3. (a) A job, price, or profit. [Prov. Eng.] Wright. (b) A share of the proceeds or profits of an enterprise; as, when a man ships for a whaling voyage, he agrees for a certain lay. [U. S.]
4. (Textile Manuf.) (a) A measure of yarn; a les. See 1st Lea (a). (b) The lathe of a loom. See Lathe, 8.
5. A plan; a scheme. [Slang] Dickens. Lay figure. (a) A jointed model of the human body that may be put in any attitude; — used for showing the disposition of drapery, etc. (b) A mere puppet; one who serves the will of others without independent volition. — Lay race, that part of a lay on which the shuttle travels in weaving; — called also shuttle race.
LAYER
Lay"er, n. Etym: [See Lay to cause to lie flat.]
1. One who, or that which, lays.
2. Etym: [Prob. a corruption of lair.]
Defn: That which is laid; a stratum; a bed; one thickness, course, or fold laid over another; as, a layer of clay or of sand in the earth; a layer of bricks, or of plaster; the layers of an onion.
3. A shoot or twig of a plant, not detached from the stock, laid under ground for growth or propagation.
4. An artificial oyster bed.
LAYERING
Lay"er*ing, n.