lay low meaning: definition, quotations

lay low

verb

To topple or overcome; to cause to fall; (of a person) to knock out.

He was laid low by a vicious blow to the head.
The dragon's ire, more fierce than fire, laid low their towers and houses frail.1937, J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit:

To put in an abject condition.

My lover had remained in New York with her family because she had picked up the plague, or something just as bad, that had laid her quite low.1979 April 28, Nancy Walker, “A Case of Mistaken Identity”, in Gay Community News, page 19:

verb

Informal, Proscribed, Sometimes To lie low, to be inconspicuous, especially when the potential object of search.

We lay low until the shell went over and then would straighten up again.1904, A Committee of the Survivors, History of the Twelfth Regiment, Rhode Island Volunteers, in The Civil War, page 219:
Me and Dave layed low^([sic]) until then, and I guess the whole dummed town was at Philemon's that night.1909, “Field and Stream”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), volume 14, page 540:

4 more examples

Under you drop, and you work yourself along until you come to the partition between the two rooms; there you'll find a secret chamber; it isn't big enough for more than one person at a time, but there's a cot in it and you can lay low.1911, Augusta Prescott, The Stairway on the Wall, page 259:
As for the Turk , he played his old game of Brer Rabbit, laying low, until the three launches came nicely round the bend into a direct line of fire.1917, Conrad Cato, The Navy in Mesopotamia 1914 to 1917, page 8:
Laying low, seeking out the poorer quarters Where the ragged people go1969, Paul Simon, Simon & Garfunkel, “The Boxer”, Bridge over Troubled Water, Columbia Records
Since you are trying to lay low, your effort should take the form of a suggestion at the least or a modest proposal at the most.1997, Richard Herschlag, Brian Harris, Lay Low and Don't Make the Big Mistake, page 84: