loath
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: enpr: lōth
ipa: /ləʊθ/
ipa: /loʊθ/
rhymes: -əʊθ
Forms: form: loather
form: loathest
form: loth
form: loathed
form: loathe
Etymology: From Middle English lōth (“loath; averse, hateful”), from Old English lāð, lāþ (“evil; loathsome”), or Old Norse leið, leiðr (“uncomfortable; tired”) from Proto-Germanic *laiþaz (“loath; hostile; sad, sorry”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₂leyt- (“to do something abhorrent or hateful”).
The word is cognate with Danish led (“disgusting, loathsome; nasty”), Dutch leed (“sad; (Belgium) angry”), French laid (“ugly; morally corrupt”), Catalan lleig (“ugly”), Icelandic leiður (“annoyed, vexed; sad; (archaic or poetic) annoying, wearisome”), Italian laido (“filthy, foul; obscene”), Old Frisian leed, Old High German leid (Middle High German leit, modern German leid (“uncomfortable”), Leid (“grief, sorrow, woe; affliction, suffering; harm, injury; wrong”)), Old Saxon lêð, lēth (“evil person or thing”), Swedish led (“bored; tired; (archaic) disgusting, loathsome; evil”).
Senses: examples: text: I was loath to return to the office without the Henderson file.
text: Then ſaid Faint-heart, Deliver thy Purſe; but he making no haſte to do it (for he was loth to loſe his Money,) Miſtrust ran up to him, and thruſting his hand into his Pocket, pull'd out thence a bag of Silver.
ref: 1678, John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress from This World, to That which is to Come: […], London: […] Nath[aniel] Ponder […], →OCLC, page 166:
text: Frankville, whoſe only Fault was raſhneſs, grew almoſt wild at the Recital of ſo unexpected a Misfortune, he knew not for a good while what to believe, loath he was to ſuſpect the Count, but loather to ſuſpect Camilla, yet flew into extremities of Rage againſt both, by turns: […]
ref: 1722, [Eliza] Haywood, Love in Excess: Or, The Fatal Enquiry. A Novel. The Third and Last Part, 4th corrected edition, volume III, London: Printed for W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, J. Woodman, D. Brown, and S. Chapman, →OCLC, page 199:
text: "And thereupon I pledge thee," said the young nobleman, "which on any other argument I were loth to do—thinking of Ned as somewhat the cut of a villain."
ref: 1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in Peveril of the Peak. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 82:
text: Of all the people in the world our countrymen are the loathest to give away their money without some reasonable quid pro quo; […]
ref: 1868, [John Blaikie], “Schools and Schoolmaster, Churches and Parsons, Universities and Professors”, in The Old Times and the New, London: Chapman and Hall, […], →OCLC, page 58:
text: If I to wed the girl am loth / A breach 'twill surely be—
ref: 1875, Arthur Sullivan (music), W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert (lyrics), Trial by Jury. A Novel and Original Dramatic Cantata, London: Walter Smith, […], →OCLC, page 15:
text: Ah! dear one, I've been old so long, / It seems that age is loth to part, / Though days and years have never a song, / And, oh! have they still the art / That warmed the pulses of heart to heart?
ref: 1881, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, “Alas, So Long!”, in Ballads and Sonnets, London: Ellis and White, […], →OCLC, stanza 2, pages 297–298, lines 9–13:
text: When the dawn comes, red and gold and purple one is almost loath to seek the cheery, busy earth again, altho the novelty of landing in who knows what part of Europe affords still another unique pleasure. For many the greatest charm of spherical ballooning lies here.
ref: 1905 June 1, A[lberto] Santos-Dumont, “The Pleasures of Ballooning”, in [Henry Chandler Bowen], editor, The Independent, volume LVIII, number 2948, New York, N.Y.: The Independent […], →OCLC, page 1228, column 1:
text: The frizzle-headed man-eaters were loath to leave their fleshpots so long as the harvest of human carcases was plentiful. Sometimes, when the harvest was too plentiful, they imposed on the missionaries by letting the word slip out that on such a day there would be a killing and a barbecue.
ref: 1909 December 29, Jack London, “The Whale Tooth”, in South Sea Tales, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company, published October 1911, →OCLC, page 61:
text: But capital was proving difficult to raise; rumours were in the air that the G.W.R. and L.S.W.R. were about to patch up their quarrel, and the people of Southampton, who twelve months earlier had staged a torch-light procession to celebrate the passing of the D.N.S.R. Act, were increasingly loath to part with their cash.
ref: 1955 February, T. B. Sands, “The Didcot, Newbury & Southampton Railway—1”, in Railway Magazine, page 79:
glosses: Averse, disinclined; reluctant, unwilling. Always followed by a verbal phrase.
glosses: Angry, hostile.
glosses: Loathsome, unpleasant.
Synonyms: averse
disinclined
reluctant
unwilling
Derived terms: loathful
loathly
loathness
loathsome
loathsomely
loathsomeness
loathy
unloath
Related terms: word: loathe
word: loather
word: loathe-worthy
word: loathing