lie in wait

Meaning

1. lie in wait (for sb)

   to hide, waiting to surprise, attack or catch sb

   He was surrounded by reporters who had been lying in wait for him.

In the movies · 7

• Atlantis has been lying in waitAquaman2018
• who lies about court, waiting to be feted with gift upon gift upon giftThe Last Duel2021
• A going concern. It's no use lying around waiting to be picked up.Lifeboat1944
• 'without ever giving a thought to the grim meat-hook realities that were lying in wait 'for all those people who took him seriously.Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas1998
• Anything beats lying around all day waiting for me to fuck you!Scarface1983
• The snow freezes on the boot, the warm room melts the ice, and the little piece of slippery ice lies in wait for the hurrying foot...The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp1943
• Anyway, so I was lying on the bed waiting for him, and after about 10 minutes of this, it was like, I was starting to lose my hard-on because it was getting boring, and then he walked in and he was fully done up in leather, like boots and things and chaps and everything, and he was much older than his picture said, and he walked in and I was like, "Oh, fuck!"Weekend2011

Learn it in full scenes

• The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp1943
  • War Starts at Midnight
  • The Home Guard Exercise Turns Real
  • General Wynne-Candy Is Taken Prisoner

From the same entry

• lie ahead store
• lie in state
• lie low
• take lying down
• you've made your bed and you must lie in it
• be at the bottom of
• hang heavy
• see, how the land lies
• let sleeping dogs lie
• lie around
• lie back
• lie behind