lay-by, noun

Forms:
Also lay-bye.
Origin:
Perhaps from Australian or New Zealand English.
A system of payment whereby a deposit is made on an article which is then reserved for the buyer until the full price has been paid. Also attributive.
1947 Monitor 21 Mar. 8 (advt)Use Our Lay-Bye Plan of purchase...Pay an initial deposit, and we will reserve and store your purchases for you in our special warehouse until required.
1973 E. Prov. Herald 11 June 5Shopping on the lay-by system has pitfalls for the unwary buyer.
1981 Voice Aug. (Reader) 5The Stokvel way is better than the Lay-by way. This is because you can buy cash.
1987 Splargie (Pretoria Technikon) 53What is lay-by. When you want to buy a certain article but do not have the cash to pay for it, you could secure it by lay-by. This means that the article is set aside by the seller while the purchaser pays it off.
1989 Weekend Post 28 Oct. 3He described North End as a ‘land of laybyes and Christmas bonuses’.
1994 Radio Algoa 29 Dec. (advt)They take credit cards, Buy-Aids, and Lay-bys.
A system of payment whereby a deposit is made on an article which is then reserved for the buyer until the full price has been paid. Also attributive.
Derivatives:
Hence lay-by  verb, to reserve an article by paying a deposit.
1983 M. Du Plessis State of Fear 144A sheet of cardboard..had pictures of holly on it, with the command, ‘Lay-bye now for Christmas’.
1992 Radio Algoa 4 Sept. (advt)Everything carries a money-back guarantee — and you can lay-by too.
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19471994

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lay-by, v.

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Economics and Commerce
law agent, noun phrasen. phr.lazy, adjectiveadj.
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