lazy
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈleɪzi/
rhymes: -eɪzi
Forms: form: lazier
form: laziest
Etymology: Attested since 1540, origin uncertain. Probably from Low German and Middle Low German lasich (“slack, feeble, lazy”), from las, from Old Saxon lask, from Proto-Germanic *lasiwaz, *laskaz (“feeble, weak”), from Proto-Indo-European *las- (“weak”).
Akin to Dutch leuzig (“lazy”), Old Norse lasinn (“limpy, tired, weak”), Old English lesu, lysu (“false, evil, base”). More at lush.
An alternative etymology traces lazy to Early Modern English laysy, a derivative of lay (plural lays + -y) in the same way that tipsy is derived from tip. See lay.
Senses: examples: text: Get out of bed, you lazy lout!
text: If there bee any lasie fellow, any that cannot away with worke, any that would wallow in pleasures, hee is hastie to be priested. And when hee is made one, and has gotten a benefice, he consorts with his neighbour priests, who are altogether given to pleasures; and then both hee, and they, live, not like Christians, but like epicures; drinking, eating, feasting, and revelling, till the cow come home, as the saying is.
ref: 1610, Alexander Cooke, Pope Joane, in William Oldys, editor, The Harleian Miscellany: or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library: Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes: With a Table of the Contents, and an Alphabetical Index, volume IV, London: Printed for T[homas] Osborne, in Gray's-Inn, 1744, OCLC 5325177; republished as John Maltham, editor, The Harleian Miscellany; or, A Collection of Scarce, Curious, and Entertaining Pamphlets and Tracts, as well in Manuscript as in Print, Found in the Late Earl of Oxford's Library, Interspersed with Historical, Political, and Critical Notes, volume IV, London: Printed for R. Dutton, 1808–1811, OCLC 30776079, page 95
text: "I'm too lazy," he said. "My wife says I'm the laziest man in all Oz, and she is a truthful woman. I hate work of any kind, and making a raft is hard work."
ref: 1913, L. Frank Baum, The Patchwork Girl of Oz, Chicago: The Reilly & Lee Co., published c. 1920, page 308:
glosses: Unwilling to do work or make an effort; disinclined to exertion.
examples: text: I love staying inside and reading on a lazy Sunday.
glosses: Causing or characterised by idleness; relaxed or leisurely.
examples: text: lazy writing
text: So it was this beautiful young woman Rokoff had been persecuting. Tarzan wondered in a lazy sort of way whom she might be, and what relations one so lovely could have with the surly, bearded Russian.
ref: 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 17:
glosses: Showing a lack of effort or care.
examples: text: We strolled along beside a lazy stream.
glosses: Sluggish; slow-moving.
examples: text: a lazy-eared rabbit
glosses: Lax:
Droopy.
glosses: Lax:
Of an eye, squinting because of a weakness of the eye muscles.
examples: text: There was probably more cattle bearing the Lazy S brand marketed than those of any other ranch in the world.
ref: 2010, The Trail Drivers of Texas:
text: The Zuliagas branded a Lazy B. In order to distinguish his cows from theirs for the drive back to Arizona, Mr. Day added a britchen brand across their butts, under their tails.
ref: 2002, American Cowboy, volume 9, number 3, page 60:
coordinate_terms: flying
glosses: Turned so that (the letter) is horizontal instead of vertical.
raw_tags: of a cattle brand
examples: text: a lazy algorithm
topics: computing
computing-theory
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: Employing lazy evaluation; not calculating results until they are immediately required.
examples: text: The swilland dropsy enter in
The lazy cuke , and swell his skin
ref: 1641, Ben Jonson, The Sad Shepherd:
glosses: Wicked; vicious.
Synonyms: sense: unwilling to work
word: bone-idle
sense: unwilling to work
word: idle
sense: unwilling to work
word: indolent
sense: unwilling to work
word: slothful
sense: unwilling to work
word: work-shy
word: lazy
word: fainéant
word: inert
word: lackadaisical
word: lither
word: sluggish
word: swear
word: torpid
Hypernyms: word: inactive
Derived terms: laze
lazily
laziness
lazy 8
lazy-arse
lazy as Ludlam's dog
lazy ass
lazy-ass
lazyback
lazy-bed
lazy bed
lazybones
lazy bones
lazyboots
lazyboy
lazybutt
lazy daisy
lazy dog
lazy dog bomb
lazy eight
lazy evaluation
lazy eye
lazy girl job
lazy initialisation
lazy initialization
lazyish
lazyitis
lazy jack
lazy jacks
lazy Kate
lazy Laurence
lazy Lawrence
lazy load
lazyload
lazy lobster
lazy louse
lazy man's load
lazy painter
lazy pierogi
lazy pinion
lazy river
lazy S
lazy Susan
lazy susan
lazy susans
lazy tongs
lazyweb
nonlazy
the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
unlazy
Related terms: word: laziness
word: idler
word: doer
word: slow
word: shirk