Waylay

v. Pa. t. and pa. pple. waylaid. Also 6–7 way-laye, 6–9 way-lay. [f. WAY sb.¹ + LAY v.¹ (where see senses 18 b, c.), after MLG., MDu. wegelâgen (= MHG. and early mod.G. wegelagen, weglagen, superseded in later German by wegelagern), f. wegelage:—OS., OHG. wega lâga besetting of ways (wega genit. pl. of weg way + lâge besetting, ambush, related to LAY v.¹).]

  1.  trans. To lie in wait for (a person or thing) with evil or hostile intent; to seize or attack in the way.

1513.  in G. P. Scrope, Castle Combe (1852), 292. The saynd [sic] Robert Bruer, Richard Pollen, John Lewis cam and wayelaynd [sic] my kepers man, and so hert hyem.

1596.  Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. ii. 183. [They] shall robbe those men that wee haue already way-layde. Ibid. (1601), Twel. N., III. iv. 176. I will way-lay thee going home, where if it be thy chance to kill me [etc.].

1666.  Dryden, Ann. Mirab., ccii. Now on their Coasts our conquering Navy rides, Way-lays their Merchants, and their Land besets.

1674.  Milton, P. R., I. 184. How thou lurk’st … In Valley or Green Meadow to way-lay Some beauty rare.

1759.  Johnson, Idler, No. 73, ¶ 3. The rich are neither way-laid by robbers, nor watched by informers.

1779.  Forrest, Voy. N. Guinea, 144. Then we should be way-laid by armed corocoros.

1813.  Scott, Rokeby, III. xii. Thou art a wanderer, it is said; For Mortham’s death, thy steps way-laid.

1861.  Sat. Rev., 7 Dec., 578. A screw-steamer of war … waylaid the English Royal West India Mail steamer in the Bahama Channel … and brought her to by firing a round shot across her bows.

1883.  Manch. Guardian, 18 Oct., 4/7. A ruffian … waylaid her in the street and assaulted her in the most brutal manner.

  b.  fig.

a. 1616.  Beaum. & Fl., Little Fr. Lawyer, II. iii. Dost thou way-lay me with ladies?

1635.  Quarles, Embl., III. Epig. ix. Thy soule’s way-laid by sea; by Hell; by earth.

1680.  C. Nesse, Church Hist., 495. That Word of God There must be ten horns way-lays them.

1750.  Johnson, Rambler, No. 69, ¶ 3. All the other Miseries, which way-lay our Passage through the World, Wisdom may escape, and Fortitude may conquer.

1760.  Sterne, Tr. Shandy, III. vi. The accidents which unavoidably way-lay them.

  c.  To intercept and seize (a thing in transit). Also fig. to seize (an opportunity).

1599.  B. Jonson, Ev. Man out of Hum., Dram Pers. (1600), A iij. He way laies the reports of seruices, & cons them without booke, [etc.].

1639.  Mayne, City Match, II. iii. Use stratagems To get her silver whistle, and way-lay Her pewter knots or bodkin.

1672.  Essex Papers (Camden), I. 37. I … resolve to waylay all opportunityes for y^e future.

1851.  Helps, Comp. Solit., iv. (1874), 43. The fond wife used to waylay and open large packets.

1856.  Kane, Arct. Expl., II. vii. 84. Hans has not returned. I give him two days more before I fall in with the opinion … that Godfrey has waylaid or seized upon his sledge.

  2.  transf. (without implication of hostility). To wait for (a person) in the way and accost; to stop (a person) in order to converse with him.

1612–5.  Bp. Hall, Contempl., O. T., XIX. i. (1625), 1355. The Prophet … way-layes the King of Israel, and sadly complaines of himselfe in a reall parable.

a. 1625.  Fletcher, Chances, IV. i. Our loves shall now way-lay ye; welcome, Gentlemen.

1728.  Sir R. Walpole, Lett., 8 Oct., in 10th Rep. Hist. MSS. Comm., App. I. 241. Our scheme about the Duke of Riperda must be alter’d unlesse you can way-lay this Evening or to-morrow morning, & prevail w^th him to alter his course.

1804.  Wordsw., ‘She was a Phantom,’ 10. A dancing Shape, an Image gay, To haunt, to startle, and way-lay.

1807.  Miss Mitford, in L’Estrange, Life (1870), I. iii. 62. The driver of the Reading coach is quite accustomed to be waylaid by our carriage.

1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, xlviii. Being directed to the chapel [he] betook himself there, in order to waylay her, at the conclusion of the service.

1886.  Ruskin, Præterita, II. 60. I have held it a first principle of manners not to waylay people.

1914.  C. Oliver, in Blackw. Mag., Nov., 577/1. The canal lock-keepers waylay me for the latest information.

  † 3.  To impede or intercept (a person) in his progress; to block the path of. Also, to impede or obstruct (an activity). Obs.

1625.  Bacon, Ess., Usury (Arb.), 543. For the Employment of Money, is chiefly, either Merchandizing, or Purchasing; And Vsury Way-layes both.

1649.  Milton, Eikon., viii. 68. Using a strange iniquity to require justice upon him whom he then waylayd and debarr’d from his appearance.

1660.  Ingelo, Bentiv. & Ur., I. (1682), 156. By this means we endeavour to way-lay an inconvenience which others accelerate by Excess in meats and drinks.

1681.  Flavel, Right Man’s Ref., 170. ’Tis our wisdom to way-lay our troubles.

1688.  Bunyan, Jerus. Sinner Saved (1886), 121. Art thou crossed, disappointed, and way-laid, and overthrown in all thy foolish ways and doings?

  4.  To beset or blockade (a road, position, district) with an armed force or the like. ? Obs.

1609.  [Bp. W. Barlow], Answ. Nameless Cath., 292. The Pope caused them to bee staied from that meeting, way-laying the Coastes of Verona and Millan.

1618.  J. Taylor (Water P.), Pennyles Pilgr., F 1 b. Then all the valley on each side being way-laid with a hundred couple of strong Irish Grey-hounds, they are let loose as occasion serues vpon the heard of Deere.

1757.  Washington, Lett., Writ. 1889, I. 498. I … ordered the passes of the mountains to be waylaid by commands from other places.

1784.  J. Belknap, Tour to White Mts. (1876), 19. The next morning they [the Indians] waylaid the road and killed these men.

1813.  Scott, Rokeby, II. xiii. Is our path way-laid?

1828.  W. Irving, Columbus, VIII. iii. 11. 237. He spread his army through the adjacent forests; and waylaid every pass.

  Hence Waylaid ppl. a. Waylayer, one who waylays. Waylaying vbl. sb. and ppl. a. (Stress variable, as in the vb.)

1626.  Breton, Fantasticks, C 4. The quarter Sessions take order with the way-layers.

1666.  Dryden, Ann. Mirab., xxv. Like hunted Castors, conscious of their Store, Their waylaid wealth to Norways coasts they bring.

1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., 71. Something … as powerful to check or bind motion, as the way-laying of a gross unweildy body.

1694.  Motteux, Rabelais, V. xxvi. 125. As we went back to our Ships, we saw three Way-Layers [Fr. trois guetteurs de chemins], who having been taken in Ambuscado, were going to be broken on the Wheel.

1759.  Dilworth, Life of Pope, 149. A lurking way-laying coward.

1828.  Smeeton, Doings in London, 222. ‘That fellow near the pump,’ said the officer, ‘is one of the way-layers, a contemptible class of thieves, who attend the waggon and coach-yards, pretending to be porters; they watch the country people, and offer their services to carry their parcels or call a coach.’

1855.  Landor, Imag. Conv., Asin. Pollio & Licin. Calvus, i. Wks. 1876, II. 437. Wherever there are rich wayfarers there also are sly and alert waylayers.

1870.  Morris, Earthly Par., II. III. 501. Without a will for aught, did Bodli stand, Nor once cast eyes on the waylayer’s band.

1872.  W. R. Greg, Enigm. Life, v. 190. It [sc. death] continues the most waylaying thought of the thoughtful man, till he silences its importunity by listening to all it has to say, and reasoning it back into the tomb.

1897.  ‘O. Rhoscomyl,’ White Rose Arno, 224. Ned ran rapidly over the history of the waylaying of Ithel.