air vs lay

air

noun
  • A song, especially a solo; an aria. 

  • understood as a gaseous mixture of nitrogen, oxygen, and various trace gases. 

  • The apparently open space above the ground which this substance fills, (historical) formerly thought to be limited by the firmament but (meteorology) now considered to be surrounded by the near vacuum of outer space. 

  • understood as a particular local substance with supposed effects on human health. 

  • A jump in which one becomes airborne. 

  • A feeling or sense. 

  • The substance constituting Earth's atmosphere 

  • A sense of poise, graciousness, or quality. 

  • Nothing; absence of anything. 

  • Publicity. 

  • A breeze; a gentle wind. 

  • A television or radio signal; (by extension) media broadcasts in general. 

  • An air conditioner or the processed air it produces. 

  • understood as one of the four elements of the ancient Greeks and Romans. 

  • Pretension; snobbishness; pretence that one is better than others. 

verb
  • To be broadcast. 

  • To broadcast (a television show etc.). 

  • To discuss varying viewpoints on a given topic. 

  • To bring (something) into contact with the air, so as to freshen or dry it. 

  • To ignore (a person). 

  • To let fresh air into a room or a building, to ventilate. 

lay

noun
  • A ballad or sung poem; a short poem or narrative, usually intended to be sung. 

  • The direction a rope is twisted. 

  • A casual sexual partner. 

  • A lake. 

  • What was I, just another lay you can toss aside as you go on to your next conquest? 

  • Arrangement or relationship; layout. 

  • An act of sexual intercourse. 

  • A share of the profits in a business. 

  • A lyrical, narrative poem written in octosyllabic couplets that often deals with tales of adventure and romance. 

  • The laying of eggs. 

verb
  • To take a position; to come or go. 

  • To place down in a position of rest, or in a horizontal position. 

  • To don or put on (tefillin (phylacteries)). 

  • To have sex with. 

  • To place (new type) properly in the cases. 

  • To place and arrange (pages) for a form upon the imposing stone. 

  • To impose (a burden, punishment, command, tax, etc.). 

  • To produce and deposit an egg. 

  • To lie: to rest in a horizontal position on a surface. 

  • To apply; to put. 

  • To deposit (a stake) as a wager; to stake; to risk. 

  • To bet (that something is or is not the case). 

  • To point; to aim. 

  • To be in a horizontal position; to lie (from confusion with lie). 

  • To present or offer. 

  • simple past tense of lie when pertaining to position. 

  • To state; to allege. 

  • To impute; to charge; to allege. 

  • To put the strands of (a rope, a cable, etc.) in their proper places and twist or unite them. 

  • To install certain building materials, laying one thing on top of another. 

  • To prepare (a plan, project etc.); to set out, establish (a law, principle). 

adj
  • Non-professional; not being a member of an organized institution. 

  • Not trumps. 

  • Not belonging to the clergy, but associated with them. 

How often have the words air and lay occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )