allay
verb
- to quell or subdue
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /əˈleɪ/
noun
Etymology: From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.
- Alleviation; abatement; check.
- An alloy.
verb
Etymology: From Middle English alayen, aleyen, aleggen, from Old English āleċġan (“to put, place, lay down, lay aside, throw down, give up, cease from, abandon; put down, allay, suppress, abolish, conquer, destroy, overcome, refute; lay upon, inflict, impose upon; diminish, take away, refuse, lessen, withhold”), from Proto-Germanic *uzlagjaną (“to lay down”), equivalent to a- + lay. Cognate with German erlegen (“to impose, cause to succumb, kill”), Gothic 𐌿𐍃𐌻𐌰𐌲𐌾𐌰𐌽 (uslagjan, “to lay down”). In Middle English the word was identical to forms of allege and alloy, leading to much overlapping of senses.
- To make quiet or put at rest; to pacify or appease; to quell; to calm.
“to allay popular excitement”
“to allay the tumult of the passions”
- To alleviate; to abate; to mitigate.
“to allay the severity of affliction or the bitterness of adversity”
“[…] and is the onlie laſt remedie for all debilities which haue long vexed the body through a hote diſtemper of the Lever, ſuch as a hote Gutte; it allayeth all Inflamations inward & outward.”
- To subside, abate, become peaceful.
“And the wynde alayed, and there folowed a greate calme: and he sayde unto them: why are ye fearfull?”
“For raging wind blows up incessant showers, And when the rage allays the rain begins.”
- To mix (metals); to mix with a baser metal; to alloy; to deteriorate.
- To make worse by the introduction of inferior elements.
“Yet far be it from us to condemn all their works to be dross, because debased and allayed with superstitious intents […]”