Forms: 1 alecʓ-an, 2–4 alegg-e(n, 4 aley-e, alai-e, 4–6 alay-e, 5–7 alay, allaye, 6– allay. Pa. t. 1 aleʓde, aléde, 2 aleiʓde, 2–4 aleide, 3–4 aleyde, 4 alede, 4–5 alaide, 5–6 alayd(e, 5–7 alayed, alaid, 6–7 alaied, allayd, 6– allayed. Pa. pple. 1 aleʓd, aléd (etc. as in pa. t.), 6–9 allayed. [f. A- pref. 1 + LAY, OE. lęcʓan, causal of licʓan to lie. OE. alęcʓan (cogn. w. Goth. uslagjan, OHG. irleccan, mod.G. erlegen) was inflected: Imper. aleʓe, alecʓað; Ind. pres. ic alecʓe, þú aleʓest, he aleʓ(e)þ, we alecʓað; Pa. t. aleʓde, aléde; Pa. pple. aleʓd, aléd; whence ME. aleggen; aleye, alaye, aleggeþ; I alegge, þou aleyest, he aleyeþ, we aleggeþ or aleggen; aleyde; aleyd, -eid, -ayd, -aid; levelled c. 1400, by substitution of aleye for alegge all through; as inf. to aleyen, alaye(n, alay(e; subsequently mis-spelt ALLAY, after words from L. in all- (see AD- 2). In its two forms, alegge and aleye, this vb. was formally identical with 4 other vbs. of Romance origin; viz. 1. alegge, ALLEGE v.1:—L. alleviāre; 2 alaye, ALLAY v.2:—L. alligāre; 3. aleye, ALLAY v.3:—L. allēgāre; 4. alegge, ALLEGE v.2 = OFr. alléguer, L. allēgāre, a learned form of ALLAY v.3 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. Those in allay are placed at the end of this word.]
I. Unmixed senses: To lay from one, lay aside or down; put down; put down the proud, pride, tumult, violence; to quell, abate.
† 1. To lay, lay down, lay aside. Obs.
c. 970. Canons of K. Edgar, in Anc. Laws, II. 286. Alecʓe þonne his wæpna.
c. 1000. Ags. G., Luke ii. 16. Hiʓ ʓemetton … ðæt cild on binne aléd.
c. 1160. Hatton G., ibid. Gemetton þæt chyld on binne aleiʓd.
† 2. To lay aside (a law, custom, practice); hence, to set aside, annul, abolish, destroy the legal force of (anything). Obs.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 91. Þenne beoð eowre sunnen aleide. Ibid., 115. He scal wicche creft aleggan.
1205. Layam., 7714. Þurh þa luue of þan feo feond-scipe aleggen.
1297. R. Glouc., 144. Gode lawes, þat were aleyd, newe he lette make.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 5240. Þan william wiȝtli … a-leide alle luþer lawes.
1413. Lydg., Pylgr. Sowle, IV. xxxvi. (1483), 84. Worshyp is aleyde and neuer shal retourne.
† 3. To abandon, give up (a course of action). Obs.
c. 1330. Sir Otuel, 38. Bi me he sente the to segge, Thou sscoldest Christendom alegge.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 3300. Hot þat þyn assaut be noȝt aled; and let by-gynne hit newe.
† 4. To put down, bring low, quell (a person). Obs.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Josh. x. 13. Hiʓ aledon heora fynd.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 91. Ic alegge þine feond under þine fot-sceomele.
c. 1300. in Wright, Lyric P., xxxvii. 105. Alle thre shule ben aleyd, with huere foule crokes.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. III. 237. [The Greeks] schulle be aleyde [obruentur] wiþ the multitude of Perses.
† 5. To put down or overthrow (a principle or attribute of men). Obs.
a. 1000. Sec. Laws of Cnut (Thorpe I. 380). Unriht alecʓan.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 11. Unbileue is aiware aleid, and rihte leue arered.
c. 1300. Beket, 1928. Forto awreke ous wel of him · and alegge his prute.
c. 1440. Arthur, 219. Thy pryde we wolle alaye.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. i. 60. I, and alay this thy abortiue Pride.
1642. Rogers, Naaman, 205. Wherby carnall reason is somewhat alaied and abated.
1659. Pearson, Creed (1839), 88. Sufficiently refuting an eternity, and allaying all conceits of any great antiquity.
† 6. To put down by argument, confute, overthrow. Obs. rare.
a. 1250. Owl & Night., 394. Heo ne miȝte noȝt alegge That the hule hadde hire i-sed.
† 7. To cause to lie, to lay (dust, etc.). Obs. rare.
1642. Fuller, Holy & Prof. St., V. xiv. 413. That in Noahs floud the dust was but sufficiently allayed.
8. To put down or repress (any violence of the elements, as heat, wind, tempest); to calm, assuage, ‘lay’ a storm. (This and the next sense are perhaps influenced by ALLEGE v.1: see 11 below.)
1488. Caxton, Chastys. Goddes Chyld., 12. Hete is thenne ful colde and alayed.
1580. Baret, Alv., A 282. The tempest is alaied.
1610. Shaks., Temp., I. ii. 2. If by your Art (my deerest father) you haue Put the wild waters in this Rore; alay them.
1781. J. Moore, Italy (1790), I. ii. 23. One of the virtues of the holy water [is] that of allaying storms.
1847. Disraeli, Tancred, III. iv. (1871), 183. The fervour of the air was allayed.
1862. Trench, Mirac., iv. 147. Having allayed the tumult of the outward elements.
9. To quell or put down (any disturbance in action or any tumult of the passions); to appease.
c. 1380. Sir Ferumb., 1373. Y-blessed mot þou be, For aled þow hast muche debate.
1387. Trevisa, Higden, Rolls Ser. IV. 293. Forto alegge þe outrage of þe kyngdom of Jewes.
1600. Fairfax, Tasso, XIX. xx. 340. Tancred … Asswag’d his anger and his wrath alaid.
1623. Bingham, Xenophon, 35. To allay, if he could, these distrusts, before they broke out into open hostilitie.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 131. This deadly Fray, A Cast of scatter’d Dust will soon allay.
1711. Addison, Spect., No. 16, ¶ 4. If I can any way asswage private Inflammations, or allay publick Ferments.
1855. Prescott, Philip II., I. II. xi. 265. The best means of allaying the popular excitement.
1863. Kinglake, Crimea (1876), I. xiv. 236. Words tending to allay suspicion.
1880. McCarthy, Own Times, III. xxxii. 48. Various efforts were made to allay the panic.
† 10. intr. (for refl.) To subside, sink, abate, cease; to become mild. Obs.
1526. Tindale and 1557 (Genev.), Mark iv. 39. And the wynde alayed.
1561. Hollybush, Hom. Apoth., 33 a. For assone as the stomake perceyveth the savoure of the bread, then doth the wambling alaye.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., I. iv. 146. And, when the Rage allayes, the Raine begins.
1723. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 78. If there were any room to hope that your hearts were allaying.
II. Confused with ALLEGE v.1 to lighten or alleviate, both verbs being in 14th c. alegge, and both used of pains, etc., so that alegge peine was in the one sense = quell pain, in the other = alleviate pain. Both senses might be expressed by abate, and they came to be regarded as the same word, so that from c. 1400 alaye was used for alegge in both (cf. Caxton’s ‘t’ alegge thurste,’ see ALLEGE v.1 2, Gower’s ‘to allay thurst’); and finally alegge became obs., and allay remained with the combined meaning.
11. To subdue, quell (any trouble, as care, pain, thirst); to abate, assuage, relieve, alleviate.
[c. 1220. Ureisun Ure Lefdi, 133. Þu miht lihtliche … al mi sor aleggen.
1250. Lay., 25684. Al þis lond he wole for-fare; bote þou alegge oure care.]
1393. Gower, Conf., III. 11. Which may his sory thurst allay. Ibid., III. 273. If I thy paines mighte alaie.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, 341. The roote Rhodia … alayeth head ache.
1667. Milton, P. L., X. 566. Fondly thinking to allay Thir appetite.
1681. Wyndham, King’s Concealm., 76. The pleasantness of the Host … allayed and mitigated the weariness of the Guests.
1768. Beattie, Minstrel, II. xxxii. I would allay that grief.
1836. Macgillivray, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., xix. 283. These Indians swallow quantities of earth for the purpose of allaying hunger.
III. Confused with ALLAY v.2, to alloy, mix, temper, qualify. The two verbs were from the 15th c. completely identical in form, and thus in appearance only different uses of the same word. (The earlier of the following senses are more closely related to the next vb. than to this; but it is, on the whole, more convenient to place them here, than under a word which is obs. or arch. in its own proper sense.)
† 12. To temper (iron, steel, etc.) Obs.
1409. Roll for Building Durham Cloisters. Pro alayng secur’, chyselle, wegges.
1486. Bk. St. Albans (1810), h iij. Ye shall put the quarell in a redde charkcole fyre tyll that it be of the same colour that the fyre is. Thenne take hym oute and lete hym kele, and ye shall find him well alayd for to fyle.
13. To temper or abate (a pleasure or advantage) by the association of something unpleasant.
1514. Barclay, Cyt. & Uplondyshm., 48. Because one service of them continuall Allayeth pleasure.
a. 1670. Hacket, in Wolcott’s Life (1865), 175. If the comfort of our joy be not allayed with some fear.
1759. Johnson, Rasselas, xxvi. (1787), 21. Benefits are allayed by reproaches.
1796. Morse, Amer. Geog., I. 310. The principal circumstance that allayed the joys of victory.
1839. Hallam, Hist. Lit., III. III. iii. § 131. 115. But this privilege is allayed by another, i. e. by the privilege of absurdity.
† 14. To dilute, qualify (wine with water, etc.). Obs.
c. 1450. J. Russell, Bk. Nurt., in Babees Bk. (1868), 132. Watur hoot & cold, eche oþer to alay.
1470. Harding, Chron., lxxii. He vsed the water ofte to alaye His drynkes.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helth (1541), 32. White wyne alayd with moche water.
1655. Culpepper, Riverius, XV. v. 419. Clysters … made of Vinegar allaied with Water.
1676. Hobbes, Odyss., IX. 212. Which when he drank, he usually allaid With water pure.
† 15. fig. Obs.
1586. T. B., trans. La Primaudaye’s Fr. Acad., Ded. To alay the strength of the word of Christ with the waterish sayings and fables of men.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah Sight, IV. vii. 125. God … allaying the purity of his nature, with humane Phrases.
16. To abate, diminish, weaken, mitigate.
1603. Florio, Montaigne (1634), 624. To allay or dim the whitenesse of paper.
1628. Prynne, Cens. Cozens, 96. This pretence … will not mittigate nor allay his Crime.
1748. Chesterf., Lett., 166, II. 111. Neither envy, indignation, nor ridicule, will obstruct or allay the applause which you may really deserve.
1805. Foster, Ess., II. iv. 169. They must allay their fire of enterprise.
1842. H. Rogers, Introd. Burke’s Wks., 59. To allay and temper its splendour down to that sober light which may enable his audience to see his argument.
