lay claim to

lay claim to idiom
Assert one's right to or ownership of, as in “What claim lays she to thee?” (Shakespeare, The Comedy of Errors, 3:2). [Late 1500s] Also see stake a claim.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer. Copyright © 2003, 1997 by The Christine Ammer 1992 Trust. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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