WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

lay off
    v 1: put an end to a state or an activity; "Quit teasing your
         little brother" [syn: discontinue, stop, cease, give
         up, quit, lay off] [ant: bear on, carry on,
         continue, preserve, uphold]
    2: dismiss, usually for economic reasons; "She was laid off
       together with hundreds of other workers when the company
       downsized" [syn: furlough, lay off]

Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:

141 Moby Thesaurus words for "lay off":
   abandon, abort, aestivate, belay, blueprint, boot, bounce, bound,
   break, breathe, bump, bust, call a strike, call it quits, can,
   cancel, cashier, cease, chart, circle in, circumscribe, close down,
   close shop, cut it out, define, defrock, degrade, delimit,
   delimitate, demarcate, demote, deplume, depose, deprive, desist,
   determine, diagram, disbar, discharge, discontinue, disemploy,
   dismiss, displace, displume, drop it, drum out, enclose, end,
   expel, fire, fix, furlough, give over, give the ax, give the gate,
   go on strike, graph, halt, have done with, have nothing on,
   hibernate, hold, kick, kick upstairs, knock it off, knock off,
   lay by, lay out, lay to, leave off, let go, let out, lie by,
   lie dormant, lie fallow, lie idle, lie off, lie to, lie up,
   make redundant, map, map out, mark boundaries, mark off, mark out,
   mark the periphery, measure off, measure out, pace off, pause,
   pension off, plot, plot out, quit, read out of, recess, refrain,
   release, relinquish, remove, renounce, replace, retire,
   ride at anchor, rope off, rule off, sack, scrub, secure,
   separate forcibly, set off, set out, set the limit, shut down,
   shut up shop, sketch, sketch out, specify, spell, stake out, stay,
   step off, stop, stop for breath, strike, strip, superannuate,
   surplus, surround, suspend, take a break, take a recess,
   take a rest, take five, take ten, take time out, terminate,
   turn off, turn out, unfrock, walk out