lie
nounEtymology
From Middle English lien, liggen, from Old English liċġan, from Proto-West Germanic *liggjan, from Proto-Germanic *ligjaną, from Proto-Indo-European *legʰ-. Cognates Cognate with Yola lee, lidge (“to lie”), leigh, leiough (“to idle”), North Frisian lade, lai, laie, lei, lii, läde, läie (“to lie; to lay”), Saterland Frisian lääse (“to lie; to lay”), West Frisian lizze (“to lie”), Alemannic German ligge (“to lie”), Central Franconian lijje (“to lie”), Dutch and Dutch Low Saxon liggen (“to lie”), German liegen (“to lie”), German Low German ligge, liggen (“to lie”), Luxembourgish leien (“to lie”), Yiddish ליגן (lign, “to lie”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål ligge (“to lie”), Faroese and Icelandic liggja (“to lie”), Norwegian Nynorsk ligge, liggja, liggje (“to lie”), Swedish ligga (“to lie”), Gothic 𐌻𐌹𐌲𐌰𐌽 (ligan, “to lie, to rest”); and with Irish laigh, luigh (“to lie”), Manx lhie (“lie; lay”), Scottish Gaelic laigh (“lie; lay”), Faliscan 𐌋𐌄𐌂𐌄𐌕 (lecet, “he lies down”), Latin lectus (“bed”), South Picene 𐌅𐌄𐌉𐌀𐌕 (veiat, “to lie”), Ancient Greek λέχομαι (lékhomai, “to lie down”), Albanian lag (“band, encampment, troop”), Belarusian ляжа́ць (ljažácʹ, “to lie”), Bulgarian лежа́ (ležá, “to lie”), Czech ležet (“to lie”), Macedonian лежи (leži, “to lie”), Polish leżeć (“to lie”), Russian лежа́ть (ležátʹ, “to lie”), Serbo-Croatian лѐжати, lèžati (“to lie”), Slovene ležáti (“to lie”), Ukrainian лежа́ти (ležáty, “to lie”), Tocharian B lyäk- (“to lie”). As a noun for position, the noun has the same etymology above as the verb.
The terrain and conditions surrounding the disc before it is thrown.
Medicine, Sciences The position of a fetus in the womb.
A manner of lying; relative position.
An animal's lair.
- Synonyms
51 terms
alternative fact, anti-fact, invention, bluff, bollocks, bullshit, canard, cap, chin, clanker, contradiction, cram, disinformation, fabrication, falsehood, falsification, fib, flam, goof, hoax, hummer, inveracity, inverity, jive, lie, load of bull, load of crap, load of shit, mendacity, misinformation, mistruth, nonsense, nontruth, pile of crap, pile of shit, pork pie, porker, porky, prevarication, red flag, rubbish, story, swack-up, tall tale, terminological inexactitude, untruism, untruth, whopper, wisker, yanker, yed- Derived terms
- lie of the land
- Related terms
- the cake is a lie, cry wolf, give the lie to, a lie has no legs, lie through one's teeth, I tell a lie, decoy, fake, imitate
- Hyponyms
- barefaced lie, big lie, butler lie, contextomy, half-truth, fake news, noble lie, obfuscation, white lie
- Meronyms
- deception, pack of lies, perjury