lay on the line

present singular third person lays on the line · participle present laying on the line · participle past laid on the line · past laid on the line

1. idiomatictransitiveTo state strongly, clearly, and accurately.

   Give it to me / Lay it on the line / Help me get / don’t let this be the end

   1977, Wayne St. John, “Something's Up (Love Me Like The First Time)”

   3 more examples

   Martin presented the list to the 30-member House Republican Policy Committee, laid the facts on the line in cold political terms.

   1957 June 10, “The Budget: Remember Guam!”, in Time

   1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure The way I felt about my approach to him—I just wanted to lay it on the line, get an answer & split, I was so nervous. I didn't have any confidence to flirt my way into getting him to my place. Joyce said I can't just take the male role like that.

   Finally, though, he laid it on the line. “I said to her, ‘You gotta tell me if you still love me.’”

   2011 June 10, David Colman, “Crosses That Bear the Past”, in New York Times, retrieved 30 Jul 2011

2. idiomatictransitiveTo risk.

   California's Edmund Gerald Brown, 54, laid his political prestige on the line with a sheaf of legislative proposals.

   1959 July 5, “National Affairs: The Democratic Governors in 1960”, in Time

   1 more example

   It was King and his network of Christian and Jewish clergy who laid their jobs and, in some cases, their lives on the line until my fellow Southerners were too ashamed and embarrassed to continue their wickedness.

   2011 March 13, Oliver Thomas, “America's churches can change the world”, in USA Today, retrieved 30 Jul 2011