Adjacent Words

Lag definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

LAG, a. [This word belongs to the root of slack, slow, sluggish, languish, long; Gr. See the Verb.]
1. Coming after or behind; slow; sluggish; tardy.
2. Last; long delayed; as the lag end.
[This adjective is not now in use.]
LAG, n.
1. The lowest class; the rump; the fag end.
2. He that comes behind. [Not in use.]
LAG, v.i. [Eng. to flag, and flacceo, langueo, to languish, etc. The sense is to extend or draw out, or to become lax or loose.]
To walk or move slowly; to loiter; to stay behind.
I shall not lag behind.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the act of slowing down or falling behind [syn: slowdown, lag, retardation]
2: the time between one event, process, or period and another; "meanwhile the socialists are running the government" [syn: interim, meantime, meanwhile, lag]
3: one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket [syn: stave, lag] v
1: hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc. [syn: lag, dawdle, fall back, fall behind]
2: lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; "The suspects were imprisoned without trial"; "the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life" [syn: imprison, incarcerate, lag, immure, put behind bars, jail, jug, gaol, put away, remand]
3: throw or pitch at a mark, as with coins
4: cover with lagging to prevent heat loss; "lag pipes"

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Norwegian dialect lagga to go slowly Date: 1514 1. one that lags or is last 2. a. the act or the condition of lagging b. comparative slowness or retardation c. (1) an amount of lagging or the time during which lagging continues (2) a space of time especially between related events or phenomena ; interval 3. the action of lagging for opening shot (as in marbles or billiards) 4. a usually long putt struck with the aim of having the ball stop near the hole II. verb (lagged; lagging) Date: 1530 intransitive verb 1. a. to stay or fall behind ; linger, loiter b. to move, function, or develop with comparative slowness c. to become retarded in attaining maximum value 2. to slacken or weaken gradually ; flag 3. to toss or roll a marble toward a line or a cue ball toward the head cushion to determine order of play 4. to hit a lag putt transitive verb 1. to lag behind <current that lags the voltage> 2. to pitch or shoot (as a coin or marble) at a mark 3. to hit (a golf ball or putt) with the aim of having the ball stop near the hole Synonyms: see delay • lagger noun III. adjective Date: 1552 last, hindmost IV. noun Etymology: probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse l?gg rim of a barrel Date: 1672 1. a barrel stave 2. a stave, slat, or strip (as of wood or asbestos) forming part of a covering for a cylindrical object V. transitive verb (lagged; lagging) Date: 1870 to cover or provide with lags VI. transitive verb (lagged; lagging) Etymology: origin unknown Date: circa 1812 1. slang chiefly British to transport or jail for crime 2. slang chiefly British arrest VII. noun Date: circa 1812 1. slang chiefly British a. a person transported for crime b. convict c. an ex-convict 2. slang chiefly British a jail sentence ; stretch

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v. & n. --v.intr. (lagged, lagging) 1 (often foll. by behind) fall behind; not keep pace. 2 US Billiards make the preliminary strokes that decide which player shall begin. --n. 1 a delay. 2 Physics a retardation in a current or movement. b the amount of this. Phrases and idioms: lag of tide the interval by which a tide falls behind mean time at the 1st and 3rd quarters of the moon (cf. PRIMING(2)). Derivatives: lagger n. Etymology: orig. = hindmost person, hang back: perh. f. a fanciful distortion of LAST(1) in a children's game (fog, seg, lag, = 1st, 2nd, last, in dial.) 2. v. & n. --v.tr. (lagged, lagging) enclose or cover in lagging. --n. 1 the non-heat-conducting cover of a boiler etc.; lagging. 2 a piece of this. Etymology: prob. f. Scand.: cf. ON lögg barrel-rim, rel. to LAY(1) 3. n. & v. sl. --n. (esp. as old lag) a habitual convict. --v.tr. (lagged, lagging) 1 send to prison. 2 apprehend; arrest. Etymology: 19th c.: orig. unkn.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lagged; p. pr. & vb. n. Lagging.] To walk or more slowly; to stay or fall behind; to linger or loiter. ``I shall not lag behind.'' --Milton. Syn: To loiter; linger; saunter; delay; be tardy.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, a. [Of Celtic origin: cf. Gael. & Ir. lagweak, feeble, faint, W. llag, llac, slack, loose, remiss, sluggish; prob. akin to E. lax, languid.] 1. Coming tardily after or behind; slow; tardy. [Obs.] Came too lag to see him buried. --Shak. 2. Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag end. ``The lag end of my life.'' --Shak.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, v. t. 1. To cause to lag; to slacken. [Obs.] ``To lag his flight.'' --Heywood. 2. (Mach.) To cover, as the cylinder of a steam engine, with lags. See Lag, n., 4.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, n. One transported for a crime. [Slang, Eng.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, v. t. To transport for crime. [Slang, Eng.] She lags us if we poach. --De Quincey.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, n. 1. One who lags; that which comes in last. [Obs.] ``The lag of all the flock.'' --Pope. 2. The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class. The common lag of people. --Shak. 3. The amount of retardation of anything, as of a valve in a steam engine, in opening or closing. 4. A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (Mach.), one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or a steam engine. 5. (Zo["o]l.) See Graylag. Lag of the tide, the interval by which the time of high water falls behind the mean time, in the first and third quarters of the moon; -- opposed to priming of the tide, or the acceleration of the time of high water, in the second and fourth quarters; depending on the relative positions of the sun and moon. Lag screw, an iron bolt with a square head, a sharp-edged thread, and a sharp point, adapted for screwing into wood; a screw for fastening lags.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Lag Lag, n. The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(lags, lagging, lagged) 1. If one thing or person lags behind another thing or person, their progress is slower than that of the other. Britain still lags behind most of Europe in its provisions for women who want time off to have babies... The restructuring of the pattern of consumption in Britain also lagged behind... He now lags 10 points behind the champion... A poll for the Observer showed Labour on 39 per cent with the Tories lagging a point behind... Hague was lagging badly in the polls. VERB: V behind n, V behind, V amount behind n, V amount behind, V 2. A time lag or a lag of a particular length of time is a period of time between one event and another related event. There's a time lag between infection with HIV and developing AIDS... Price rises have matched rises in the money supply with a lag of two or three months. N-COUNT: with supp 3. If you lag the inside of a roof, a pipe, or a water tank, you cover it with a special material in order to prevent heat escaping from it or to prevent it from freezing. (mainly BRIT) If you have to take the floorboards up, take the opportunity to lag any pipes at the same time... Water tanks should be well lagged and the roof well insulated. VERB: V n, V n see also lagging

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

v. n. Loiter, linger, saunter, fall behind, move slowly.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

A man transported. The cove was lagged for a drag. The man was transported for stealing something out of a waggon.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

To drop behind, to keep back. Lag last; the last of a company.

Moby Thesaurus

afterthought, antedate, arrest, be found wanting, bind, block, blockage, bureaucratic delay, cast out, check, closing, collapse, come short, con, concluding, confine, dalliance, dally, dallying, dawdle, dawdling, dead time, deceleration, decline, delay, delayage, delayed reaction, deport, detain, detention, diddle, dilatoriness, dillydally, dillydallying, displace, doodle, double take, drag, dragging, ease-off, ease-up, eventual, exile, expatriate, expel, fail, fall away, fall behind, fall short, falter, final, flag, flagging, foredate, gain, get behind, goof off, halt, hang back, hang-up, hinder, hindmost, hindrance, hold back, hold up, holdup, hysteresis, impede, interim, jailbird, jam, keep back, lack, lagging, latest, latter, letdown, letup, linger, linger behind, lingering, logjam, loiter, loitering, lollygag, lollygagging, lose ground, loser, make late, minus acceleration, misdate, mistime, moratorium, not answer, not hack it, not make it, not make out, not measure up, not stretch, not suffice, obstruct, obstruction, output lag, paperasserie, pause, piddle, poke, postdate, process lag, procrastinate, procrastination, put off, red tape, red-tapeism, red-tapery, relegate, reprieve, respite, retard, retardance, retardation, retardment, run short, setback, shilly-shally, shilly-shallying, slack-up, slacken, slackening, slow, slow down, slow-up, slowdown, slowing, slowing down, slowness, slowup, slump, stay, stay of execution, stop, stop short, stoppage, straggle, suspension, tarry, tarrying, terminal, throughput, tie-up, time constants, time lag, time lead, trail, trail behind, transport, ultimate, wait, want, waste time