lay system
English
editEtymology 1
editProper noun
edit- (maritime) The system of remuneration in which fishermen or merchant mariners are paid a lay (a share of the vessel's profit) plus the value of room and board derived from being shipboard and eating in the mess.
- He preferred the lay system because there was a chance that he could really clean up if the luck held out.
Etymology 2
editProper noun
edit- (agriculture, archaic, especially British) A certain system of fallow farming with a certain crop rotation and rotation of arable and pasturage.
- They farmed this whole valley on the lay system back then, and the lord kept the horses and ploughmen busy.