lake

See also Lake

English

A mountain lake

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

From Middle English lake (“lake, watercourse, body of water”), from Old English lacu (“lake, pond, pool, stream, watercourse”), from Proto-Germanic *lakō, *lōkiz (“stream, pool, water aggregation", originally "ditch, drainage, seep”), from Proto-Germanic *lekanan (“to leak, drain”), from Proto-Indo-European *leg-, *leǵ- (“to leak”). Cognate with Scots lake (“pond, pool, flowing water of a stream”), Dutch laak (“lake, pond, stream”), Middle Low German lāke (“standing water, water pooled in a riverbed”), German Lache (“pool, puddle”), Icelandic lækur (“stream, brook, flow”). See also leak, leach.

Despite their similarity in form and meaning, English lake is not related to Latin lacus (“hollow, lake, pond”), Scottish Gaelic loch (“lake”), Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “waterhole, tank, pond, pit”), all from Proto-Indo-European *lakʷ- (“lake, pool”). Instead, this root is represented by Old English lagu (“sea, flood, water, ocean”), through Proto-Germanic *laguz, *lahō (“sea, water”), perhaps related to Albanian lag (“to water, make wet, moisturize”). See lay.

Noun

lake (plural lakes)

  1. (now chiefly dialectal) A small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain.
  2. A large, landlocked, naturally-occurring stretch of water.
  3. A large amount of liquid; as, a wine lake.
    • 1991, Robert DeNiro (actor), Backdraft:
      So you punched out a window for ventilation. Was that before or after you noticed you were standing in a lake of gasoline?
Synonyms
Derived terms
Derived terms
Translations
body of water
See also
References
  • [2009], Sisam Kenneth, Fourteenth Century Verse and Prose, BiblioBazaar, ISBN 1110730802, 9781110730803:
  • [1999], Ann W. Astell, Political allegory in late medieval England, Cornell University Press, ISBN 0801435609, 9780801435607, page 192:
  • [1961], Kenneth Cameron, English Place Names, B. T. Batsford Limited, SBN 416 27990 2, page 164:
  • [2009], Eduard Adolf Ferdinand Maetzner, An English Grammar; Methodical, Analytical, and Historical, BiblioBazaar, LLC, ISBN 1113149965, 9781113149961, page 200:
  • [1992], Matti Rissanen, History of Englishes: new methods and interpretations in historical linguistics, Walter de Gruyter, ISBN 3110132168, 9783110132168, page 513-514:
  • [1858], Robert Ferguson, English surnames: and their place in the Teutonic family, G. Routledge & co., page 368:

Etymology 2

From Middle English lake, lak, lac (also loke, laik, layke), from Old English lāc (“play, sport, strife, battle, sacrifice, offering, gift, present, booty, message”), from Proto-Germanic *laikan (“play, fight”), *laikaz (“game, dance, hymn, sport”), from Proto-Indo-European *loig-, *leig- (“to bounce, shake, tremble”). Cognate with Old High German leih (“song, melody, music”) and Albanian luaj (“I move, play”). More at lay.

Noun

Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia lake (plural lakes)

  1. (obsolete) An offering, sacrifice, gift.
  2. (dialectal) Play; sport; game; fun; glee.
Derived terms

Verb

lake (third-person singular simple present lakes, present participle laking, simple past and past participle laked)

  1. (obsolete) To present an offering.
  2. (chiefly dialectal) To leap, jump, exert oneself, play.

Etymology 3

From Old English lachen

Noun

lake (plural lakes)

  1. (obsolete) Fine linen.

Etymology 4

From French laque (“lacquer”), from Persian لاک (lāk), from Hindi lakh, from Sanskrit laksha (“one hundred thousand”), referring to the number of insects that gather on the trees and make the resin seep out.

Noun

lake (plural lakes)

  1. In dyeing and painting, an often fugitive crimson or vermillion pigment derived from an organic colorant (cochineal or madder, for example) and an inorganic, generally metallic mordant.
Derived terms
  • lake-red
Translations
coloring agent

Verb

lake (third-person singular simple present lakes, present participle laking, simple past and past participle laked)

  1. To make lake-red.

Anagrams

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Dutch

Verb

lake

  1. singular present subjunctive of laken

Anagrams

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Norwegian

Noun

lake m

  1. pickle, brine
  2. burbot, eelpout

Verb

lake

  1. To pickle.
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Swedish

Swedish Wikipedia has an article on:

Wikipedia sv

Noun

lake c

  1. burbot (a freshwater fish: Lota lota)

Declension

Declension of lake
singular plural
Common indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative lake laken lakar lakarna
genitive lakes lakens lakars lakarnas
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Last modified on 21 May 2013, at 18:01