali: পথে ওত পাতিয়া থাকা (pothe ōt patiẏa thaka)
Bulgarian: причаквам (bg) (pričakvam), правя засада (pravja zasada)
Dutch: belagen (nl), opwachten (nl)
Estonian: varitsema
Finnish: väijyä (fi) (to lie in wait); hyökätä väijyksistä (to attack from ambush)
French: comploter (fr)
Galician: aseitar (gl)
German: wegelagern (de), auflauern (de)
Japanese: 待ち伏せする (ja) (まちぶせする, machibuse suru)
Maori: whakamoho, tāwhanga
Russian: подстерега́ть (ru) impf (podsteregátʹ), подкарау́ливать (ru) impf (podkaraúlivatʹ)

to accost or intercept unexpectedly

Bulgarian: заговарям (bg) (zagovarjam)
Chinese:
Mandarin: 攔路搶劫／拦路抢劫 (lánlùqiǎngjié)
Dutch: onderscheppen (nl)
Finnish: yllättää (fi)
German: auflauern (de)
Ido: pisamar
Maori: whakamoho
Russian: подкарау́ливать (ru) impf (podkaraúlivatʹ), поджида́ть (ru) impf (podžidátʹ)
Spanish: abordar (es), coger por banda