allay
pronunciation
How to pronounce allay in British English:
UK [əˈleɪ]
How to pronounce allay in American English:
US [əˈle]
-
- Verb:
- lessen the intensity of or calm
- satisfy (thirst)
Word Origin
- allay
- allay: [OE] In Old English, alecgan meant literally ‘lay aside’ (-a ‘away, aside, out’, lecgan ‘lay’). The more recent senses ‘relieve, mitigate’ developed from the 13th to the 15th centuries owing to the influence of two formally similar Old French verbs: aleger ‘lighten’ (from Latin alleviāre, source of English alleviate [15]); and al(e)ier ‘qualify, moderate’ (source of English alloy).=> lay
- allay (v.)
- Old English alecgan "to put down, remit, give up," a Germanic compound (cognates: Gothic uslagjan, Old High German irleccan, German erlegen), from a- "down, aside" + lecgan "to lay" (see lay). Early Middle English pronunciations of -y- and -g- were not always distinct, and the word was confused in Middle English with various senses of Romanic-derived alloy and allege, especially the latter in an obsolete sense of "to lighten," from Latin ad- "to" + levis (see lever). Amid the overlapping of meanings that thus arose, there was developed a perplexing network of uses of allay and allege, that belong entirely to no one of the original vbs., but combine the senses of two or more of them. [OED]The double -l- is 17c., a mistaken Latinism. Related: Allayed; allaying.
Example
- 1. But it will not allay the sense of unease .
- 2. That should allay the worst fears about a surge in nonperforming loans .
- 3. But field-marshal tantawi and his generals need to allay these suspicions .
- 4. Tennet 's pylons should help allay that fear .
- 5. A bailout for spanish banks is very unlikely to allay these concerns .