lash
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /læʃ/
rhymes: -æʃ
Forms: form: lashes
Etymology: From Middle English lashe, lasshe, lasche (“a stroke; the flexible end of a whip”), from Proto-Germanic *laskô (“flap of fabric, strap”).
Cognate with Dutch lasch, las (“a piece; seal; joint; notch; seam”), German Low German Laske, Lask (“a flap; dag; strap”), German Lasche (“a flap; joint; strap; tongue; scarf”), Swedish lask (“scarf”), Icelandic laski (“the bottom part of a glove”).
Senses: examples: text: I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it.
ref: 1711 July 15 (Gregorian calendar), [Joseph Addison; Richard Steele et al.], “WEDNESDAY, July 4, 1711”, in The Spectator, number 108; republished in Alexander Chalmers, editor, The Spectator; a New Edition, […], volume II, New York, N.Y.: D[aniel] Appleton & Company, 1853, →OCLC:
glosses: The thong or braided cord of a whip, with which the blow is given.
glosses: A leash in which an animal is caught or held; hence, a snare.
examples: text: The culprit received thirty-nine lashes.
glosses: A stroke with a whip, or anything pliant and tough, often given as a punishment.
glosses: A quick and violent sweeping movement, as of an animal's tail; a swish.
examples: text: The moral is a lash at the vanity of arrogating that to ourselves which succeeds well.
ref: 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A stroke of satire or sarcasm; an expression or retort that cuts or gives pain; a cut.
examples: text: But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.
ref: 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
glosses: A hair growing from the edge of the eyelid; an eyelash.
glosses: In carpet weaving, a group of strings for lifting simultaneously certain yarns, to form the figure.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: Flowering plants of genus Blepharis.
examples: text: I'll have a lash.
text: Much-loved characters living on after their author’s death is not so unusual these days. Every second bloke in possession of a keyboard seems to have had a lash at a James Bond thriller, including Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, Anthony Horowitz, Christopher Wood and Sebastian Faulks.
ref: 2021 August 28, Grant Smithies, “The Dark Remains: Ian Rankin's 'terrifying' return”, in Stuff:
text: “I felt I’d go out and grab the bull by the horns and give it a good lash and I’m very pleased to come away with second in my very first Diamond League final.”
ref: 2022 September 9, Cathal Dennehy, “Ciara Mageean shines in Diamond League to claim second”, in Irish Examiner:
synonyms: word: bash
glosses: An attempt; a go at something.
examples: text: the Ayrshire cow gives a lash of milk on comparatively bare pasture
ref: 1883, Ontario Agricultural College, Annual Report of the Ontario School of Agriculture and Experimental Farm, page 163:
text: The oaks cry oot beneath November's lashes, But not for all the months[…]
ref: 1891, James Logie Robertson, Ochil Idylls: And Other Poems, page 23:
text: ... put a lash of scepticism in his tone.
ref: 2014 April 22, John Creasey, The Theft of Magna Carta, House of Stratus, →ISBN, page 79:
glosses: A quantity, a great number or amount (e.g. of rain or milk).
Derived terms: backlash
belashed
lash curler
lashless
lash lift
lashlike
lashline
lashtail
lashwise
lashy
on the lash
pre-lash
whiplash
whitelash