lay-offとは 意味・読み方・使い方

語源 1

動詞

lay off (third-person singular simple present lays off, present participle laying off, simple past and past participle laid off)

1. (transitive, chiefly US, idiomatic) (of an employer) To dismiss (workers) from employment, e.g. at a time of low business volume or through no fault of the worker, often with a severance package.
   • 2026 April 22, Jillian Sanders, “The Danger of Surrendering Your Financial Independence in a Relationship”, in TIME‎, archived from the original on 22 April 2026:

     Four months after arriving in Denver, I was laid off when the pandemic hit. I took on freelance work, whatever I could get, to cover my expenses and stay afloat.

2. (transitive, of a bookmaker) To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.

   Synonym: hedge one's bets

3. (transitive, idiomatic) To cease, quit, stop (doing something).

   Lay off the singing, will you! I'm trying to study.

   When are you gonna lay off smoking?

4. (transitive and intransitive, idiomatic) To stop bothering, teasing, or pestering someone; to leave (someone) alone.

   Just lay off, okay! I've had enough!

   Things have been better since the boss has been laying off a little.

   I told him to lay off me but he wouldn't stop.

   Lay off it, already!

   • 2008, Xavier: Renegade Angel, season 1, episode 10:

     First Xavier (Vernon Chatman): You're about as deep as a bowl of soup, and your tongue is as sharp as a soup spoon.
     Second Xavier (Vernon Chatman): Hey, say what you want about me, but lay off the soup.

5. (ambitransitive, art) In painting, to apply gentle strokes to smooth a wet coat of paint so as to remove visible roller- or brush-marks, commonly using a dry brush; a similar technique, but using a loaded laying-off brush, may produce a smooth coat of paint when using a roller or the usual brush techniques would leave marks.

   Synonym: tip off

   At any pro paint shop ask for laying off brushes. These are natural bristle, wide, thin brushes designed for tipping off, not for holding a paint load. (Sourced from a web forum exchange)

   He shows me how to lay off the paint — and moves his paintbrush across the section he had already painted, again and again.

6. (transitive) To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart.

使用する際の注意点

• In the first two transitive senses the object can come before or after the particle (laid off the whole department). If the object is a pronoun, then it must come before the particle (laid them off).
• In the two idiomatic "cease" senses, all objects, including pronouns, come after the complete phrase (lay off me!). Also, in this sense the verb cannot be used in the passive voice; for example, Finally, the bullies laid off the victim cannot be rephrased as, *Finally, the victim was laid off by the bullies.

同意語

• (to dismiss workers from employment): make redundant, let go

  The following synonyms carry a harsher context than "lay off":

  • can, dismiss, fire, sack, terminate, give the axe, give the boot, give (someone) their cards, give the chop, give the elbow, give the old heave-ho

• See also Thesaurus:lay off

派生語

• layoff

語源 2

動詞

lay off

1. simple past of lie off

アナグラム

• Offaly, offaly, offlay

語源

Deverbal from lay off.

発音

名詞

layoff (plural layoffs)

1. (chiefly US) A dismissal of employees from their jobs because of tightened budgetary constraints or work shortage (not due to poor performance or misconduct).
2. A period of time when someone is unavailable for work.
   • 1916 March 11, Charles E. Van Loan, “His Folks”, in Saturday Evening Post‎:

     One of the muscles on the point of the shoulder was torn loose and it didn't need more than a glance to see that Mr. Hickey was in for a long lay-off. He wouldn't pitch again for quite a spell, if ever;

   • 2010 December 29, Sam Sheringham, “Liverpool 0 - 1 Wolverhampton”, in BBC Sport‎, archived from the original on 16 March 2017:

     But even the return of skipper Steven Gerrard from a six-week injury layoff could not inspire Liverpool

   • 2021 July 28, Ben Jones, “When BR got cracking after withdrawal of 'Blue Trains'”, in RAIL, number 932, page 32:

     After a ten-month layoff, during which extensive testing had taken place in conjunction with AEI, the 'Blue Trains' resumed full operation on October 2 1961, [...].

   • 2023 April 11, Kurtis Lee, “California Economy Is on Edge After Tech Layoffs and Studio Cutbacks”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 April 2023:

     At tech companies that spent recent years expanding paid parental leave, parents have felt the whiplash of mass layoffs in an especially visceral way.

3. (British, soccer) A short pass that has been rolled in front of another player for them to kick.
4. A bet that is laid off, i.e. placed with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.

同意語

• (dismissal of employees): downsizing, reduction in force, redundancy

派生語

参考

• lay off

Further reading

• layoff on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

アナグラム

• Offaly, offaly, offlay