layoff

Etymology

It is a noun use from English of the phrasal verb lay off,^[2][3][4][5] formed from lay and off.^[3] The word is also written with a hyphen.^[3][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

A rest, respite or spell of relaxation: 1889, in the Gallup Gleaner of New Mexico.^[2][3] Merriam-Webster also dates the word to 1889,^[5][6] and Dictionary.com, which calls it an Americanism, to 1885–90.^[4][7]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline explains that through seasonal labour, with its periods of idleness, the word came to mean a temporary release from employment,^[3] and the OED's entry, published in 1933, already covers a period in which a worker is laid off or given leave, and a slack season in an activity.^[2] By the 1960s it was used, somewhat euphemistically, for the permanent dismissal of large numbers of workers.^[3] Black's Law Dictionary defines it as termination at the employer's instigation, temporary or permanent, especially of many employees in a short time.^[8] In sport it is used of a period out of competition.^[5] In American slang a layoff was also a smoke of opium (1920),^[9] and a bookmaker who takes on part of another bookmaker's bets to spread the risk.^[10]

Timeline

• 1889 – a rest, respite or spell of relaxation.^[2][3][5]
• 1920 – in American drug slang, a smoke of opium.^[9]
• 1960s – the permanent dismissal of many workers.^[3]

Meanings

Noun

1. The dismissal of an employee or of a workforce, temporary or permanent, especially for lack of work: The factory announced two hundred layoffs.^[5][11][8]
2. A period of rest or inactivity, or of being away from work.^[5][6][11]
3. A period out of an activity or competition: The boxer looked slow after his long layoff.^[5]
4. A shutdown or off-season.^[5][6]
5. (US slang) A bookmaker who takes over part of other bookmakers' bets to protect them against large losses.^[10]

Related words

• lay
• off
• layover

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d e f g h Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
6. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
8. ^ a b Garner, Bryan A., ed. (2004), Black's Law Dictionary, 8th ed., St. Paul, Minn.: Thomson West
9. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
10. ^ a b Dalzell, Tom; Victor, Terry, eds. (2013), The New Partridge Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English, 2nd ed., London: Routledge
11. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin