From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlay somebody/something open to somethinglay somebody/something open to somethingRISKto do something that makes it possible for other people to blame you, criticize you etclay yourself open to something By doing that, he laid himself open to ridicule. Not to have taken action would have laid the department open to charges of negligence. → lay
Examples from the Corpus
lay somebody/something open to something• Not to have taken action, she said, would have laid her department open to a charge of negligence.• It is not difficult to see how this approach lays itself open to abuse and drastic criticism.• This would amount to a breach of their contract of employment and lay them open to disciplinary proceedings.• If he had said he was acting under his own authority, he would have laid himself open to ridicule.• It is not only those who dismiss the arts as self-indulgent who lay themselves open to such a charge.• Is it something you should do, or do you lay yourself open to terrible legal proceedings?• And he has laid himself wide open to the kind of criticism that will cloak him in a dark shroud of misery.• The Evangelicals have become a powerful influence in the land and this lays them open to the wooing of politicians. 