Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary
LANGUID — LASTINGNESS
LANGUID, a. [L. languidus, from langueo, to droop or flag. See Languish.]
1. Flagging; drooping; hence, feeble; weak; heavy; dull; indisposed to exertion. The body is languid after excessive action, which exhausts its powers.
2. Slow; as languid motion.
3. Dull; heartless; without animation.
And fire their languid soul with Cato’s virtue.
LANGUIDLY, adv. Weakly; feebly; slowly.
LANGUIDNESS, n.
1. Weakness from exhaustion of strength; feebleness; dullness; languor.
2. Slowness.
LANGUISH, v.i. [L. langueo, lachinisso; Gr. to flag, to lag. L. laxo, laxus, flacceo.]
1. To lose strength or animation; to be or become dull, feeble or spiritless; to pine; to be or to grow heavy. We languish under disease or after excessive exertion.
She that hath borne seven languisheth. Jeremiah 15:9.
2. To wither; to fade; to lose the vegetating power.
For the fields of Heshbon languisheth. Isaiah 16:8.
3. To grow dull; to be no longer active and vigorous. The war languished for want of supplies. Commerce, agriculture, manufactures languish, not for want of money, but for want of good markets.
4. To pine or sink under sorrow or any continued passion; as, a woman languishes for the loss of her lover.
Therefore shall the land mourn, and every one that dwelleth therein shall languish. Hosea 4:3.
5. To look with softness or tenderness, as with the head reclined and a peculiar cast of the eye.
LANGUISH, v.t. To cause to droop or pine. [Little used.]
LANGUISH, n. Act of pining; also, a soft and tender look or appearance.
And the blue languish of soft Allia’s eye.
LANGUISHER, n. One who languishes or pines.
LANGUISHING, ppr.
1. Becoming or being feeble; losing strength; pining; withering; fading.
2. a. Having a languid appearance; as a languishing eye.
LANGUISHINGLY, adv.
1. Weakly; feebly; dully; slowly.
2. With tender softness.
LANGUISHMENT, n.
1. The state of pining.
2. Softness of look or mien, with the head reclined.
LANGUOR, n. [L. languor.]
1. Feebleness; dullness; heaviness; lassitude of body; that state of the body which is induced by exhaustion of strength, as by disease, by extraordinary exertion, by the relaxing effect of heat, or by weakness from any cause.
2. Dullness of the intellectual faculty; listlessness.
3. Softness; laxity.
To isles of fragrance, lily-silvered vales, diffusing languor in the parting gales.
LANGUOROUS, a. Tedious; melancholy. Obs.
LANGURE, v.t. To languish. [Not in use.]
LANIARD, n. lan’yard.
A short piece of rope or line, used for fastening something in ships, as the laniards of the gun-ports, of the buoy, of the cathook, etc., but especially used to extend the shrouds and stays of the masts, by their communication with the dead eyes, etc.
LANIATE, v.t. [L. lanio.] To tear in pieces. [Little used.]
LANIATION, n. A tearing in pieces. [Little used.]
LANIFEROUS, a. [L. lanifer; lana, wool, and fero, to produce.] Bearing or producing wool.
LANIFICE, n. [L. lanificium; lana, wool, and facio, to make.]
Manufacture of wool. [Little used.]
LANIGEROUS, a. [L. laniger; lana, wool, and gero, to bear.] Bearing or producing wool.
LANK, a. [Gr. probably allied to flank.]
1. Loose or lax and easily yielding to pressure; not distended; not stiff or firm by distension; not plump; as a lank bladder or purse.
The clergy’s bags are lank and lean with thy extortions.
2. Thin; slender; meager; not full and firm; as a lank body.
3. Languid; drooping. [See Languish.]
LANKLY, adv. Thinly; loosely; laxly.
LANKNESS, n. Laxity; flabbiness; leanness; slenderness.
LANKY, n. Lank. [Vulgar.]
LANNER, LANNERET, n. [L. laniarius, lanius, a butcher.] A species of hawk.
LANSQUENET, n. [lance and knecht, a boy, a knight.]
1. A common foot soldier.
2. A game at cards.
LANTERN, n. [L. laterna.]
1. A case or vessel made of tin perforated with many holes, or of some transparent substance, as glass, horn, or oiled paper; used for carrying a candle or other light in the open air, or into stables, etc.
A dark lantern is one with a single opening, which may be closed so as to conceal the light.
2. A light-house or light to direct the course of ships.
3. In architecture, a little dome raised over the roof of a building to give light, and to serve as a crowning to the fabric.
4. A square cage of carpentry placed over the ridge of a corridor or gallery, between two rows of shops, to illuminate them.
Magic lantern, an optical machine by which painted images are represented so much magnified as to appear like the effect of magic.
LANTERN-FLY, n. An insect of the genus Fulgora.
LANTERN-JAWS, n. A thin visage.
LANUGINOUS, a. [L. lanuginosus, from lanugo, down, from lana, wool.]
Downy; covered with down, or fine soft hair.
LAODICEAN, a. Like the christians of Laodicea: lukewarm in religion.
LAODICEANISM, n. Lukewarmness in religion.
LAP, n.
1. The loose part of a coat; the lower part of a garment that plays loosely.
2. The part of clothes that lies on the knees when a person sits down; hence, the knees in this position.
Men expect that happiness should drop into their laps.
LAP, v.t.
1. To fold; to bend and lay over or on; as, to lap a piece of cloth.
To lap boards, is to lay one partly over another.
2. To wrap or twist round.
I lapped a slender thread about the paper.
3. To infold; to involve.
Her garment spreads, and laps him in the folds.
LAP, v.i. To be spread or laid; to be turned over.
The upper wings are opacous; at their hinder ends where they lap over, transparent like the wing of a fly.
LAP, v.i. [Gr. If m is casual in L. lambo, as it probably is, this is the same word.]
To take up liquor or food with the tongue; to feed or drink by licking.
The dogs by the river Nilus’ side being thirsty, lap hastily as they run along the shore.
And the number of them that lapped were three hundred men. Judges 7:6.
LAP, v.t. To take into the mouth with the tongue; to lick up; as, a cat laps milk.
LAPDOG, n. A small dog fondled in the lap.
LAPFULL, n. As much as the lap can contain. 2 Kings 4:39.
LAPICIDE, n. A stone-cutter. [Not used.]
LAPIDARIOUS, a. [L. lapidarius, from lapis, a stone.] Stony; consisting of stones.
LAPIDARY, n. [L. lapidarius, lapis, a stone.]
1. An artificer who cuts precious stones.
2. A dealer in precious stones.
3. A virtuoso skilled in the nature and kinds of gems or precious stones.
LAPIDARY, a. Pertaining to the art of cutting stones. The lapidary style denotes that which is proper for monumental and other inscriptions.
LAPIDATE, v.t. [L. lapido.] To stone. [Not used.]
LAPIDATION, n. The act of stoning a person to death.
LAPIDEOUS, a. [L. lapideus.] Stony; of the nature of stone; as lapideous matter. [Little used.]
LAPIDESCENCE, n. [L. lapidesco, from lapis, a stone.]
1. The process of becoming stone; a hardening into a stony substance.
2. A stony concretion.
LAPIDESCENT, a. Growing or turning to stone; that has the quality of petrifying bodies.
LAPIDESCENT, n. Any substance which has the quality of petrifying a body, or converting it to stone.
LAPIDIFIC, a. [L. lapis, a stone, and facio, to make.] Forming or converting into stone.
LAPIDIFICATION, n. The operation of forming or converting into a stony substance, by means of a liquid charged with earthy particles in solution, which crystallize in the interstices, and end in forming free stone, pudding stone, etc.
LAPIDIFY, v.t. [L. lapis, a stone, and facio, to form.] To form into stone.
LAPIDIFY, v.i. To turn into stone; to become stone.
LAPIDIST, n. A dealer in precious stones. [See Lapidary.]
LAPIS, in Latin, a stone. Hence,
Lapis Bononiensis, the Bolognian stone.
Lapis Hepaticus, liver stone.
Lapis Lazuli, azure stone, an aluminous mineral, of a rich blue color, resembling the blue carbonate of copper. [See Lazuli.]
Lapis Lydius, touch-stone; basanite; a variety of siliceous slate.
LAPPED, pp. [See Lap.] Turned or folded over.
LAPPER, n.
1. One that laps; one that wraps or folds.
2. One that takes up with his tongue.
LAPPET, n. [dim. of lap.] A part of a garment or dress that hangs loose.
LAPPING, ppr.
1. Wrapping; folding; laying on.
2. Licking; taking into the mouth with the tongue.
LAPSE, n. laps. [L. lapsus, from labor, to slide, to fall.]
1. A sliding, gliding or flowing; a smooth course; as the lapse of a stream; the lapse of time.
2. A falling or passing.
The lapse to indolence is soft and imperceptible, but the return to diligence is difficult.
3. A slip an error; a fault; a failing in duty; a slight deviation from truth or rectitude.
This Scripture may be usefully applied as a caution to guard against those lapses and fallings to which our infirmities daily expose us.
So we say, a lapse in style or propriety.
4. In ecclesiastical law, the slip or omission of a patron to present a clerk to a benefice, within six months after it becomes void. In this case, the benefice is said to be lapsed, or in lapse.
5. In theology, the fall or apostasy of Adam.
LAPSE, v.i. laps.
1. To glide; to pass slowly, silently or by degrees.
This disposition to shorten our words by retrenching the vowels, is nothing else but a tendency to lapse into the barbarity of those northern nations from which we descended.
2. To slide or slip in moral conduct; to fail in duty; to deviate from rectitude; to commit a fault.
To lapse in fullness is sorer than to lie for need.
3. To slip or commit a fault by inadvertency or mistake.
Homer, in his characters of Vulcan and Thersites, has lapsed into the burlesque character.
4. To fall or pass from one proprietor to another, by the omission or negligence of the patron.
If the archbishop shall not fill it up within six months ensuing, it lapses to the king.
5. To fall from a state of innocence, or from truth, faith or perfection.
Once more I will renew his lapsed powers.
LAPSED, pp. Fallen; passed from one proprietor to another by the negligence of the patron; as a lapsed benefice. A lapsed legacy is one which falls to the heirs through the failure of the legatee, as when the legatee dies before the testator.
LAPSIDED, a. [Lap and side.] Having one side heavier than the other, as a ship.
LAPSING, ppr. Gliding; flowing; failing; falling to one person through the omission of another.
LAPWING, n. A bird of the genus Tringa; the tewit.
LAPWORK, n. Work in which one part laps over another.
LAR, n. plu. lares. [L.] A household deity.
LARBOARD, n. [Board, bord, is a side; but I know the meaning of lar. The Dutch use bakboard, and the Germans backbord.]
The left hand side of a ship, when a person stands with his face to the head; opposed to starboard.
LARBOARD, a. Pertaining to the left hand side of a ship; as the larboard quarter.
LARCENY, n. [L. latrocinium.]
Theft; the act of taking and carrying away the goods or property of another feloniously. Larceny is of two kinds; simple larceny, or theft, not accompanied with any atrocious circumstance; and mixed or compound larceny, which includes in it the aggravation of taking from one’s house or person, as in burglary or robbery. The stealing of any thing below the value of twelve pence, is called petty larceny; above that value, it is called grand larceny.
LARCH, n. [L. larix.]
The common name of a division of the genus Pinus, species of which are natives of America, as well as of Europe.
LARD, n. [L. lardum, laridum.]
1. The fat of swine, after being melted and separated from the flesh.
2. Bacon; the flesh of swine.
LARD, v.t.
1. To stuff with bacon or pork.
The larded thighs on loaded altars laid.
2. To fatten; to enrich.
Now Falstaff sweats to death, and lards the lean earth.
3. To mix with something by way of improvement.
- Let no alien interpose, to lard with wit thy hungry Epsom prose.
LARD, v.i. To grow fat.
LARDACEOUS, a. Of the nature of lard; consisting of lard.
LARDED, pp. Stuffed with bacon; fattened; mixed.
LARDER, n. A room where meat is kept or salted.
LARDRY, n. A larder. [Not used.]
LARGE, a. larj. [L. largus; Gr. wide, copious, and perhaps with floor.]
1. Big; of great size; bulky; as a large body; a large horse or ox; a large mountain; a large tree; a large ship.
2. Wide; extensive; as a large field or plain; a large extent of territory.
3. Extensive or populous; containing many inhabitants; as a large city or town.
4. Abundant; plentiful; ample; as a large supply of provisions.
5. Copious; diffusive.
I might be very large on the importance and advantages of education.
6. In seamen’s language, the wind is large when it crosses the line of a ship’s course in a favorable direction, particularly on the beam or quarter.
7. Wide; consisting of much water; as a large river.
8. Liberal; of a great amount; as a large donation.
1. At large, without restraint or confinement; as, to go at large; to be left at large.
2. Diffusely; fully; in the full extent; as, to discourse on a subject at large.
LARGE, n. Formerly, a musical note equal to four breves.
LARGEHEARTEDNESS, n. Largeness of heart; liberality. [Not used.]
LARGELY, adv.
1. Widely; extensively.
2. Copiously; diffusely; amply. The subject was largely discussed.
3. Liberally; bountifully.
- How he lives and eats; how largely gives.
4. Abundantly.
They their fill of love and love’s disport took largely.
LARGENESS, n.
1. Bigness; bulk; magnitude; as the largeness of an animal.
2. Greatness; comprehension; as the largeness of mind or of capacity.
3. Extent; extensiveness; as largeness of views.
4. Extension; amplitude; liberality; as the largeness of an offer; largeness of heart.
5. Wideness; extent; as the largeness of a river.
LARGESS, n. [L. largitio; from largus, large.]
A present; a gift or donation; a bounty bestowed.
LARGISH, a. Somewhat large. [Unusual.]
LARGO, LARGHETTO, Musical terms, directing to slow movement. Large is one degree quicker than grave, and two degrees quicker than adagio.
LARK, n. [As the Latin alauda coincides with laudo, Eng. loud so the first syllable of lark, laf, lau, lave. But I know not the sense of the word.]
A bird of the genus Alauda, distinguished for its singing.
LARKER, n. A catcher of larks.
LARKLIKE, a. Resembling a lark in manners.
LARK’S-HEEL, n. A flower called Indian cress.
LARKSPUR, n. A plant of the genus Delphinium.
LARMIER, n.
The flat jutting part of a cornice; literally, the dropper; the eave or drip of a house.
LARUM, n.
Alarm; a noise giving notice of danger. [See Alarm, which is generally used.]
LARVA, LARVE, n. [L. larva, a mask.]
An insect in the caterpillar state; eruca; the state of an insect when the animal is masked, and before it has attained its winged or perfect state; the first stage in the metamorphoses of insects, preceding the chrysalis and perfect insect.
LARVATED, a. Masked; clothed as with a mask.
LARYNGEAN, a. [See Larynx.] Pertaining to the larynx.
LARYNGOTOMY, n. [larynx and Gr. to cut.]
The operation of cutting the larynx or windpipe; the making of an incision into the larynx for assisting respiration when obstructed, or removing foreign bodies; bronchotomy; tracheotomy.
LARYNX, n. [Gr.] In anatomy, the upper part of the windpipe or trachea, a cartilaginous cavity, which modulates the voice in speaking and singing.
LASCAR, n. In the East Indies, a native seaman, or a gunner.
LASCIVIENCY, LASCIVIENT. [Not used. See the next words.]
LASCIVIOUS, a. [L. lascivus, from laxus, laxo, to relax, to loosen.]
1. Loose; wanton; lewd; lustful; as lascivious men; lascivious desires; lascivious eyes.
2. Soft; wanton; luxurious.
He capers numbly in a lady’s chamber, to the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
LASCIVIOUSLY, adv. Loosely; wantonly; lewdly.
LASCIVIOUSNESS, n.
1. Looseness; irregular indulgence of animal desires; wantonness; lustfulness.
Who, being past feeling, have given themselves over to lasciviousness. Ephesians 4:19.
2. Tendency to excite lust, and promote irregular indulgences.
The reason pretended by Augustus was, the lasciviousness of his Elegies and his Art of Love.
LASH, n.
1. The thong or braided cord of a whip.
I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
2. A leash or string.
3. A stroke with a whip, or any thing pliant and tough. The culprit was whipped thirty nine lashes.
4. A stroke of satire; a sarcasm; an expression or retort that cuts or gives pain.
The moral is a lash at the vanity of arrogating that to ourselves which succeeds well.
LASH, v.t.
1. To strike with a lash or any thing pliant; to whip or scourge.
We lash the pupil and defraud the ward.
2. To throw up with a sudden jerk.
He falls; and lashing up his heels, his rider throws.
3. To beat, as with something loose; to dash against.
And big waves lash the frighted shores -
4. To tie or bind with a rope or cord; to secure or fasten by a string; as, to lash any thing to a mast or to a yard; to lash a trunk on a coach.
5. To satirize; to censure with severity; as, to lash vice.
LASH, v.i. To ply the whip; to strike at.
To laugh at follies, or to lash at vice.
To lash out, is to be extravagant or unruly.
LASHED, pp.
1. Struck with a lash; whipped; tied; made fast by a rope.
2. In botany, ciliate; fringed.
LASHER, n. One that whips or lashes.
LASHER, LASHING, n. A piece of rope for binding or making fast one thing to another.
LASHING, n. Extravagance; unruliness.
LASS, n.
A young woman; a girl.
LASSITUDE, n. [L. lassitudo, from lassus, and this from laxus, laxo, to relax.]
1. Weakness; dullness; heaviness; weariness; languor of body or mind, proceeding from exhaustion of strength by excessive labor or action, or other means.
2. Among physicians, lassitude is a morbid sensation or languor which often precedes disease, in which case it proceeds from an impaired or diseased action of the organs.
LASSLORN, a. Forsaken by his lass or mistress.
LAST, a. [See Late and Let.]
1. That comes after all the others; the latest; applied to time; as the last hour of the day; the last day of the year.
2. That follows all the others; that is behind all the others in place; hindmost; as, this was the last man that entered the church.
3. Beyond which there is no more.
Here, last of Britons, let your names be read.
4. Next before the present; as the last week; the last year.
5. Utmost.
Their last endeavors bend, T’ outshine each other.
It is an object of the last importance.
6. Lowest; meanest.
Antilochus takes the lst prize.
At last, at the last, at the end; in the conclusion.
Gad, a troop shall overcome him; but he shall overcome at the last. Genesis 49:19.
To the last, to the end; till the conclusion.
And blunder on in business to the last.
In the phrases, “you are the last man I should consult” “this is the last place in which I should expect to find you,” the word last implies improbability; this is the most improbable place, and therefore I should resort to it last.
LAST, adv.
1. The last time; the time before the present. I saw him last at New York.
2. In conclusion; finally.
Pleased with his idol, he commends, admires, adores; and last, the thing adored desires.
LAST, v.i. [See Let.]
1. To continue in time; to endure; to remain in existence. Our government cannot last long unless administered by honest men.
2. To continue unimpaired; not to decay or perish. Select for winter the best apples to last. This color will last.
3. To hold out; to continue unconsumed. The captain knew he had not water on board to last a week.
LAST, n. [See Load.]
A load; hence, a certain weight or measure. A last of codfish, white herrings, meal, and ashes, is twelve barrels; a last of corn is ten quarters or eighty bushels; of gun powder, twenty four barrels; of red herrings, twenty cades; of hides, twelve dozen; of leather, twenty dickers; of pitch and tar, fourteen barrels; of wool, twelve sacks; of flax or feathers, 1700 pounds.
LAST, n.
A mold or form of the human foot, made of wood, on which shoes are formed.
The cobbler is not to go beyond his last.
LASTAGE, n. [See Last, a load.]
1. A duty paid for freight or transportation.
[Not used in the United States.]
2. Ballast. [Not used.]
3. The lading of a ship. [Not used.]
LASTERY, n. A red color. [Not in use.]
LASTING, ppr.
1. Continuing in time; enduring; remaining.
2. a. Durable; of long continuance; that may continue or endure; as a lasting good or evil; a lasting color.