lag 1 (l ăg)
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v. lagged, lag·ging, lags v.intr.1. To fail to keep up a pace; straggle: a hiker who lagged behind his companions on the trail. 2. To proceed or develop with comparative slowness: a nation that lags behind its neighbors in economic development. 3. To weaken or slacken; flag: My attention lagged when the lecturer changed subjects. 4. Games To determine the order of play by hitting or shooting a ball toward a mark, as in marbles or billiards, with the player whose ball stops closest to the mark going first. v.tr.1. To fail to keep up with (another): One horse lagged the others throughout the race. 2. To proceed or develop at a slower pace than (another): "putting new money into sectors that have lagged the market" (Peter Lynch). 3. Sports In golf, to hit (a putt) so that it stops a short way from the hole and can then be tapped in. n.1. An interval between one event or phenomenon and another: "He wondered darkly at how great a lag there was between his thinking and his actions" (Thomas Wolfe). 2. A condition of weakness or slackening: a lag in interest.
[From earlier lag, last person, from Middle English lag-, last (in lagmon, last man), perhaps of Scandinavian origin.]
lagger n. |