belay
see also: Belay
Etymology 1

From Middle English beleggen, bileggen, from Old English beleċġan, From Proto-West Germanic *bilaggjan, equivalent to .

Pronunciation
  • Verb:
    • (America) IPA: /bɪˈleɪ/
    • (British) IPA: /ˈbiːleɪ/, /bɪˈleɪ/
  • Noun:
    • IPA: /ˈbiːleɪ/
Verb

belay (belays, present participle belaying; simple past and past participle belayed)

  1. (ambitransitive, nautical) To make (a rope) fast by turning it around a fastening point such as a cleat.
  2. (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.
  3. (transitive) To lay aside; to stop; to cancel.
    I could only hope the remaining piton would belay his fall.
    Belay that order!
  4. (intransitive, nautical) The general command to stop or cease.
  5. (transitive, obsolete) To surround; to environ; to enclose.
  6. (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
  7. (transitive, obsolete) To besiege; invest; surround.
  8. (transitive, obsolete) To lie in wait for in order to attack; block up or obstruct.
Translations Translations Translations Noun

belay (plural belays)

  1. (climbing) The securing of a rope to a rock or other projection.
  2. (climbing) The object to which a rope is secured.
  3. (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.
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /bɪˈleɪ/
Verb
  1. simple past of belie (“encompass”)

Belay
Proper noun
  1. Surname.



This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.003
Offline English dictionary