laxn.1
/laks/, U.S. /læks/ Obsolete (revived as an alien word.)
A salmon; in later use some particular kind of salmon (see quots.). In the 17th cent. the word seems to have been obsolete except in the north; southern writers merely guess at the meaning; Minsheu 1617 (followed by Phillips) apparently connected the word with lax adj. In recent examples it represents the Swedish or Norwegian word, as applied to the salmon of those countries.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > fish > class Osteichthyes or Teleostomi > order Salmoniformes (salmon or trout) > family Salmonidae (salmon) > [noun] > genus Salmo > salmo salar (salmon)
laxc725
salmona1387
cock1677
c725 Corpus Gloss. E 315 Essox, laex.
a1000 Boeth. Metr. xix. 12 Hwy ge nu ne settan on sume dune fiscnet eowru, þonne eow fon lysteð leax oððe cyperan?
c1050 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 180/33 Esocius, uel salmo, lex.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 754 He tok þe sturgiun, and þe qual, And þe turbut and lax with-al.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) 896 He bar up wel a carte lode Of segges, laxes, of playces brode.
c1320 Pol. Songs (Camden) 151 Thenne mot ych habbe hennen a-rost, Feyr on fyhshe day launprey ant lax.
1488 Acta Dom. Conc. 89/1 Extending ȝerely to ixxx of salmond laxis takin vp be him.
1589 J. Rider Bibliotheca Scholastica 1721 A Laxe, a fish so called, exos, esox.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 242 The Lax, in the Rhene.
1617 J. Minsheu Ἡγεμὼν είς τὰς γλῶσσας: Ductor in Linguas Lax, a fish so called, a fish which hath no bones.
1621 in G. Ornsby Select. from Househ. Bks. Naworth Castle (1878) 165 One great lauxe, iiijs.
1621 in G. Ornsby Select. from Househ. Bks. Naworth Castle (1878) 84 Lask.
1656 tr. J. A. Comenius Latinæ Linguæ Janua Reserata: Gate Lat. Tongue Unlocked xvii. §154 The pointed Sturgeon, and gristly Lax, greatning to the length of four and twenty feet.
1677 Mr. Johnson Let. 16 Apr. in J. Ray Corr. (1848) 127 In the mouth of Eden, in Cumberland, the fishers have four distinctions of yearly growth..before they come to be lackes;..the Lacks, or overgrown salmon.
1882 Mrs. H. Reeve Cookery & Housek. xiv. 104 Norwegian Lax (Salmon).
1883 Great Internat. Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 68 Tunny, Char, Lax, Cod, Haddock, Herring, Oysters, &c.
Compounds
lax-fisher n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > hunting > fishing > fisher > [noun] > for salmon
lax-fisher1543
black-fisher1643
salmon-fisherc1650
amphibiia1678
leisterer1843
1543 in J. Stuart Extracts Council Reg. Aberdeen (1844) I. 187 I and Johnn Freser, laxfyschar.
c1650 J. Spalding Memorialls Trubles Scotl. & Eng. (1851) II. 25 The maisteris and lax fisheris of Die and Done.
1875 New Hist. Aberdeensh. I. 99 A very pleasant footpath for the lax fishers.
ΚΠ
1533–4 Act 25 Hen. VIII c. 7 The yonge frye spaune or broode of any kynde of Salmon called lakspynkes smowtis or salmon pele.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
laxn.2
/laks/, U.S. /læks/ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > cleansing or expelling medicines > [noun] > purgative
laxativec1386
abstersive?a1425
purgative?a1425
lax1526
purgation1527
cleanser1528
looser1528
laskc1540
purger1558
solutory1561
scouring1575
expulsive1576
purge1593
solutive1605
opener1610
physica1616
calastic1621
loosener1630
minorative1633
relaxativea1637
cathartic1651
eccoprotic1656
vacuative1656
aperitive1671
spurger1681
aperient1682
hypercathartic1706
chalastic1708
scourer1718
drastic1783
solvent1815
purgament1828
dejector1831
laxation1897
mochlic1907
jollop1955
poop-pusher1966
1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection iii. sig. MMMii Pocions, laxes,..and other medicines.
?1543 T. Phaer tr. J. Goeurot Regiment of Lyfe sig. Dviiv It is good to take an infusion laxe of reubarbe.
2. Looseness of the bowels, diarrhoea (in men and cattle); = lask n.1 Obsolete exc. dialect.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > excretory disorders > [noun] > diarrhoea
diarrhoea1398
squirtc1460
hurl?a1513
gurry?1523
lasking1527
laxity1528
lax?1529
lask1542
skittera1585
looseness1586
scouring1597
laxativeness1610
laxness1634
squitter1664
lurry1689
thorough-go-nimble1694
wherry-go-nimble1766
the trots1808
cholerine1832
squit1841
choleriform1884
tummy1888
gippy tummy1915
shit1928
Rhea sisters1935
belly wuk1943
tomtit1944
run1946
Montezuma's revenge1955
Aztec hop1962
turista1970
?1529 R. Hyrde tr. J. L. Vives Instr. Christen Woman ii. iv. sig. a.iiij Often chaungyng his shetes, & his cloutes, bycause he had an excedynge laxe.
1542 A. Borde Compend. Regyment Helth xxii. sig. L.i Maces..is good agaynst the blody flyxe and laxes.
1573 T. Tusser Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry (new ed.) f. 22 Which so, if ye geue, with the water & chalke: thou makest the lax, fro thy kow away walke.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 383 The lax or bloody flix.
1610 G. Markham Maister-peece i. lxx. 147 Of the Laxe, or too much scouring of Horses.
1737 H. Bracken Farriery Improved xxv. 368 If the Lax or Scouring continues too long upon him.
1772 P. Hanly in Philos. Trans. 1771 (Royal Soc.) 61 133 She was seized with a smart lax.
1876 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Words Whitby
1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Lax, a looseness of the bowels. See Lask.
3. ? Relief, release. rare.
ΚΠ
a1800 Bonny Baby Livingston xviii, in F. J. Child Eng. & Sc. Pop. Ballads (1890) IV. vii. 233/2 O wherefore should I tell my grief, Since lax I canna find?
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
laxn.3
/laks/, U.S. /læks/ colloquial.
= lacrosse n.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > sport > types of sport or game > ball game > lacrosse > [noun]
baggataway1809
Indian ball1848
lacrosse1867
lax1951
1951 E. Taylor Game of Hide-and-seek ii. i. 128 One late afternoon after lax-practice.
1966 J. Gardner Amber Nine xii. 203 A far cry from the hockey and lax sticks of Roedean or Vassar.
1968 ‘P. Hobson’ Titty's Dead viii. 86 Thank goodness Mummy doesn't know anything about LaX.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1976; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
laxadj.
/laks/, U.S. /læks/ 1. Of the bowels: Acting easily, loose. †Of a person: Having the bowels unduly relaxed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > organs of excretion > defecation or urination > defecation > [adjective] > relaxed condition of bowels
laxc1400
solublec1400
laskc1460
loose1508
laxative1546
loose-bellied1565
slippery1597
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > excretory disorders > [adjective] > diarrhoea > of bowels
laxc1400
laxative1546
laxable1658
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of internal organs > excretory disorders > [adjective] > diarrhoea > of person
laskc1460
lax1530
lasky1552
c1400 Mandeville's Trav. (1839) xiv. 152 Men putten it [manna] in Medicynes for riche men, to make the Wombe lax, and to purge evylle Blode.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 317/1 Laxe as one that hath the flyxe or squyrte, foyreux.
a1776 R. James Vindic. Fever Powder in Diss. Fevers (1778) 110 I do not neglect on these occasions, proper evacuations by bleeding, and keeping the body somewhat lax.
1804 J. Abernethy Surg. Observ. 188 The bowels lax.
1834 S. Cooper Good's Study Med. (ed. 4) I. 37 A moderately lax state of the bowels lessens the risk of worse consequences from dentition.
2.
a. Slack; not tense, rigid, or tight. Hence of bodily constitution or mental powers: Wanting in ‘tone’ or tension. Now somewhat rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > softness > types of softness > [adjective] > slack or not tense
slakec1374
slackc1386
remiss?a1425
loosec1460
relax1605
lax1660
stray1791
relaxed1825
unstraitened1859
unstrained1882
tensionless1905
the world > health and disease > ill health > [adjective] > in state of ill health or diseased > weak > of constitution
neshOE
tender?c1225
softa1387
delicatea1398
nicec1450
slendera1500
weak?1523
dainty1562
fine1562
cockney1573
weakly1577
dough-baked1592
lax1732
flimsy1742
lax-fibred1762
doughy1763
dauncy1846
fragile1858
slim1877
chétif1908
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective] > weak in character or will
nesheOE
feeblec1200
softc1275
weaka1425
infirm1526
lithya1533
unheaded1577
spiritless1595
pappy1597
irresolute1600
marrowless1607
seducible1613
wax-nosedc1615
unsinewy?1623
reedy1628
swayable1642
short-spirited1647
weak-headed1654
lath-backed1676
will-less?1680
tiffany-trader1702
weak-minded1716
lax1751
lax-fibred1762
nerveless1783
wishy-washy1801
marcid1822
molluscous1836
boneless1848
weedy1849
putty-headed1857
flabby1862
weak-kneed1863
fibreless1864
invertebrate1867
chinless1881
backboneless1882
featherweight1885
spineless1885
weak-willed1885
totter-kneed1887
akratic1896
effete1905
weakling1906
gutless1915
willowish1919
Milquetoast1932
nannified1960
ball-less1967
1660 tr. M. Amyraut Treat. conc. Relig. ii. i. 154 The springs are some too stiffe, and others too laxe.
1669 W. Holder Elem. Speech 129 Though their outward Ear be stopt by the Laxe Membrane to all Sounds that come that way.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet iv. 409 Especially from Mothers of a weak lax Constitution.
1751 S. Johnson Rambler No. 85. ⁋7 That neither the Faculties of the one [the mind] nor of the other [the body] be suffered to grow lax or torpid for Want of Use.
1769 W. Buchan Domest. Med. ii. 408 When it attacks the tender and delicate, or persons of a weak lax fibre.
1842 E. S. Abdy tr. R. von Falkenstein Water Cure (1843) 64 Abdomen soft, lax, and without inequalities.
b. Of the limbs, attitude: Relaxed, without muscular tension. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > [adjective] > loose
laxed1623
laxated1652
uncontracted1758
lax1832
1832 L. Hunt Hero & Leander ii. 89 His tossing hands are lax.
1887 D. C. Murray & H. Herman One Traveller Returns vi. 91 He fell back in his chair and lay lax with closed eyes.
c. Of attachment or connection of any kind: Weak in force, easily dissolved.
ΘΚΠ
the world > relative properties > wholeness > mutual relation of parts to whole > separation > separation or detachment > loosening or unfastening > [adjective] > not firmly attached or loose > loose (of attachment or connection)
uncompacted1661
lax1782
incompact1829
loose-knit1906
1782 Kirwan in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 72 216 Nitrous air where the union of phlogiston to the acid is of the laxest kind.
3.
a. Of organic tissue, stone, soils, etc.: Loose in texture; loosely cohering or compacted; porous.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > substance > [adjective] > loose in texture
lax1615
the world > matter > constitution of matter > lack of density > [adjective] > loose texture
loosec1374
solutec1440
dissolute1607
lax1615
fuzzy1616
incompact1616
waterish1665
incompacted1680
uncompact1705
laxy1716
unconsolidated1802
hover1851
unpacked1855
uncompacted1863
the world > space > relative position > condition of being open or not closed > an opening or aperture > [adjective] > having (a) hole(s) > full of holes > porous
plummya1398
porousa1398
hollow1398
sponged1398
spongeous1398
porosea1400
spongiousc1400
pory1535
spongy1578
sponge-like1594
lax1615
porish1652
laxy1716
spongiose1755
spongiform1805
spongeoid1822
spongoid1843
polyporous1858
1615 H. Crooke Μικροκοσμογραϕια 206 That it may firme, stay, and as it were knit together his soft and laxe flesh.
1653 H. More Antidote against Atheisme i. xi. 37 This laxe pith or marrow in Mans head.
1692 J. Ray Wisdom of God (ed. 2) ii. 127 The flesh of this sort of Fish being lax and spungy, and nothing so firm, solid and weighty as that of the bony Fishes.
1713 W. Derham Physico-theol. iii. i. 62 Some delight in a lax or sandy, some a heavy or clayie Soil.
1723 J. Woodward Ess. Nat. Hist. Earth (ed. 3) 77 Not only in the more lax, Chalk, Clay, and Marle, but even in the most solid, Stone.
1747 J. Simon in Philos. Trans. 1746 (Royal Soc.) 44 314 Wood, Vegetables, or any other lax Bodies..whose Pores, being open [etc.].
1811 J. Pinkerton Petralogy I. 295 (note) Da Costa..mentions the whet-stone of Derbyshire as of a lax texture, easily pervaded by water.
1835–6 Todd's Cycl. Anat. & Physiol. I. 11/1 The psoas muscle is covered with a lax..cellular tissue.
1873 T. H. Green Introd. Pathol. & Morbid Anat. (ed. 2) 191 Those organs which possess a lax structure..as the lungs.
1875 C. Lyell & L. Lyell Princ. Geol. (ed. 12) I. i. ii. 225 Their stems had also a lax tissue.
b. Botany. ‘Said of parts which are distant from each other, with an open arrangement, such as the panicle among the kinds of inflorescence’ ( Treasury Bot. 1866).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > (defined by) distribution, arrangement, or position > [adjective] > sparse or occurring singly
sparsed1697
sparse1753
loose1776
lax1796
scattered1796
solitary1796
one-one1832
1796 W. Withering Arrangem. Brit. Plants (ed. 3) III. 294 [Equisetum palustre] Sheaths larger and more lax than those of E. arvense.
1837 W. Macgillivray Withering's Brit. Plants (ed. 4) 18 The Panicle..presents the following varieties: Loose or Lax, when the stalks are distant.
1845 J. Lindley School Bot. (1858) iv. 32 Racemes lax when in fruit.
1846 J. D. Dana U.S. Exploring Exped.: Zoophytes 591 Pinnules oblique, arcuate, lax.
?1877 F. E. Hulme Familiar Wild Flowers I. Summary p. viii Flowers in a lax spike, purple, at times fragrant.
4. Of clothes: Loose-fitting, worn loosely. Of persons: Negligent in attire and deportment. Of handwriting: Not compact; also, careless, not precise. nonce-uses.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > types or styles of clothing > [adjective] > that fits in specific way > loose-fitting
wide?c1225
unbraced?1518
lax1621
loose-flowing1777
uncinctured1790
sloppy1825
sacky1891
society > communication > writing > handwriting or style of > [adjective] > straggling
loose1711
lax1783
sprawly1798
sprawling1826
spidery1862
sprawled1884
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [adjective] > indiligent or remiss
nesheOE
slackc897
undreigha1350
dissolutea1382
defaultyc1390
defaultive1398
remissivec1487
remissa1500
slakea1538
undiligent1564
unindustrious1599
discinct1604
unofficious1611
inindustriousa1631
indiligent1633
lax1812
remissful1836
the world > action or operation > manner of action > carelessness > [adjective] > careless, not thorough
overlyc1450
superficialc1456
sloven1532
sloven-like1569
perfunctory1592
slovenly1592
perfunctorious1599
cursory1601
cursorarya1616
slighty1619
cursitory1632
touch and go1682
passant1685
skimming1728
slapdashc1792
lax1812
slap-bang1815
slummocking1825
slobbery1832
percursory1837
slipshod1845
slip-string1854
slummocky1855
free and easy1864
unthorough1868
slurring1880
slummy1881
sploshy1881
skimmy1893
surfacy1975
drive-through1994
1621 R. Burton Anat. Melancholy iii. ii. ii. iii. 568 They..hurt and crucifie themselues, sometimes in laxe clothes, an hundred yeardes I thinke in a gowne, a sleeue.
1783 W. Cowper Let. 7 Mar. (1981) II. 112 Your Manuscript indeed is close, and I do not reckon mine very lax.
1812 H. Smith & J. Smith Rejected Addr. 119 Lax in their gaiters, laxer in their gait.
1885 W. M. Rossetti in Athenæum 6 May 641/3 The German character for str..would be considerably like that for w..; in rapid or lax handwriting the two might be almost identical.
5.
a. Of rules, discipline, conduct, observance: Loose, slack, not strict or severe. Of ideas, interpretation, etc.: Loose, vague, not precise or exact. Said also of the agent (in both uses).
ΘΚΠ
society > authority > lack of strictness > [adjective]
largeda1382
softc1405
largea1450
laxc1450
remissa1500
milda1530
gentle1533
slender1577
relax1609
unconstraining1644
unoppressive1648
inoppressive1661
unaustere1741
undespotic1821
light-touch1949
the world > action or operation > manner of action > lack of violence, severity, or intensity > [adjective] > not vigorous or lively > not vigorous enough or as expected
slack1398
laxc1450
mild1612
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > disregard for truth, falsehood > inaccuracy, inexactness > [adjective] > of ideas, etc.
slippery1584
lax1671
latitudinous1838
c1450 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi i. xxv. 37 He þat euermore sekiþ þo þinges þat are most laxe and most remisse, shal euer be in anguissh.
a1575 N. Harpsfield Treat. Divorce Henry VIII (1878) (modernized text) 187 If the Queen..can be moved..to take vow of chastity, or enter in laxe religion.
1671 R. McWard True Non-conformist 115 As for this your Laxe acceptation of a professed indifferency in externals.
1736 Bp. J. Butler Analogy of Relig. i. vi. 106 In a lax way of speaking.
1755 J. Jortin 6 Diss. vi. 260 The word æternus itself is sometimes of a lax signification.
1770 E. Burke Thoughts Present Discontents 62 Under the lax and indeterminate idea of the Honour of the Crown.
1803 R. Hall Wks. (1833) I. 160 A lax theology is the natural parent of a lax morality.
1821 C. Lamb in London Mag. Aug. 155/2 The custom of resorting to an oath..is apt..to introduce into the laxer sort of minds the notion of two kinds of truth.
1840 T. B. Macaulay Ranke's Hist. in Ess. (1851) II. 136 To this enthusiastic neophyte their discipline seemed lax and their movements sluggish.
1853 W. M. Thackeray Newcomes (1854) I. v. 43 I was a lax and negligent attendant.
1855 T. B. Macaulay Hist. Eng. III. xv. 570 The oath of allegiance, the Whigs said, was drawn in terms far too lax.
1856 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (1858) I. i. 86 The execution of justice was as lax in practice as it was severe in theory.
1868 E. Edwards Life Sir W. Ralegh I. iv. 68 Writers possessing extremely lax notions of the laws of evidence.
1874 J. R. Green Short Hist. Eng. People viii. §10. 581 Richard [Cromwell] was known to be lax and godless in his conduct.
1884 Manch. Examiner 18 June 4/7 They were lax in their attendance, losing perhaps one or two days..per week.
1884 Law Rep.: Queen's Bench Div. 12 327 Towards the close of his life the practice of the Court became somewhat easier and laxer.
b. said of versification.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > the arts > literature > poetry > versification > metre > [adjective] > loose or lax
lax1749
1749 J. Mason Ess. Power & Harmony Prosaic Numbers 47 If the antient Poetry was too lax in its Numbers, the modern is certainly too strict.
1817 T. Moore Lalla Rookh 161 The lax and easy kind of metre in which it was written.
1847 L. Hunt Men, Women, & Bks. II. viii. 145 The lax metre and versification resembling those of the second order of French tales in verse.
c. Phonetics. Of a speech-sound, esp. a vowel: produced with the speech organs relaxed.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > language > linguistics > study of speech sound > speech sound > vowel > [adjective] > types of
openeOE
sharp?1533
simple1582
small1599
soft1625
obscurea1637
round1710
slender1755
close1760
wide1824
lowered1836
narrow1844
labialized1856
orinasal1856
central1857
reduced1861
free1864
high1867
low1867
mid1867
mixed1867
rounded1867
unrounded1871
raised1876
unreduced1894
obscured1897
spread1902
lax1909
slack1909
tense1909
centralized1926
flat1934
r-coloured1935
checked1943
1909 D. Jones Pronunc. of Eng. i. iii. 12 The difference in quality between a tense vowel and the corresponding lax vowel..is sometimes very considerable, especially in the case of closed vowels.
1933 D. H. Westermann & I. C. Ward Pract. Phonetics for Students Afr. Lang. vi. 36 These two sounds occur in Bari as the ‘lax’ forms of i and u.
1949 R.-M. S. Heffner Gen. Phonetics v. 96 Later scholars have substituted the terms tense and lax for narrow and wide.
1964 Jakobson & Halle in D. Abercrombie et al. Daniel Jones 97 A peculiar interplay of the lax-tense and compact-diffuse features underlies the vowel harmony.
1973 Amer. Speech 1969 44 199 The diphthongizing of lax vowels..can be analyzed.
6. quasi-adv. So as to have ample room. [A Latinism: compare laxity n. 4]
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > [adverb] > roomily > so as to have ample room
lax1667
easy1710
1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 162 Mean while inhabit laxe, ye Powers of Heav'n.
Compounds
lax-fibred, lax-flowered adjs.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > [adjective] > in state of ill health or diseased > weak > of constitution
neshOE
tender?c1225
softa1387
delicatea1398
nicec1450
slendera1500
weak?1523
dainty1562
fine1562
cockney1573
weakly1577
dough-baked1592
lax1732
flimsy1742
lax-fibred1762
doughy1763
dauncy1846
fragile1858
slim1877
chétif1908
the mind > will > decision > irresolution or vacillation > inconstancy > [adjective] > weak in character or will
nesheOE
feeblec1200
softc1275
weaka1425
infirm1526
lithya1533
unheaded1577
spiritless1595
pappy1597
irresolute1600
marrowless1607
seducible1613
wax-nosedc1615
unsinewy?1623
reedy1628
swayable1642
short-spirited1647
weak-headed1654
lath-backed1676
will-less?1680
tiffany-trader1702
weak-minded1716
lax1751
lax-fibred1762
nerveless1783
wishy-washy1801
marcid1822
molluscous1836
boneless1848
weedy1849
putty-headed1857
flabby1862
weak-kneed1863
fibreless1864
invertebrate1867
chinless1881
backboneless1882
featherweight1885
spineless1885
weak-willed1885
totter-kneed1887
akratic1896
effete1905
weakling1906
gutless1915
willowish1919
Milquetoast1932
nannified1960
ball-less1967
1762 R. Pulteney in Philos. Trans. 1761 (Royal Soc.) 52 353 Women, children, and weakly men..are lax-fibred.
1861 A. Pratt Flowering Plants & Ferns Great Brit. V. 210 Lax-flowered Orchis.
1870 J. D. Hooker Student's Flora Brit. Islands 356 Aceras anthropophora,..Spike lax-flowered.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
† laxv.
Obsolete.
transitive. To make lax; to loosen, relax; to purge. Also absol.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > healing > medicines or physic > medicines for specific purpose > cleansing or expelling medicines > cause excretion of [verb (transitive)] > cleanse or purge
laxa1398
scour1577
laxate1623
work1713
flux1756
the world > life > the body > loose or stiff condition > [verb (transitive)]
leesea1325
lithe1362
unloosec1390
relax?a1425
supple1526
supply1534
nimble1581
relaxate1598
lax1661
limber1748
unstiffen1855
untense1970
society > authority > lack of subjection > freedom or liberty > liberation > free oneself [verb (reflexive)] > from restraint
eslargish1484
room1566
unmaster1594
lax1661
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xvii. lv. 947 Þe white eleborus is þe bettre..þe roote þerof laxiþ boþe vpward and dounward.
1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomew de Glanville De Proprietatibus Rerum (1495) vi. xxi. 210 Hote water clensyth and laxyth and pourgyth the wombe.
1528 T. Paynell tr. Arnaldus de Villa Nova in Joannes de Mediolano Regimen Sanitatis Salerni (1535) 60 a Butter..laxethe the bealye out of measure, and prouoketh one to vomyte.
1540 R. Jonas tr. E. Roesslin Byrth of Mankynde i. f. xvv Yf the woman..haue ben longe sycke before her labor, yf she haue ben sore laxed [1552 lasked].
1661 O. Felltham Resolves (rev. ed.) 284 That we should laxe our selves in all the corrupt..pleasures of life.
1676 J. Evelyn Philos. Disc. Earth 57 Laxing the parts, and giving easie deliverance to its off-spring.
1685 C. Cotton tr. M. de Montaigne Ess. (1711) i. liv. 470 An extream Fear, and an extream Ardour of Courage, do equally trouble and lax the Belly.
Derivatives
laxed adj. made loose or slack, relaxed.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > loose or stiff condition > [adjective]
leathwakec1000
lithebyc1000
starka1275
stiffc1305
standing1340
bainc1440
waldinc1485
resolveda1500
supplea1500
lash1513
limber1582
sagging1599
laxed1623
unslakeda1625
laxated1652
springy1674
gangling1764
lithesome1768
swack1768
unslackened1770
lissoma1800
wandle1803
loose-limbed1823
loose1846
unslacked1848
saggy1853
loose-jointed1859
loose-hung1869
gangly1871
the world > life > the body > structural parts > muscle > [adjective] > loose
laxed1623
laxated1652
uncontracted1758
lax1832
1623 H. Cockeram Eng. Dict. ii., Released Laxed, Relaxed.
1679 J. Evelyn Sylva (ed. 3) xxx. 176 Those laxed parts, and Vessels by which the humour did ascend, grow dry and close.
1718 M. Prior Solomon on Vanity iii, in Poems Several Occasions (new ed.) 479 When the lax'd Sinews of the weaken'd Eye In wat'ry Damps or dim Suffusion lye.
ˈlaxing n. loosening.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > the body > loose or stiff condition > [noun] > action of producing
laxingc1400
relaxation?a1425
supplying1534
suppling1542
unstiffening1832
c1400 Lanfranc's Cirurg. 268 For brekyng of þe siphac & of his laxyng.
Draft additions 1997
b. spec. in Phonetics, to produce (a vowel sound) with the speech organs relaxed.
ΚΠ
1968 N. Chomsky & M. Halle Sound Pattern Eng. 333 Both of these rules decreased by one the number of consonants that must follow the vowel to be laxed.
1975 Language 51 889 A special, morphologically conditioned rule laxes the vowels in the nouns.
1989 Canad. Jrnl. Linguistics 34 455 They tend to use standard variants: their high vowels are not laxed as often.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1902; most recently modified version published online March 2021).
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n.1c725n.21526
n.31951
adj.c1400v.a1398