Source : Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)

Laity \La"i*ty\ (l[=a]"[i^]*t[y^]), n. [See {Lay}, a.]
   1. The people, as distinguished from the clergy; the body of
      the people not in orders.

            A rising up of the laity against the sacerdotal
            caste.                                --Macaulay.

   2. The state of a layman. [Obs.] --Ayliffe.

   3. Those who are not of a certain profession, as law or
      medicine, in distinction from those belonging to it.

Source : WordNet®

laity
     n : everyone except the clergy [syn: {temporalty}] [ant: {clergy}]