敷しく

godan verb (-ku), transitive verb

lay out; spread out; put down underneath

Physical use for spreading or placing something flat, especially bedding, mats, carpets, or cushions. With 座布団 and similar items it means putting something down to sit or rest on.

• 寝ねる前まえに畳たたみの上うえに布ふ団とんを敷しいた。

  Before going to bed, I laid out a futon on the tatami.

• 床ゆかに座ざ布ぶ団とんを敷しいて座すわった。

  I put a floor cushion down and sat on it.

godan verb (-ku), transitive verb

impose widely; put into force; promulgate

Used with measures, orders, or regimes that are put in place over an area or group, such as 戒厳令を敷く. 布く is a rare search-only spelling for this sense.

• 政せい府ふはその地ち域いきに戒かい厳げん令れいを敷しいた。

  The government imposed martial law in that region.

godan verb (-ku), transitive verb

pin down; hold down; keep under one's thumb

Most familiar in the fixed expression 尻に敷く, literally 'put under one's backside,' meaning to dominate or keep someone under control.

See also: 尻に敷く

• 彼かれはいつも妻つまに尻しりに敷しかれている。

  He is always under his wife's thumb.

godan verb (-ku), transitive verb

lay tracks; lay infrastructure

Used for laying long, line-like infrastructure such as railway tracks. 布く is attested as a rare search-only spelling, but 敷く is the practical spelling.

• 新あたらしい線せん路ろを山さん間かん部ぶに敷しく計けい画かくだ。

  The plan is to lay new railway tracks through the mountain area.

godan verb (-ku), transitive verb

deploy; set up a formation

Military or strategic use for placing forces or establishing a position, especially in phrases like 陣を敷く. 布く is a rare search-only spelling for this spread-out deployment sense.

• 将しょう軍ぐんは川かわ沿ぞいに陣じんを敷しいた。

  The general set up his forces along the river.

godan verb (-ku), intransitive verb

spread; be propagated

Formal or literary intransitive use, not the ordinary modern transitive 敷く. It may describe something spreading out, such as snow or frost, or more abstractly being propagated.

• 「霜しもが一いち面めんに敷しいた」は、霜しもが広ひろがったという文ぶん語ご的てきな言いい方かただ。

  “Frost spread everywhere” is a literary way of saying that frost spread out.