---
title: belay — school dictionary · trees and pragmatics
description: «belay» in the school dictionary: To belay a rope is to wind it round a post or pin so that it holds fast. Every meaning for a pupil with its dependency tree and pragmatics.
---

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# belay

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**Who acts:** rope, you, Avast, We, sail · **What happens:** belay, be, hold, stop, do, shout · **To what, where:** wind, sail

<!-- .vabout -->
«belay» in the school dictionary: its 2 meanings for a pupil and its 3 examples, every sentence parsed by Mova itself — its syntax tree, a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies, and its pragmatics clause by clause. The word in the dictionary, with its sense in the lessons: [belay in the school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/belay.md).

## Meaning 1 {#m1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
To belay a rope is to wind it round a post or pin so that it holds fast.

<!-- fold The tree, 18 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:belay:m1:1
# text = To belay a rope is to wind it round a post or pin so that it holds fast.
1	To	to	PART	TO	_	2	mark	_	_
2	belay	belay	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	7	cop	_	_
6	to	to	PART	TO	_	7	mark	_	_
7	wind	wind	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
8	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	7	nsubj	_	_
9	round	round	ADP	IN	_	11	case	_	_
10	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	11	det	_	_
11	post	post	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obl	_	_
12	or	or	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
13	pin	pin	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	conj	_	_
14	so	so	SCONJ	IN	ExtPos=SCONJ	17	mark	_	_
15	that	that	SCONJ	IN	_	14	fixed	_	_
16	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	17	nsubj	_	_
17	holds	hold	VERB	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	2	advcl	_	_
18	fast	fast	ADV	RB	Degree=Pos	17	advmod	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **belay** | to-infinitive |  |  |  |  |  | round a post or pin | tree rules |
| 2 | **is a** | present | a rope | wind |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 3 | **hold** | present | rope |  |  |  |  | fast *property* | vn exist-47.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## Meaning 2 {#m2}

<!-- .note -->
Usage: «Belay!» — kept apart, not parsed.

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Stop! Stop what you are doing.

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 1:* Stop!

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:belay:m2:1
# text = Stop!
1	Stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP.eventuality V»: agent=Eventuality |

<!-- .note -->
*Sentence 2:* Stop what you are doing.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:belay:m2:2
# text = Stop what you are doing.
1	Stop	stop	VERB	VB	Mood=Imp|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
2	what	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	5	obj	_	_
3	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	5	nsubj	_	_
4	are	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	5	aux	_	_
5	doing	do	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	1	ccomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **stop** | imperative | you *not said here* |  |  |  |  |  | vn stop-55.4-1-1 «NP V S\_ING»: agent=Affector clause=Eventuality |
| 2 | **do** | present · progressive | you |  |  |  |  |  | vn act-114-1 «NP V NP»: agent=Agent what=Eventuality |

## Example 1 {#x1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Belay that rope, lads!

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:belay:x1:1
# text = Belay that rope, lads!
1	Belay	belay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	_
2	that	that	PRON	WDT	PronType=Rel	3	det	_	_
3	rope	rope	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	1	nmod:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
4	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	5	punct	_	_
5	lads	lad	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	1	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	1	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

## Example 2 {#x2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«Avast, belay!» the captain shouted.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:belay:x2:1
# text = «Avast, belay!» the captain shouted.
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	Avast	avast	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
3	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	4	punct	_	_
4	belay	belay	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	conj	_	SpaceAfter=No
5	!	!	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
6	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	2	punct	_	_
7	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	8	det	_	_
8	captain	captain	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
9	shouted	shout	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	9	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **shout** *speech: express* | past | Avast and belay |  |  |  |  |  | vn manner\_speaking-37.3 «NP V»: agent=Agent |

## Example 3 {#x3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
We belayed the sail so it would not blow loose.

```conllu
# sent_id = dict:school:belay:x3:1
# text = We belayed the sail so it would not blow loose.
1	We	we	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Number=Plur|Person=1|PronType=Prs	2	nsubj	_	_
2	belayed	belay	VERB	VBD	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=1|Tense=Past|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	sail	sail	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	2	obj	_	_
5	so	so	ADV	RB	_	9	advmod	_	_
6	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	9	nsubj	_	_
7	would	would	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	9	aux	_	_
8	not	not	PART	RB	Polarity=Neg	9	advmod	_	_
9	blow	blow	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	2	advcl	_	_
10	loose	loose	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	xcomp	_	SpaceAfter=No
11	.	.	PUNCT	.	_	2	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **belay** | past | We | the sail |  |  |  |  | tree rules |
| 2 | **not** **blow** | would | sail |  |  |  |  | loose *property* | vn split-23.2 «NP V apart»: agent=Patient |

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**Text:** the school dictionary of Mova's schools (`world/data/dictionary-schools/`), written for Mova. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each meaning and example read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

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