lay off

/leɪ ɑf/

/leɪ ɒf/

Other forms: laid off; laying off; lays off

When employers lay off workers, they end their employment, usually because the company is cutting costs.

When bosses lay off employees, it's different from firing them for doing a bad job. In most cases, companies lay people off in an effort to save money. It's awful to lose your job no matter how it happens, but when workers are laid off, they sometimes get severance pay. Lay off is used as a verb, while layoff is a noun: "It's shocking they decided to lay off our whole department. I didn't expect layoffs this year."

Definitions of lay off

1. verb

   dismiss from work, usually for economic reasons
   “She was laid off together with hundreds of other workers when the company downsized”

   synonyms: furlough

   types:

   downsize

   dismiss from work

   type of:

   can, dismiss, displace, fire, force out, give notice, give the axe, give the sack, sack, send away, terminate

   terminate the employment of; discharge from an office or position
2. verb

   put an end to a state or an activity
   synonyms: cease, discontinue, give up, quit, stop

   types:

   drop, knock off

   stop pursuing or acting

   leave off

   stop using

   sign off

   cease broadcasting; get off the air; as of radio stations

   retire, withdraw

   withdraw from active participation

   pull the plug

   prevent from happening or continuing

   close off, shut off

   stem the flow of

   cheese

   used in the imperative (get away, or stop it)

   call it a day, call it quits

   stop doing what one is doing

   break

   give up

   nol.pros., nolle pros, nolle prosequi

   drop prosecution of by entering a nolle prosequi in the court records

   drop out

   withdraw from established society, especially because of disillusion with conventional values