to tell people what they must do and not to care about their opinions
Think about laying down a sheet of paper with all the laws written on it. The person would have to read the laws. Then, he'd know what they were. If you lay down the law, you let the other person know just what they're expected to do.
Usually, this phrase is a semi-humorous way of saying that you were angry at them, and you firmly told them the facts.
If you "lay it on the line," then you tell the unadulterated truth without trying to smooth things over and save the person's feelings, you make the meaning perfectly clear and impossible to misunderstand.
"lay" is a verb and "down" is an adverb.
That is not an idiom. It means just what it says. You need a medical dictionary to look up medical conditions, not an idiom dictionary. I think by idiom, you may be asking what type of language is represented by the phrase "inflammation of nictitating membrane." That phrase is typical of medical or scientific terminology rather than common or lay language.
It's "I'm lying down." You lie down, you lay something on the table. Lay means to place something down; in other words, it's something you do to something else (as in to lay the blanket on the couch). Lie means to recline or be placed; it is an intransitive verb, because it does not act upon anything or anyone else. See related links for more information.
That is the correct spelling of "laid down" (verb to lay, transitive verb).The past tense of lie (lie down) would be lay down(verb to lie, intransitive verb).
This is not an idiom. The verb "lay" is the past tense of "lie," and means that whatever or whoever the subject of the sentence may be, they were laying down on top of some hay.
Setting rules, laws for a community
Lay Down the Law was created in 1984-11.
It means to not brake the law.
lay down
The L Word - 2004 Lay Down the Law 5-8 is rated/received certificates of: USA:TV-MA
Setting rules, laws for a community
It means to state very specifically what is to happen. They will no longer tolerate the actions going on and want things taken care of.
It means to kill them..
If you "lay it on the line," then you tell the unadulterated truth without trying to smooth things over and save the person's feelings, you make the meaning perfectly clear and impossible to misunderstand.
Lay down the law! Let him know you meen buisness!
the German word for lay down is... Festlegung======================================depending on context, it can also mean niederlegen, e.g.die Waffen niederlegen - to lay down Arms (weapons)UntenPronounced: OON-TEN