A stop or wait between connecting flights or other transportation.
Originally a nautical term from the 1800s meaning when a ship would 'lay over' in port - literally lie at anchor for repairs or to wait out bad weather. Sailors would 'lay over' their ship by positioning it safely in harbor. Airlines borrowed this maritime language in the early days of commercial aviation when flights were much less reliable.
Your annoying three-hour airport layover connects you to centuries of sailors who would 'lay their ships over' in safe harbors, sometimes for weeks, waiting for favorable winds. The word carries the DNA of maritime patience in our age of jet-speed impatience.
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