LAY 
ber of the academy at Peterffiurgh, and profelTor there, 
who made many botanical difcoveries in Siberia ; and 
died in 1796.] In botany, a genus of the ciafs hexandria, 
order monogynia, natural order aurantia, JuJj'. The ge¬ 
neric characters are—Calyx: perianthium one-leafed, 
bell-ffiaped, comprefled ; four-toothed, rather acute; in¬ 
ferior, very fmall. Corolla : petals four, linear, leathery; 
long, upright at the bale, fpreading, with infieCted tip, a 
villofe line on the upper part, two more approximated 
than the reft. Stamina : filaments fix, linear below ; up¬ 
right, awl-fhaped at the tip, fpreading; rather (horter 
than the corolla. Antherse roundifh, affixed to the back. 
Piltillum : germ roundifh, extremely villofe; Ityle ffiorter 
than the ftamens, thick, cornered ; ftigma fimple. Peri- 
carpium : berry fubglobofe, tetragonal at the top, four- 
celled ; the cells covered by a membrane. Seeds folitary, 
oblong, comprefled.— •EJfcntial Char after. Calyx ■. one- 
leafed, four-toothed, inferior. Corolla: four-petalled ; 
berry four-celled ; feeds folitary. 
Species. 1. Laxmannia cuminofma, or globofe ankaen- 
da: fruit globofe, flightly deprefied; petals twice the 
length of the calyx. Native of Ceylon. 
2. Laxmannia anksenda, or pointed ankaenda: fruit 
ovate, pointed; petals many times longer than the calyx. 
A ffirub about four feet high, with round fmooth leafy 
branches. Leaves oppofite, without ftipules, ftalked, four 
or five inches long, and nearly two in breadth, obovate, 
entire, veiny, fmooth and fhining, full of pellucid dots. 
Flowers greeniffi-white ; berry ovate, pointed, dark-green, 
with an aromatic flavour of cumin. Native of Ceylon 
and Malabar. Mr. Dryander in the Linn. Tranf. ii. 232, 
has well illuftrated the fynonymy of this plant, which 
Linnaeus had confounded with the jambolana of Acofta, a 
fpecies of Calyptranthes. This miftake is fuppofed to have 
arifen from the tickets of madan and ankcenda in Herman’s 
Herbarium having been changed. 
LAX'NESS, J. Laxity ; not tenfion ; not precifion ; not 
coftivenels.—For the free paffage of the found into the 
ear, it is requifite that the tympanum be tenfe, and hard 
flretched ; otherwife the laxnefs of that membrane will 
certainly dead and damp the found. Holder. 
LAX'TON, a hamlet in Northamptonfhire, on the bor¬ 
ders of the foreft of Rockingham, where lands are held 
by the fervice of hunting in all the king’s forefts and parks 
throughout Oxfordflrire, Bucks, Huntingdonfhire, and 
this county, to deftroy all the vermin. 
LAX'TON, or Lexin'ton, a fmall village in Notting- 
hamffiire, fouth of Tuxford, near the Idle; it was made 
a barony by king John. 
LAY, preterite of lie. —When Ahab had heard thofe 
words, he failed, and lay in fackcloth. 1 Kings xxi. 27. 
He rode to rouze the prey, 
That (haded by the fern in harbour lay, 
And thence dillodg’d. Dryden's Knight's Tale. 
To LAY, v. a. [lecgan, Sax. leggen, Dut.] To place’ 
to put; to repofite.—This word, being correlative to lie, 
involves commonly immobility or extenfion ; apuniffiment 
laidjisapuniftrmentthat cannot be ffiakenoff; in immobility 
is included weight. One houfe laid to another, implies ex¬ 
tenfion. Johnfon. —He/ffit/his robe from him. 'Jonah. —They 
have laid theirfwords undertheirhead. Ezekiel. —Soft on the 
flow’ry herb I found me laid. Milton. —To place along.— 
Seek not to be judge, being not able to take away ini¬ 
quity, left at any time thou fear the perfon of the mighty, 
and lay a itumbling-block in the way of thy uprightnefs. 
Ecclus. —A (tone was laid on the mouth of the den. Da¬ 
niel. —To beat down corn or grafs.—Another ill accident 
is laying of corn with great rains in harveft. Bacon's Na¬ 
tural Hijlory. 
Let no flieep there play, 
Nor frilking kids the flowery meadows lay. May. 
To keep from riling; to fettle; to (till.—It was a fandy 
foil, and the way had been full of duft j but an hour or 
LAY 403 
two before a refreffiing fragrant (hower of rain had laid 
the duft. Ray. 
L’ll ufe th’ advantage of my power, 
And lay the fummer’s duft with fliowers of blood. Shakejp. 
To fix deep; to difpofe regularly.—F.ither of thefe no¬ 
tions may be conceived from the following examples ; but 
regularity feems rather implied ; fo we fay, to lay bricks, 
to lay planks. Joknfon. —Schifmaticks, outlaw’s, or crimi¬ 
nal perfons, are not fit to lay the foundation of a new co¬ 
lony. Bacon. 
I lay the deep foundation of a wall, 
And Enos, nam’d from me, the city call. Drydtn. 
To put; to place.—They, who fo date a queftion, do no 
more but feparate and difentangle the parts of it, one 
from another, and lay them, when fo difentangled, in their 
due order. Locke. 
We to thy name our annual rites will pay, 
And on thy altars facrifices lay. Pope’s Statius. 
To bury ; to inter.—David fell on deep, and was laid 
unto his fathers, and faw corruption. Adis xiii. 36.—To 
ftation or place privily.—The wicked have laid a fnare 
for me. Pfalms. — Lay not wait, O wicked man, again ft 
the dwelling of the righteous. Prov. xxiv. 15.—To fpread 
on a furface.—The colouring upon thofe maps ffiould be 
laid on To thin, as not to obfeure or conceal any part of 
the lines. Watts. —To paint; to enamel.—The pictures 
drawn in our minds are laid in fading colours; and, if 
not fometimes refrefhed, vanifli and difappear. Locke. — 
To put into any ftate of quiet.—They bragged, that they 
doubted not but to abufe, and lay afleep, the queen and 
council of England.—To calm ; to Hill; to quiet; to al¬ 
lay : 
After a tempeft, when the winds are laid, 
The calm fea wonders at the wrecks it made. Waller. 
I fear’d I ffiould have found 
A tempeft in your foul, and came to. lay it. Denham. 
To prohibit a fpirit to walk.—The huffiand found no 
charm to lay the devil in a petticoat, but the rattling of 
a bladder with beans in it. VEJlrange. —To fet on the ta¬ 
ble.—I laid meat unto them. Hof. xi. 4.—To propagate 
plants by fixing their twigs in the ground.—The chief 
time of laying gilliflowers is in July, when the flowers are 
gone. Mortimer's Hujbandry. —To wager; to (take: 
But fince you will be mad, and fince you may 
Sufpefl my courage, if I ffiould not lay ; 
The pawn I proffer (hall be full as good. Dryden. 
To repofite any thing.—The fparrow hath found an houfe, 
and the (wallow a nelt, for herfelf, where (he may lay her 
young. Pfal. lxxxiv. 3.—To exclude eggs.—A hen mif- 
takes a piece of chalk for an egg, and fits upon it; (lie is 
infenlible of an increafe or diminution in the number of 
thofe (he lays. Addifon. —To apply with violence ; as, to 
lay blows.— Lay fiege againft it, and built a fort againlt it, 
and caft a mount againft it. Ezek. iv. 2. 
Never more (hall my torn mind be heal’d. 
Nor tafte the gentle comforts of repofe ! 
A dreadful band of gloomy cares furround me, 
And lay ftrong fiege to my did rafted foul. Phillips. 
To apply nearly.—She layeth her hands to the fpindle, and 
her hands hold the diftaff. Prov. xxxi. 19.—It is better 
to go to the houfe of mourning than to go to the houfe 
of feafting; for that is the end of all men, and the liv¬ 
ing will lay it to his heart. Ecclcf. vii. 2.—The peacock 
laid it extremely to heart, that, being Juno’s darling bird, 
he had not the nightingale’s voice. L' Ef range. —To ad cl ; 
to conjoin.—Wo unto them that lay field to field. IJ'a. v. 8. 
—To put in a ftate ; implying fomewhat of difclolure.— 
The wars have laid whole countries watte, Addifon. —To 
lcbeme 5 to contrive,—Homer is like his Jupiter, has his 
terrors. 
