Meanings
- not comparableUnable to move about normally due to illness or injury, especially when confined to bed.
Flesh occasionally feels stalemated, more laid up than at home.
2000, Arthur Michael Saltzman, This Mad "instead": Governing Metaphors in Contemporary American Fiction, →ISBN, page 122 more examples
For days Ailie had an absent eye and a sad face, and it so fell out that in all that time young Heriotside, who had scarce missed a day, was laid up with a broken arm and never came near her.
1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the TideHe was still laid up in bed with boils and gout when the committee first met.
2003 July 7, Walter Isaacson, “How They Chose These Words”, in Time - not comparableStored at a dock or other place of safety.
The ship was laid up until repairs could commence.
- participlepastsimple past and past participle of lay up
Synonyms & antonyms
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Cite this entry
laid up. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laid%20up
“laid up.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laid%20up. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “laid up,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laid%20up.
Source: laid up on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.