lavish
Contents
EnglishEdit
Alternative formsEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English *lavish, laves, lavage (“extravagant, wasteful”), perhaps from Old French lavasse (“torrent of rain”), or from Middle English laven (“to pour out”). More at lave.
PronunciationEdit
AdjectiveEdit
lavish (comparative lavisher or more lavish, superlative lavishest or most lavish)
- Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal.
- lavish of money; lavish of praise
- 1898, Winston Churchill, chapter 8, in The Celebrity:
- The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .
- 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:
- Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.
- Superabundant; excessive
- lavish spirits
- lavish meal
- 1623, William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure Act 2 Scene 2
- Let her haue needfull, but not lauish meanes
SynonymsEdit
- (expending profusely): profuse, prodigal, wasteful, extravagant, exuberant, immoderate
- See also Thesaurus:prodigal
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
profuse
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excessive
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VerbEdit
lavish (third-person singular simple present lavishes, present participle lavishing, simple past and past participle lavished)
- (transitive) To give out extremely generously; to squander.
- They lavished money on the dinner.
- (transitive) To give out to (somebody) extremely generously.
- They lavished him with praise.
TranslationsEdit
to expend or bestow with profusion; to squander