lie low
Proposed by a contributor, not yet supported by evidence.
Meaning · English
To avoid attention or detection by hiding or remaining quiet
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
tránh sự chú ý hoặc phát hiện bằng cách ẩn náu hoặc giữ im lặng
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Literally: remain in a low or hidden position
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
After an education in France, Wharton briefly sat as an MP in the Parliament of 1680 as member for East Grinstead, before a hotheaded pro - Exclusionist speech forced him to lie low.
It seems police failure to raise a national alarm may have fooled Stewart into lying low rather than making a run for it.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
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 “lie low” mean?
To avoid attention or detection by hiding or remaining quiet Literally: remain in a low or hidden position
Is “lie low” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.