lay off
verbUS, Idiomatic (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package.
- Four months after arriving in Denver, I was laid off when the pandemic hit. I took on freelance work, whatever I could get, to cover my expenses and stay afloat.2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME, archived from the original on 22 Apr 2026:
Of a bookmaker To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.
Idiomatic To cease, quit, stop (doing something).
- Lay off the singing, will you! I'm trying to study.
- When are you gonna lay off smoking?
Idiomatic To stop bothering, teasing, or pestering someone; to leave (someone) alone.
- Just lay off, okay! I've had enough!
- Things have been better since the boss has been laying off a little.
3 more examples
- I told him to lay off me but he wouldn't stop.
- Lay off it, already!
- First Xavier (Vernon Chatman): You're about as deep as a bowl of soup, and your tongue is as sharp as a soup spoon. Second Xavier (Vernon Chatman): Hey, say what you want about me, but lay off the soup.2008, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 10:
Art, Arts Ambitransitive In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks.
- At any pro paint shop ask for laying off brushes. These are natural bristle, wide, thin brushes designed for tipping off, not for holding a paint load. (Sourced from a web forum exchange)
- He shows me how to lay off the paint — and moves his paintbrush across the section he had already painted, again and again.
To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart.
- Synonyms
34 terms
can, dismiss, fire, sack, terminate, give the axe, give the boot, give their cards, give the chop, give the elbow, give the old heave-ho, make redundant, let go, axe, decruit, dehire, discard, remove, discharge, downsize, give someone the boot, give someone their cards, give someone the heave-ho, give someone the old heave-ho, lay off, let someone go, pink slip, promote to customer, retrench, serve notice, shit-can, term, throw out, unhire- Derived terms
- layoff
- Related terms
- be surplus to requirements, get sacked, get the ax, get the boot, get the chop, get the heave-ho, get the sack, unemployed