allay
Plural: allays
Verb
Verb Forms: allayed, allaying, allays
- To diminish or put at rest fears, suspicions, or worry.
- lessen the intensity of or calm
- satisfy (thirst)
- To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
- To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
- To subside, abate, become peaceful.
- To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
- To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.
Noun
- Alleviation; abatement; check.
- An alloy.
Examples
- Playing a bingo helped allay my fears of losing the Words with Friends match.
- to allay popular excitement
- to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity
- to allay the tumult of the passions
Origin / Etymology
From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.
Synonyms
assuage, ease, quench, relieve, slake, still, abate, alleviate, appease, calm, compose, quiet, soothe
Scrabble Score: 8
allay: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordallay: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
allay: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary