waylay

verb

way·​lay ˈwā-ˌlā How to pronounce waylay (audio)
waylaid ˈwā-ˌlād How to pronounce waylay (audio) ; waylaying; waylays

transitive verb

1
: to lie in wait for or attack (someone) from ambush
… he had been waylaid, bound hand and foot, and thrown into a marsh. But he got out again, somehow, to cause a great deal of trouble yet.Charles Dickens
2
: to temporarily stop the movement or progress of (someone or something)
The barkeeper, Tony, would come out of his saloon and wait to waylay the men going home. He could always entice a man with a full pocket into his saloon.Meridel Le Sueur
I can get waylaid by tangential thoughts and associations in mid-sentence, and this leads to parentheses, subordinate clauses, sentences of paragraphic length. I never use one adjective if six seem to me better and, in their cumulative effect, more incisive.Oliver Sacks

Examples of waylay in a Sentence

Gangs sometimes waylay travelers on that road. We were waylaid by a group of kids with water balloons.
Recent Examples on the Web The chances are that a plan will be waylaid or must adapt to the situation at hand as things unfurl. Lance Eliot, Forbes, 11 Feb. 2024 For a teenager who showed so much promise, Purdy was often waylaid by bad luck. Julia Prodis Sulek, The Mercury News, 10 Feb. 2024 In a harrowing twist, the production team’s convoy was waylaid by gunmen one night as cast and crew were returning from a location shoot. Christopher Vourlias, Variety, 12 Jan. 2024 These incipient grooves are almost immediately waylaid by fresh alarms and excursions. Alex Ross, The New Yorker, 8 Jan. 2024 That got waylaid when Terry Hall, frontman for the band, died of pancreatic cancer in December 2022. Heather Augustyn, Spin, 10 Oct. 2023 Those suggestions have grown ever the more imperative now that the recent stoppage waylaid a sizable chunk of the local workforce. Ben Croll, Variety, 23 Nov. 2023 Martin hurdled one defender before getting waylaid. Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 17 Sep. 2023 Instead, with Henrietta and her daughter, Cousin Bee, both dead, the sum has been waylaid by Ol’ Cap’n Cotchipee, the owner of the cotton plantation on which Purlie grew up with his brother, Gitlow (Billy Eugene Jones). Jesse Green, New York Times, 27 Sep. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'waylay.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1513, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of waylay was in 1513

Dictionary Entries Near waylay

Cite this Entry

“Waylay.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waylay. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

waylay

verb
way·​lay ˈwā-ˌlā How to pronounce waylay (audio)
waylaid -ˌlād How to pronounce waylay (audio) ; waylaying
: to attack from a hiding place

More from Merriam-Webster on waylay

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