English

Verb

lie in

1. (archaic) To be brought to bed in childbirth.
   • 1749, Henry Fielding, Tom Jones, Folio Society 1973, p. 467:

     he had been driven to it by the distress he mentioned, the greatest indeed imaginable, that of five hungry children, and a wife lying in of the sixth, in the utmost want and misery.

2. To stay in bed (longer than usual).

   I've got a day off tomorrow, so I might lie in till about 11.

Derived terms

• lie-in
• lying-in