belay
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See also: Belay
English
[edit]Etymology 1
[edit]From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan (“to cover, invest, surround, afflict, attribute to, charge with, accuse”), From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to be- (“about, around”) + lay. Cognate with Dutch beleggen (“to cover, overlay, belay”), German belegen (“to cover, occupy, belay”), Swedish belägga (“to pave”).
Pronunciation
[edit]- Verb:
- Noun:
- IPA(key): /ˈbiːleɪ/
Audio (Southern England): (file)
- Rhymes: -iːleɪ
- IPA(key): /ˈbiːleɪ/
Verb
[edit]belay (third-person singular simple present belays, present participle belaying, simple past and past participle belayed or belaid)
- (transitive, intransitive, nautical) To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.
- (transitive, climbing) To handle a climbing rope to prevent (a climber) from falling to the ground.
- He would need an experienced partner to belay him on the difficult climbs.
- (transitive) To lay aside; to stop; to cancel.
- I could only hope the remaining piton would belay his fall.
- Belay that order!
- 2015 February 1, Howard Tayler, Schlock Mercenary[1], archived from the original on 14 May 2024:
- "We landed in their killbox?" "We did. I am sor... No, belay that. Heads down! Cavalry incoming!"
- (intransitive, nautical) The general command to stop or cease.
- (transitive, obsolete) To surround; to environ; to enclose.
- (transitive, obsolete) To overlay; to adorn.
- 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto II”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 5:
- jacket […] belayd with silver lace
- (transitive, obsolete) To besiege; invest; surround.
- (transitive, obsolete) To lie in wait for in order to attack; block up or obstruct.
Derived terms
[edit]Translations
[edit]to make fast by turning around a fastening point
|
to handle a climbing rope
|
general command to stop
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Noun
[edit]belay (plural belays)
- (climbing) The securing of a rope to a rock or other projection.
- (climbing) The object to which a rope is secured.
- (climbing) A location at which a climber stops and builds an anchor with which to secure their partner.
- 1967, Anthony Greenbank, Instructions in Mountaineering, page 84:
- But instead of swapping over at the ice axe belay, you carry on in the lead, cutting or kicking steps until you are about twenty feet above.
Derived terms
[edit]See also
[edit]Etymology 2
[edit]Pronunciation
[edit]Verb
[edit]belay
References
[edit]- “belay”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.
- “belay”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.
Anagrams
[edit]Categories:
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms inherited from Old English
- English terms derived from Old English
- English terms inherited from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-West Germanic
- English terms prefixed with be-
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio pronunciation
- Rhymes:English/eɪ
- Rhymes:English/eɪ/2 syllables
- Rhymes:English/iːleɪ
- Rhymes:English/iːleɪ/2 syllables
- English lemmas
- English verbs
- English transitive verbs
- English intransitive verbs
- en:Nautical
- en:Climbing
- English terms with usage examples
- English terms with quotations
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English non-lemma forms
- English verb forms
- English heteronyms