# lask
## English
### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /lɑːsk/
* Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /læsk/
* Rhymes: -æsk, -ɑːsk

### Etymology 1

From Middle English lasken (“to diminish, weaken (the blood or other body fluids, body tissues, etc.); to thin (the blood through bloodletting); to alleviate (pain, sickness); to grow weak; to shorten (one’s life)”) [and other forms], from Old Northern French *lasquer, Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”) (modern French lâcher (“to let go of, release; to loosen”)), from Vulgar Latin *lascāre, *lassicāre, from Latin *laxicāre, the frequentative of Latin laxāre, the present active infinitive of laxō (“to relax, weaken; to release, undo; to make wide, open”), from laxus (“free, loose, slack; roomy, spacious, wide”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“faint; weak”).

#### Verb

lask (third-person singular simple present lasks, present participle lasking, simple past and past participle lasked)
* (intransitive, obsolete) To have loose bowels; to suffer from diarrhoea.

##### Alternative forms

* laske

### Etymology 2

From Middle English laske (“lax, weak; of the bowels: loose”), from Old Northern French *lasque, Old French laske, lasche (“not taut or tight, limp”) (modern French lâche (“loose, slack”)), from Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”): see further at etymology 1.

#### Adjective

lask (comparative more lask, superlative most lask)
* (obsolete) Lax, weak; specifically of the bowels: affected by diarrhoea; loose.

### Etymology 3

From the adjective: see etymology 2.

#### Noun

lask (countable and uncountable, plural lasks)
* (uncountable, chiefly veterinary medicine) Originally of both persons and animals, now only of animals: looseness of the bowels; diarrhoea; (countable) a bout of this ailment.
** 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Panick”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 79:Pannick ſtoppeth the laske as Millet doth, being boiled (as Plinie reporteth) in Goates milk and drunke twiſe in a day.
** 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Shame and Disgrace, Causes”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 6, page 88:A graue & learned Miniſter, and an ordinary Preacher at Alcmar in Holland, was one day (as hee was walking in the fields for his recreation) ſuddenly taken with a laske or looſeneſſe, and therevpon compelled to retire to the next ditch; but being ſurpriſed at vnawares, by ſome Gentlewomen of his Pariſh wandering that way; was ſo abaſhed, that hee did neuer after ſhew his head in publike, or come into the Pulpit, but pined away with melancholy: […]
** 1652, Nich[olas] Culpeper, “Hemp”, in The English Physitian: Or An Astrologo-physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of This Nation. […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], →OCLC, page 64, column 1:The Emulſion or Decoction of the Seed ſtaieth Lasks and continual Fluxes, eaſeth the Chollick, and allayeth the troubleſom Humors in the Bowels, […]

##### Alternative forms

* laske

### References

* ↑ “lasken, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “lask, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021.
* ↑ “laske, v.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007.
* ↑ “† lask, adj.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, December 2020.
* ↑ “lask, n.$^1$”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2021.

### Further reading

* diarrhea on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

### Anagrams

* Salk, alks

## Estonian
### Etymology

Deverbal from laskma.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /ˈlɑsk/, [ˈlɑsk]
* Rhymes: -ɑsk
* Hyphenation: lask

### Noun

lask (genitive lasu, partitive lasku)
* shot, gunshot

#### Compounds

* halastuslask
* hoiatuslask
* kahurilask
* kuklalask
* paarislask
* proovilask
* püstolilask
* revolvrilask
* rikošettlask
* signaallask
* suurtükilask
* võistluslask
* üksiklask

### References

* lask in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
* “lask”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

## Livonian
### Alternative forms

* (Courland) laskõ

### Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *laskëdak.

### Verb

lask
* let