lay to rest

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lay to rest (third-person singular simple present lays to rest, present participle laying to rest, simple past and past participle laid to rest)

1. (transitive, idiomatic) To bury someone who has died.

   He was laid to rest beneath the old oak tree in 1825.

2. (transitive, figurative) To close (a matter of dispute).

   Payment of the court-imposed fine should finally lay this matter to rest.

   • 2025 September 27, Alastair Telfer, “England overpower Canada to win Women's World Cup”, in BBC Sport‎^[1]:

     TIn front of a record women's rugby crowd of 81,885, the Red Roses, who had lost the previous two finals to New Zealand, laid that ghost to rest with an assured display built on their power up front and ferocious defence.

• (to bury one who has died): entomb, inhume, inter, bury, grave