waylaid
ˈwā-ˌlād 
; waylaying; waylays
; waylaying; waylays
1
: to lie in wait for or attack (someone) from ambush
… he had been waylaid, bound hand and foot, and thrown into a marsh. But he got out again, somehow, to cause a great deal of trouble yet.—
Charles Dickens
Charles Dickens2
: to temporarily stop the movement or progress of (someone or something)
The barkeeper, Tony, would come out of his saloon and wait to waylay the men going home. He could always entice a man with a full pocket into his saloon.—Meridel Le Sueur
Meridel Le SueurI can get waylaid by tangential thoughts and associations in mid-sentence, and this leads to parentheses, subordinate clauses, sentences of paragraphic length. I never use one adjective if six seem to me better and, in their cumulative effect, more incisive.—Oliver Sacks
Oliver SacksExamples of waylay in a Sentence
Gangs sometimes waylay travelers on that road.
We were waylaid by a group of kids with water balloons.
Recent Examples on the Web
The Great Arch delves into the nitty-gritty details of erecting a public structure in a country where government red tape sticks to everything, and creativity is often waylaid by political and budgetary realities.
—Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2025
Then in 1967 he was waylaid in his car by criminals who shot him and killed his wife, Pauline.
—Christie D’zurilla, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2025
An attempt to meet with him in late spring was waylaid, in part, by the fallout from Lewis’s disastrous all-hands meeting.
—Clare Malone, New Yorker, 12 May 2025
Perhaps attention to other important technological advances in AI will be waylaid.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for waylay
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Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2025
Then in 1967 he was waylaid in his car by criminals who shot him and killed his wife, Pauline.
—Christie D’zurilla, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2025
An attempt to meet with him in late spring was waylaid, in part, by the fallout from Lewis’s disastrous all-hands meeting.
—Clare Malone, New Yorker, 12 May 2025
Perhaps attention to other important technological advances in AI will be waylaid.
—Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 5 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for waylay
Cite this Entry
“Waylay.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/waylay. Accessed 31 May. 2025.
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