From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlay up phrasal verb1 be laid up (with something)ILL to have to stay in bed because you are ill or injured I was laid up for a week with flu.2 to stop using a boat or vehicle, especially while it is being repairedlay something ↔ up Most of the yachts were laid up for the winter.3 lay something ↔ up old-fashionedKEEP/STORE to collect and store something to use in the future We started laying up firewood for the winter. → lay→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
be laid up (with something)• She had never got used to the hours since John had been made redundant when all the ships were laid up.• Large numbers of nuclear-powered submarines are laid up at a harbour near Murmansk.• It was, and Venturous was laid up at Buckie for nearly ten months while new Cummins engines were fitted.• How much land must you commit to arable rotation, and how much must be laid up for hay or silage?• All was safely gathered in and Mr and Mrs Squirrel Nutkin's hoard was laid up for winter's sustenance.• The barges, designed to be sailed by one man and a boy, could be laid up in a few days.• In those days all the cutters were laid up on the trot piles in the river Hamble during the winter months.• I don't know how long I shall be laid up with this wretched ankle.lay-upˈlay-up noun [countable] DSOa throw in basketball made from very close to the basket or from under itExamples from the Corpus
lay-up• With 58 seconds left, Cameron Dollar hit Henderson with a no-look pass for a lay-up.• First, Henderson forced Fowlkes to miss a lay-up by slapping at the ball.• A lay-up, it should be said, was jargon for a gamble that was sure to succeed. 