lay claim

Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.

Meaning · English

To assert or declare ownership or right to something

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

khẳng định hoặc tuyên bố quyền sở hữu hoặc quyền với điều gì

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Literally: place a claim
Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

She laid claim to the inheritance left by her grandfather

AI-drafted example auto-approved by rule (illustrative, not a corpus attestation)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Definition drafted by AI (@cf/meta/llama-3.3-70b-instruct-fp8-fast) and auto-approved by rule on 2026-07-31; pending editor spot-check.

Common questions

What does “lay claim” mean?

To assert or declare ownership or right to something Literally: place a claim

Is “lay claim” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.