lie down

What it means

To recline your body horizontally, usually on a bed, sofa, or floor, to rest or sleep. It can also be used figuratively, as in 'lie down and accept it', meaning to give up without fighting.

Words like “lie down” are exactly the kind of vocabulary our English vocabulary size test measures — find out how many English words you know.

Examples

• I need to lie down for a few minutes — I have a headache.
• The doctor told her to lie down on the examination table.
• He lay down on the grass and looked up at the clouds.
• We won't just lie down and accept this unfair decision.

Where it comes from

Inseparable. Watch the tricky verb forms: 'lie / lay / lain' for the recline meaning (no object), and don't confuse it with 'lay / laid / laid' (to put something down). So you 'lie down' yourself but 'lay' a book on the table.

Related phrasal verbs