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lag¹

(lăg)

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.

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.]

lagger n.

lag²

(lăg)

1. A barrel stave.

2. A strip, as of wood, that forms a part of the covering for a cylindrical object.

tr.v. lagged, lag·ging, lags

To furnish or cover with lags.

[Probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Swedish lagg; see leu- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

lag³

(lăg) Chiefly British Slang

tr.v. lagged, lag·ging, lags

1. To arrest.

2. To send to prison.

1. A convict.

2. An ex-convict.

[Origin unknown.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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