lay down one's life

lay down one's life (third-person singular simple present lays down one's life, present participle laying down one's life, simple past and past participle laid down one's life)

1. (transitive with for) (literary) To give one's life (for), to die (for).
   • 1887, Harriet W. Daly, Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page 142:

     Gold was there, and get at it they would, and at any cost. Many of our fellow-passengers suffered a rude awakening, and more than one man laid down his life in the quest for gold that had taken so fierce a hold upon him.

• “lay down one’s life”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “lay down your life”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “lay down your life for sth”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “lay down your life” (US) / “lay down your life” (UK) in Macmillan English Dictionary.
• “lay down your life”, in Collins English Dictionary.