lay to

verb — 2 senses

lay to

verb

1

Nautical, Transport To turn towards the wind so that the boat stops; to remain stationary in open water or to lie to.

Hoisting our jib, we lay to, and in the morning found ourselves only a few miles from the island, but with such a steady wind blowing from its direction as to render it impossible for us to get back to it.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 334:

2

To try or to expend effort to achieve (something).

The rowing team laid to their oars.

Synonyms: heave to

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.