lay off

Verb

 * 1)  (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.
 * 2)  To place all or part of a bet with another bookmaker in order to reduce risk.
 * 3)  To cease, quit, stop (doing something).
 * Lay off the singing, will you! I'm trying to study.
 * When are you gonna lay off smoking?
 * 1)  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!
 * 1)  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.
 * 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.
 * 1)  To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart.
 * He shows me how to lay off the paint — and moves his paintbrush across the section he had already painted, again and again.
 * 1)  To plan out (a navigational course) using a chart.

Usage notes

 * 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.

Synonyms

 * 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

Translations

 * Bulgarian:
 * Catalan:
 * Czech:
 * Dutch:, de zak geven
 * Finnish: ;
 * French: ,
 * German:
 * Greek:
 * Hungarian:, ,
 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 解雇する
 * Portuguese:
 * Romanian:, da afară
 * Russian:
 * Spanish:, ,
 * Swedish: ,
 * Turkish: işten çıkarmak
 * Yiddish: אָפּזאָגן


 * Finnish:


 * Finnish:


 * Finnish:


 * Finnish: suunnitella reitti