waylay means to lie in wait for and attack from ambush. Lexicurio rates it Rare gem — a strength score of 80 out of 100.
waylay is pronounced /ˌweɪˈleɪ/.
Why “waylay” is a great word
To lie in wait for and attack from ambush, or to accost or intercept unexpectedly. From way ("road, path") + lay ("to place, set"), a calque of Middle Dutch *wegelagen* ("besetting of ways, lying in wait with evil or hostile intent along public ways"), first attested in English in 1513. Unlike "ambush," which can occur in any concealment, or "intercept," a neutral term for a planned stop, "waylay" is a verb of roads, defined by the geography of the path and the treachery of the wait. It is the shadow detaching itself from the hedgerow at twilight, the false call for help from a darkened ditch, the sudden hand on your shoulder in a crowded bazaar—the quiet violence done not to a person alone, but to the very idea of safe passage.
Etymology
From way + lay, likely a calque of Middle Dutch wegelagen (“besetting of ways, lying in wait with evil or hostile intent along public ways”). Compare Middle Low German wegelagen, German wegelagern (“to waylay; rob”).
verb
- To lie in wait for and attack from ambush.“Oh, youthful benefactress! how often in succeeding years, standing in solitary places, and thinking of thee with grief of heart and perfect love—how often have I wished that, as in ancient times, the curse of a father was believed to have a supernatural power, and to pursue its object with a fatal necessity of self-fulfilment; even so the benediction of a heart oppressed with gratitude might have ”
- To accost or intercept unexpectedly.“And when some of the friends, the ones who came every day, waylaid the doctor in the corridor, Stephen was the one who asked the most informed questions, who’d been keeping up not just with the stories that appeared several times a week in the Times […]”