Discussion Groups / English Usage / June 2010

[...]

That's not a gimme.  Consider--

 http://www.wordreference.com/definition/instrumentality

and also, in the sfnal sense--

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Instrumentality_of_Mankind

I'm not sure about that. I always took the Star Trek command to relate to
putting co-ordinates into the computer. In the context of a sailing ship, I
dunno what there was to lay in or where it would have been laid. "Set a
course" is what you find in fictional stories from the age of sail.
And you find "lay a course" in OED without the 'in':

39.    a. In OE.: To direct (one's steps).    b. Naut. to lay one's (or a)
course: see quots. 1867, 1881.

... 1669 STURMY Mariner's Mag. I. 18 The Wind will be Northerly, make ready
to go about; we shall lay our Course another way. 1793 RENNELL in Phil.
Trans. LXXXIII. 190 We were driven to the north of Scilly; and were barely
able to lay a course through the passage between those islands and the
Land's End. 1867 SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk., To lay her course, to be able to
sail in the direction wished for, however barely the wind permits it. 1881
L. R. HAMERSLY Naval Encycl. s.v., A ship lays her course when being
close-hauled, the wind permits the desired course to be steered. 1890 W. F.
RAE Maygrove III. ix. 307 The steamer's course was laid for Michipicoten.

There is a particular meaning to "lay in the oars":
1867 SMYTH Sailor's Word-bk., Lay in the oars, unship them from the
rowlocks, and place them fore and aft in the boat.

And there is a specialised meaning of 'lay':

5. Naut. To sail out to such a distance as to bring (an object) to or below
the horizon. (Opposed to raise.)

1574 BOURNE Regiment for Sea xiii. (1577) 39a, In going to the North, you
doe rayse the Pole, and lay the Equinoctiall. 1711 Milit. & Sea Dict., To
Lay the Land. When they have sail'd out of Sight of Land, they say, they
have Laid the Land. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4887/3 We chased them till Ten, at
which time we had laid their Hulls. 1769 FALCONER Dict. Marine (1780),
Laying the Land, in navigation, the state of motion which increases the
distance from the coast, so as to make it appear lower and smaller;..used in
contradistinction to raising the land.

And, of course, 'lay' is used for a kind of movement which may be aloft,
alongside, forrard, aft and all manner of non-lubberly things.