laydown, n.

[Benjamin Barrett]

FWIW, my first instinct was that it was an error for "lowdown."

Benjamin Barret
Seattle, WA

On Jan 19, 2013, at 4:58 PM, Dave Wilton <dave at WILTON.NET> wrote:

> The military sense quoted in Wiktionary is:
>
> 1984, Ashton B. Carter et al., Ballistic Missile Defense[3], ISBN
> 0815713118, page 141: "The offense could contrive a variety of laydowns to
> intensify the defense's problems."
>
> I'm not sure how widespread this usage is. I don't recall it from my
> military and arms control days. My guess is that this sense comes from the
> older sense of a "laydown delivery" of a nuclear weapon, which uses a
> parachute to retard the descent of the bomb so that it actually "lays down"
> on the ground before detonating in order to maximize the ground shockwave to
> destroy underground facilities.
>
> I don't think this is what the CNN reporter intended. It looks to me like a
> misspoken "layout."
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
> Benjamin Barrett
>
>
> http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/laydown has:
>
> (publishing) A physical mockup or layout of a page design
> (military) A pattern of deployment
>
> The OED has two nouns for "lay-down," but neither cover this meaning.
>
> Benjamin Barrett
> Seattle, WA
>
> On Jan 19, 2013, at 2:02 PM, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> wrote:
>
>>
>> CNN reported a day or two ago - without feeling the need to define it
>> - that a U.S. drone had flown over the whereabouts of the hostages in
>> Algeria so as to "get a laydown of the area."
>>
>> I assume it means a panoramic digital photo, even though, for the
>> well-known reason,.one should never "assume."

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