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-   -   Etymology of the Word "Layover"? (https://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travelbuzz/1624839-etymology-word-layover.html)

RussianTexan Oct 30, 2014 4:30 pm
Etymology of the Word "Layover"?
 
How is it that this is the word that came to describe our little stays at airports without leaving them? I genuinely don't know & Wikipedia didn't tell me.

florin Oct 31, 2014 4:21 am
My first guess: back in the day, one could (and often would) get laid in a connecting airport.

Second guess: the mile high club was very inclusive when this term came about; pax used to get laid while flying and when they got to a connecting airport the lay was over.

Nowadays, some connections feel like "bend over, you're about to get... <ahem> laid". (CDG comes to mind...)

Eye of Storm Oct 31, 2014 10:09 pm
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/lay

36. Nautical. to take up a specified position, direction, etc.: "to lay aloft; to lay close to the wind"
...and lots of airplane/airport-related terms are nautical in origin ("cabin", "port" and "starboard", even to "board" a plane).

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/layover

1870-75, Americanism; noun use of verb phrase lay over


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