I. ˈlāk noun
( -s )
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: in sense 1, from Middle English lak, from Old English lacu stream, pool; akin to Old High German lahha puddle, Middle Low German & Middle Dutch lake puddle, stagnant pool, Old Norse lœkr brook, Old English leccan to moisten; in sense 2, from Middle English lac, lak, lake, partly from Old English lacu; partly from Old French lac lake, pond, from Latin lacus basin, pond, lake; akin to Old English & Old Saxon lagu sea, water, Old Norse lögr sea, water, Old Irish loch lake, pond, Greek lakkos pond, cistern, reservoir, Old Slavic loky pool, cistern — more at leak
1. dialect England : a small stream or channel : brook , rivulet
2.
a. : a considerable inland body of standing water, an expanded part of a river, a reservoir formed by a dam, or a lake basin intermittently or formerly covered by water — see lagoon 1, pond
b. : a pool of other liquid (as lava, oil, or pitch)
c. : something resembling a lake
surrounded by a rosy lake of azaleas — Christian Science Monitor
II. noun
( -s )
Etymology: Middle English leyk, laik, from Old Norse leikr play; akin to Old English lāc warlike activity, play, booty, Old High German leih play, melody, song, Gothic laiks dance, Old Norse leika to play — more at lake III
dialect England : amusement
III. intransitive verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
Etymology: Middle English leyken, laiken, from Old Norse leika to play, deceive, dance; akin to Old English lācan to leap, spring, fight, Middle High German leichen to hop, make a fool of, Gothic laikan to hop, jump, Old Irish loig calf, Greek elelizein to cause to vibrate, to quiver, Sanskrit rejate he trembles
dialect England : to amuse oneself : play , frolic
a toy for the baby to lake with
IV. noun
( -s )
Etymology: French laque lac, lake, from Middle French, from Old Provençal laca, from Arabic lakk, from Persian lak — more at lac
1.
a.
(1) : a purplish red pigment prepared from lac dye or cochineal by precipitation of the coloring matter with a metallic compound
(2) : the color of this lake
b. : any of a large group of organic pigments that are usually bright in color and more or less translucent when in the form of an oil paint, that are composed essentially of a soluble dye rendered insoluble by adsorption on or chemical combination with an inorganic carrier, and that were first prepared from natural dyes (as madder) and later from alizarin but are now usually prepared from many types of synthetic dyes by precipitation (as with a soluble alkaline earth metal salt or a phosphotungstate or a molybdotungstate or tannin) on a carrier (as hydrated alumina) — called also color lake ; see dye table I (under Organic pigments ); compare mordant 1, toner
2. : a transparent or semitransparent appearance produced by the use of lakes or resembling that produced by lakes
3. : carmine 2
V. verb
( -ed/-ing/-s )
intransitive verb
of blood : to alter so that the hemoglobin is dissolved in the plasma
transitive verb
: to cause (blood) to lake