Etymology From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).
Nautical, TransportAmbitransitive To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.
2
Climbing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports To handle a climbing rope to prevent (a climber) from falling to the ground.
He would need an experienced partner to belay him on the difficult climbs.
I could only hope the remaining piton would belay his fall.
3
To lay aside; to stop; to cancel.
Belay that order!
"We landed in their killbox?" "We did. I am sor... No, belay that. Heads down! Cavalry incoming!"2015 February 1, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary, archived from the original on 14 May 2024:
jacket […] belayd with silver lace1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5:
Etymology From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).
1
Climbing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The securing of a rope to a rock or other sturdy object.
2
Climbing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports The object to which a rope is secured.
3
Climbing, Hobbies, Lifestyle, Sports A location at which a climber stops and builds an anchor with which to secure their partner.
But instead of swapping over at the ice axe belay, you carry on in the lead, cutting or kicking steps until you are about twenty feet above.1967, Anthony Greenbank, Instructions in Mountaineering, page 84: