From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishthe lay of somethingthe lay of somethingthe appearance of something and where each part of it is Mr. Lowe will give you the lay of the camp and tell you what we’re going to be doing. → lay
Examples from the Corpus
the lay of something• Failure to recognise slopes until committed to landing Make a point of looking for the lay of the surrounding countryside.• It was therefore an important moment when Tolkien gave Lewis the Lay of Leithian to read in manuscript.• A lot of people, especially those new to the city, have no concept of the lay of the land. 