lessadj.adv.pron.n.prep.

Brit.

/lɛs/, U.S.

/lɛs/

Forms: early Old English laessa (Mercian), early Old English lyssa (Kentish), Old English laes (Mercian, as adverb), Old English lassa (rare), Old English læassa (Northumbrian), Old English læssa, Old English leasa (rare), Old English leassa (chiefly non-West Saxon), Old English leæs (Northumbrian, as adverb), Old English les (as adverb), Old English lessa (rare), Old English lęs (Anglian, adverb), Old English lęssa (Anglian), Old English–early Middle English læs (as adverb), Old English (rare)–early Middle English leas (as adverb), early Middle English læss- (in compounds), early Middle English læsse, early Middle English (chiefly south-west midlands) 1500s–1600s leasse, Middle English las, Middle English lase, Middle English lass, Middle English lees, Middle English lesce, Middle English lysse, Middle English–1600s lasse, Middle English–1600s leesse, Middle English–1600s lese, Middle English–1600s lesse, Middle English–1700s les, Middle English– less, 1800s lhose (Irish English (Wexford)); Scottish pre-1700 lass, pre-1700 leis, pre-1700 les, pre-1700 lese, pre-1700 lesse, pre-1700 1700s– less.

Origin: A word inherited from Germanic.

Etymology: A merging of two distinct, but closely related words: (i) Old English lǣssa (adjective), cognate with Old Frisian lessa < a suffixed form (comparative: see -er suffix³ 1) of the Germanic base seen also in Old English lǣs , adverb (see below), and least adj., least adv.; (ii) Old English lǣs (adverb), cognate with Old Frisian lēs , Old Saxon lēs < a suffixed form (comparative: see -er suffix³ 2) of the same Germanic base (compare bet adv.¹ and leng adv.); further etymology unknown.A suggestion that the Germanic base might be related to the Baltic base of Lithuanian liesas , Latvian liess (both in sense ‘thin’) poses phonological problems. Form history. Both the adjective (Old English lǣssa ) and the adverb (Old English lǣs ) show i-mutation of the stem vowel caused by the i of the comparative suffix (see -er suffix³). The stem vowel was originally long, but had been shortened before the following geminate in the adjective by the end of the early Middle English period. In the adverb, the comparative suffix was phonologically lost, as is regular in monosyllabic adverbial comparatives with a long stem; compare leng adv. and discussion at bet adv.¹ In the adjective, the comparative suffix was obscured by sound change in both Old English and Old Frisian. Old English lǣssa is usually explained as showing regular syncope of i of the suffix (after it had caused i-mutation of the stem vowel), followed by assimilation and simplification of the resulting consonant cluster *-sr- . However, in the light of the parallel Old Frisian development it is possible that an earlier and more complex sound change might underlie this; compare discussion at worse adj. and n. Already in Old English use of the neuter adjective (lǣsse ) as adverb is occasionally found beside inherited lǣs . In early Middle English, reflexes of lǣs quickly become less frequent and the forms of the adverb are increasingly influenced by the adjective (with some exceptions in cases in which it appears in phrases: compare lest conj., natheless adv. and prep.). This is shown by the frequency of geminate -ss- (also implying shortening of the preceding vowel) and final -e . By late Middle English, the forms of the adjective and the adverb are entirely homonymous, as by this time inflection had also been regularly lost in the adjective. Non-adverbial uses of Old English lǣs. Old English lǣs , as well as functioning regularly as adverb, is also used as pronoun (see senses C. 1, C. 2). In this use it is frequently modified by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive (singular when denoting a smaller quantity (see sense C. 1c) and plural when denoting a smaller number (see sense C. 2)); compare corresponding uses of Old English mā mo adv.¹ (see mo pron.¹ and n.¹). Already in Old English, this use is found alongside noun and pronoun uses of forms of the adjective (lǣssa ). Pronoun use of the adverbial form only marginally survives in early Middle English (compare the late copy cited in quot. OE at sense C. 2). Uses of the adverb form leas in the so-called ‘AB language’ of the south-west midlands should probably all be interpreted as adverbial (as opposed to pronoun or noun). For use of the adverb in a conjunctive phrase (Old English þȳ lǣs þe , early Middle English þi les þe ) see lest conj. Suppletive use. With the suppletive use of derivatives of this base in English and Frisian as comparative and superlative forms of little adj., pron., n., and adv. compare similar suppletive use of derivatives of min adj.¹ in other Germanic languages. Compare also suppletive use of the semantically opposite more adj. and mo adv.¹, pron.¹, n.¹, and adj.¹ Specific senses. With senses A. 1c and A. 1e compare similar uses of classical Latin minor (see minor adj.). In Less Britain and Britain the less at sense A. 1c after post-classical Latin Britannia minor (see discussion at Britain n.²). In Less Asia and Asia the less (compare quots. eOE and ?a1475 at sense A. 1c) after post-classical Latin Asia minor (see Lesser Asia n. at lesser adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2). With use forming composite numerals (see sense B. 2) perhaps after classical Latin undēvīgintī nineteen (lit. ‘one less than twenty’), duodēvīgintī eighteen (lit. ‘two less than twenty’), etc. The type may reflect an Indo-European formation; compare ancient Greek δυοῖν δέοντα τεσσεράκοντα thirty-eight (lit. ‘two less than forty’), δυοῖν δεούσαις εἴκοσι eighteen (lit. ‘two less than twenty’), etc. In Old English, the preceding ān ‘1’ is usually uninflected, whereas twā ‘2’ frequently appears in the dative; it has sometimes been argued that the following multiple of ten, always indeclinable in form, is implicitly also a dative (or instrumental) of comparison, i.e. ‘less than twenty’, etc. In this construction the word is formally an adverb, although the construction as a whole is difficult to parse. Compare mo adj.¹ 5, wane adj. 3. With use as preposition (especially with numerals: see sense D. 1) compare minus prep. and the discussion at that entry.

The comparative of little adj., pron., n., and adv.

A. adj. and determiner.

a. Of not so great size, extent, or degree (as something mentioned or implied); of inferior dimensions, bulk, duration, etc.; smaller. Now chiefly with reference to number, degree, etc.; with reference to material dimensions, usually only followed by a complementary clause headed by in, e.g. less in diameter, height, size, etc. Opposed (from Middle English onwards) to greater adj. 1a (in earlier use, to more adj. 1a, more adj. 1b). Cf. lesser adj. 2, no less adj. 1.The more usual comparative denoting inferior material dimensions is smaller.

ΘΠ

the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [adjective] > smaller

lessOE

lesser1440

OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) xlii. 88 Ðonne ys oþer wyrt þysse gelic; seo hæfð sume dæle læssan leaf ðonne doccoe [read docce].

OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Laud) i. 16 Twa micele leoht, þæt mare leoht to þæs dæges lihtinge and þæt læsse leoht to þære nihte lihtinge.

a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 179 Þe more fishes in þe se eten þe lasse.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 3687 Sixti scipen heo makeden, vnimete muchele..of lasse scipen þar weoren swa feole þat nuste na man þe tale.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 14955 Anglisce & Sexisce seouentene þusend mid machen weoren to-heowen; þa hep wes þa lassen.

a1300 Shires & Hundreds Eng. in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 145 (MED) On engle londe syndon two and þrytti schire, summe more and summe lasse.

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 11689 Þe bissop..prechede hom þat hii adde of deþ þe lasse fere.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. xiv. 359 Somtyme þe palesie comeþ of anoþir iuel, as whanne þe lasse apoplexia endiþ.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 436 Summe of less [Fairf. lesse, Trin. Cambr. lasse] and sum of more prise.

c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 74 Herfore it is the lasse merveil.

a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 10 Hit is wreten, that of too Evelis þe lasse Evill is to be chosyn.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 92^v The light wex las.

1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 49 Akoniton..hath leaves like the Cucumber, but somewhat more lesse and rough.

1598 B. Yong tr. J. de Montemayor Diana iii. 70 Other kindes of lesse trees..twyning about the greater.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 337 Teach me how To name the bigger Light, and how the lesse That burne by day, and night.

1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 38 Shags..are very like to Cormorants, only less.

1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xix. 20 Rather than bear a Less Misfortune to Hazzard a Greater.

1718 M. Prior Henry & Emma 430 Fine by degrees and beautifully less.

1757 J. Harris Ess. Money & Coins 41 Every one will see and understand that 19 is less than 20.

1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 83 The female is less than the male.

1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. II. 400 The Esculent Swallow is said to be less in size than the Wren.

1816 Ld. Byron Prisoner of Chillon viii. 13 And then the sighs he would suppress..grew less and less.

1872 J. Morley Voltaire (ed. 2) i. 1 The peculiarities of his individual genius changed the mind and spiritual conformation of France, and in a less degree of the whole of the West.

1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals N. Amer. iii. i. 199 He..puts it upon the bench or dressing-board, where it is cut by others into less pieces.

1915 Med. Rec. (N.Y.) 4 Sept. 388/1 They seem to be far less in size and importance than they are either before or after this period.

1976 S. M. Gault Dict. Shrubs in Colour 184/2 A medium sized deciduous shrub generally a good deal less in height than stated.

2011 R. Kautz Chaos vii. 107 One rotation is as much greater than the average as the other is less.

b. Of lower degree, rank, gravity, importance, etc.; inferior. Now somewhat rare. Cf. lesser adj. 1, no less adj. 3a.See also no less a (person, figure, etc.) than at no less adj. 3b.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > low or subordinate

wokec897

lessOE

lesserc1225

secondary1386

lowerc1390

subalternate?a1425

subsidiary1603

pedaneous1617

subordinate1620

undergraduate1655

subdominant1826

unlofty1869

lower case1917

OE Ælfric De Septiformi Spiritu (Trin. Cambr.) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 58 Se hæfð arfæstnysse, þe..mæðe cann on mannum.., ge on his gelicum ge on læssum mannum.

c1175 ( Ælfric's Homily on Nativity of Christ (Bodl. 343) in A. O. Belfour 12th Cent. Homilies in MS Bodl. 343 (1909) 82 Heo ðreo an God wuniȝende on ane cynde..iliche mihtiȝe, nan læsse þene oðer. Swa hwæt swa bið læsse ðone God, þet ne bið na God.

c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 3745 Acc drihhtin godd warrþ her forr þe Ȝet lasse þann hiss enngell. & lahȝhre inoh.

a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) l. 390 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 183 Al þat is and al þat wes is wurse þenne he [sc. God] and lesse.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. xi. 11 He that is lesse [L. minor] in the kyngdam of heuenes, is more than he.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 12166 Noght yee ne vnderstod for-þi Less i wat er yee þan i.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 274 If þ^t a Prynce vseth hasardrye..He is..Yholde the lasse in reputacioun.

1445–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Feb. 1445 §44. m. 6 By colour of tenure of lasse tenantz.

a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 24 ‘As ofte tymes as I was amonge men, I come a lasse man’, þat is to say lesse holy.

c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 47 Ladys and oþer les wemen.

1610 Bible (Douay) II. Hosea Comm. Foure are called the greater prophetes, and twelve the lesse.

1714 E. Hawarden True Church of Christ I. i. iii. 59 Which, if a less man had said it, than Mr. L. might have seem'd to border upon Blasphemy.

1768 C. Smart Parables Jesus Christ ix. 18 Should'st not thou have had the grace To weigh a less offender's case, And to his debt have pity shown?

1845 N. P. Willis Dashes at Life with Free Pencil i. 16 It was a less woman incomparably painted.

1869 Ld. Tennyson Coming of Arthur 12 And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, Wherein the beast was ever more and more, But man was less and less, till Arthur came.

1932 R. Macaulay Shadow Flies i. 43 Am I a less poet than Tom Carew, then? Am I become nothing since I left the London taverns for Devonshire?

2005 M. Pizarro Chicanas & Chicanos at School vi. 206 They would perceive you as less, not a less person but, like, with less knowledge if they knew that you spoke Spanish.

c. In the names of people, places, (now chiefly) churches, etc.: smaller, inferior, less important (as distinguished from another of the same name). Cf. lesser adj. †Less Britain, †Britain the less: Brittany.

ΘΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > low or subordinate > of two things of same name

lesseOE

lesser1440

minorc1500

eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 10 Be westan Capodocia is þæt land þe mon hætt seo læsse Asia [= Asia Minor].

c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 2120 To þe lasse brutaine þer ne come aliue none.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 5 (MED) Þerof is ȝit contynual strif..wheþer þe more Wilfridus bones..beeþ þese forseide bones, oþer þe bones of þe lasse Wilfrede.

?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 172 Ynde the lesse.

?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 147 (MED) Asia the lesse towcheth in the este parte Capadocy.

1500 in J. W. Clay North Country Wills (1908) I. 266 To be buried in the parissh church of All Halowen the Lesse in Temysestreete in the Citie of London.

1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke Annot. sig. ¶^v Betwixt mi and fa is not a full halfe note, but is lesse then halfe a note by a comma: and therfore called the lesse halfe note.

1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 485 The Tyrant of lesse-Asia.

1613 R. Zouche Dove 39 Allan, the Earle of lesse Brittain.

1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 344 Barons with the rest vpward we call the Greater Nobilitie, the others beneath them the Lesse Nobilitie.

1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Jonism, -ick, belonging to Jonia, a Country of Asia the less.

1692 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses II. 227 He died..in the Parish of S. Barthelmew the Less in London on the 16 of August.

1843 T. B. Macaulay Madame D'Arblay in Eclectic Mag. Apr. 310 Dr. Franklin—not, as some have dreamed, the great Pennsylvanian Dr. Franklin,..but Dr. Franklin the less.

1970 N. Pevsner Cambridgeshire (Buildings of Eng. Ser.) (ed. 2) Introd. 19 So the two chief monastic houses and also the Dominican settlement and St Mary the Less were ante portas.

2003 K. Waddington Med. Educ. at St Bartholomew's Hosp. 1123–1995 iii. 85 In 1842, Samuel Wix, hospitaller (chaplain) and vicar of St Bartholomew's-the-Less, presented £200 to the hospital.

d. In the names of plants and animals distinguished by having a smaller size than another of the same name; = lesser adj. 3a. Now rare. Cf. least adj. 1c.less centaury, less pigle: see the second element.Contrasted with greater.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > appearance of plant > defined by size or stature > [adjective] > of particular size or stature

littleeOE

lessOE

lesser?a1425

dwarf1548

stubby1572

least1597

pumil1776

tall1789

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 310 Betonica, seo læsse bisceopwyrt.

?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 11 (MED) Celedony þis maisteris saiþe that þere ben two maneres of hem, þe more and þe lasse and boþe ben gode to þe eyne.

?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh.) (1950) 169 Linga serpertis minor is an herbe þat men clepe lesse eddres tungge [a1500 Harl. 3840 lasse addertong].

?1550 H. Llwyd tr. Pope John XXI Treasury of Healthe sig. S.ii^v With .ix graines of leasse spurge or of Pioni.

1597 W. Langham Garden of Health 406 Hands itch and worms, anoint with iuice of the lesse Morell Beries.

1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iv. iv. 636 The lesse plantaine, siluergrasse of both sorts, peachwoort..and burnet.

1651 D. Border Πολυϕαρμακος και Χυμιστης Table Eng. Names Ebulus, The lesse Wallwort... Flammula minor, The lesse spear-wort.

1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) I. ii. 180 (heading) The less spotted woodpecker.

1798 R. Hawes et al. Hist. Framlingham 451/1 Inula pulicaria. less Fleabane.—in places where water stood in the winter; wet pasture land, &c.

a1806 C. Smith Nat. Hist. Birds (1819) II. 64 The Less Redpoll, Fringilla Linaria, lives also on seeds, chiefly those of the alder.

1882 Notts. Guardian 23 June 7/2 Vinca major and minor, the greater and less periwinkle, found near Colwick, near Farnsfield, and in Kirklington Wood.

2014 D. Byrne & G. Callaghan Complexity Theory & Social Sci. vii. 158 Where the two forms of the Herring Gull and Less Black Backed Gull are quite different in plumage and seldom if ever inter-breed.

e. Chiefly with the. The younger (of two brothers, etc.). Chiefly in (St) James the Less.The precise reason for the epithet in the case of the biblical figure of James the Less is uncertain.

OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xv. 40 Iacobi minoris..mater : ðæs iacobes leasse..moder.

lOE tr. Trinubium Sanctae Annae in W. Keller Probleme der Englischen Sprache u. Kultur (1925) 116 His agene dohter Mariæn he geaf Alpheon, of þære wæs geboren Jacob se læsse.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Judges iii. 9 Othoniel þe sone off ceneȝ þe lasse [L. minorem] broþer of caleph.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 347 Þe apostles ordeyned þe lasse Iames, Alpheus his sone, bisshop of Ierusalem.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 3486 (MED) O þir tua breþer..Þe less þe mare laght be þe fote.

1624 T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον vi. 270 Iames the lesse was called the Brother of our Lord.

1759 Catal. Harleian Coll. MSS II. No. 2399 The Proto-euangelion falsely ascribed to the Apostle St. James the Less.

1798 W. S. Landor Gebir vii. 73 Never so eager, when the world was waves, Stood the less daughter of the ark.

2006 Art Bull. 88 247/1 James the Less, at the right head of the table, could be responding to Matthew, his counterpart at the other end.

†f. With anticipatory it and infinitive as complement. Of an action: not so great, worthy, or excellent. Obsolete.

ΘΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > not worthy of notice or consideration

lessOE

smallc1405

unnotablec1454

regardless1557

mentionless1611

unregardable1614

unremarkable1625

inconsiderable1637

of no mentiona1640

unconsiderable1643

unobservable1658

unnoticeable1760

inconsequent1768

unappreciable1801

mousy1812

unnoteworthy1846

nebbishy1973

OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Hatton) (1900) ii. xvi. 138 Þonne hit læsse [L. minus] is to witenne [OE Corpus Cambr. þæt man wite gehwæt hwylces], þonne hit sy eac to bodianne.

a1680 S. Charnock Several Disc. Existence of God (1682) 316 It is less to know than Create; for we know many things which we cannot make.

1715 Earl of Halifax Poems Several Occasions 7 in Wks. & Life Earl of Halifax 'Tis less to conquer, than to make Wars cease.

1798 F. Fernandez New Pract. Gram. Spanish Lang. (rev. ed.) ii. 119 It is less to speak than to do.

†g. Following a numeral or other quantitative expression, used to denote that the larger number or quantity mentioned or implied is less by the amount preceding. Cf. senses B. 2, D. 1. Obsolete.

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [adjective] > of subtraction > denoting subtraction

lessc1330

minus1483

c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2508 Tvelmoneth þre woukes las.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. xi. 24 I resceyuede of the Jewis fyue sythis fourty strokis oon lesse [L. quinquies quadragenas una minus].

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2168 Tuelue scor o yeires bot an lesse [Trin. Cambr. saue oon las].

1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. lxiii. 84 This siege endured a long season, the space of a xi. wekes, thre dayes lesse.

1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine sig. Mm4 At four fathoms and ¾ he calls ‘A quarter less five!’

a. Existing in a smaller quantity or amount; a smaller quantity or amount of; not so much. Cf. no less adj. 2. Opposed to more adj. 2a.

lOE Laws of Æðelstan (Rochester) vi. iv. 176 Man funde ænne man, þær mare folc sig, swa of anre teoðunge, þær læsse folc sy, to rade oððe to gange.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 287 Ne muchte he wið lesse gref habben arud us.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. xxvi. 1168 [A gentil hounde] haþ lasse fleissh þan a dogge.

?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 247 (MED) Summe cacchen moore liht and summe lesse.

c1480 (a1400) St. Ninian 443 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 317 Þan to þe catel þai tuk les kepe.

1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 1 Cor. vii. f. xviii^v Rather had I haue in you that, whiche is of lesse perfeccion.

1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. iii. 139 Lesse noyse, lesse noyse.

c1600 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 493 Making of the course of the water to be of greiter force or strenth than of befoir, or ȝit to be of less force..than of befoir.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iv. iv. 34 I owe him little Dutie, and lesse Loue.

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ix. 70 The Queen knowing it less difficulty and danger to keep him, then to cast him out of her Dominions.

1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng Restored 19 We cannot yet give credit, and less shall, to one word he saith.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 854 More glorie will be wonn, Or less be lost.

1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. 72 With less Trouble and Charge.

1722 Serm. French Hugonot Teacher 16 Men..who would be reduced to short Commons and a hard Lodging, if their Wives had been born with less Beauty and Wit, or more Vertue.

1791 W. Hamilton tr. C.-L. Berthollet Elements Art of Dyeing II. ii. iii. v. 196 These substances however saddened the crimson colour and gave it less lustre than alum.

1853 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) viii. 293 We should then have less crowd, and no story.

1853 W. E. Gladstone Speech 18 Apr. in Financial Statem. (1863) 5 The estimate for the present year cannot, I fear, be expected to be much less, if at all less, than 530,000l.

1946 L. Bloomfield in C. F. Hockett Leonard Bloomfield Anthol. (1970) 460 Particles appear before nouns in less variety than before verbs [in Algonquian].

2009 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 June 26/3 (advt.) Minimal access surgery results in less pain, quicker recovery, shorter hospital stays and improved self-esteem.

†b. In expressions containing or implying a negative, where the sense requires ‘more’ (in quantity or amount). Cf. sense B. Obsolete.Only in Shakespeare.

ΘΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > greater in quantity, amount, or degree

moOE

moreOE

the more partOE

lessa1616

mo'1858

no mo'1858

a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. ii. 55 I ne're heard yet, That any of these bolder Vices wanted Lesse Impudence to gaine-say what they did, Then to performe it first.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) i. iv. 22 To fortifie her iudgement, which else an easie battery might lay flat, for taking a Begger without lesse quality.

3. With a plural noun. A smaller number of; fewer. Opposed to more adj. 3b.This use (and likewise sense C. 2) is frequently criticized, and is avoided by many. N.E.D. (1902) says: ‘Frequently found but generally regarded as incorrect.’ Several late 18th-century grammars discuss the use of less than in conjunction with a plural noun. The earliest discussion occurs in R. Baker Refl. Eng. Lang. (1770) 55: ‘Less. This word is most commonly used in speaking of a Number; where I should think Fewer would do better. No fewer than a Hundred appears to me not only more elegant than No less than a Hundred, but more strictly proper.’ Later usage writers tend to limit the unacceptable use to contexts where less directly modifies or stands in for a plural noun; H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage (1926) 321/2 even accepts it with ‘plurals equivalent to singulars of indefinite amount’ such as troops or clothes (compare quot. 1748).

ΘΚΠ

the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] > fewer

wanec900

lessa1387

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 233 Somtyme [mo yeres and somtyme] lasse ȝeres beþ i-radde of Herodes.

1451 in A. Clark Lincoln Diocese Documents (1914) 54 (MED) I will yer be gyfyn to ilke parys of vij plws, to the prest..vij d..& to lytyll parysones of les plows, to ye prest yer-of vij d.

1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cl. 222 By cause he had so grete plente of men of hys owne countre, he called the fewer and lasse to counseyll of the noble men of the Cyte.

1538 M. Coverdale tr. M. Luther Expos. Magnificat sig. E.ii^v The hygher the contemplacion in sprete be, the lesse wordes [Ger. weniger Worte] ought we to make.

1580 J. Lyly Euphues (new ed.) To Rdrs. sig. Bi^v I thinke there are fewe Vniuersities that haue lesse faults then Oxford, many that haue more.

a1643 W. Cartwright Lady-errant iv. i, in Comedies (1651) sig. d Woman's the Gem of Heaven, in which Nature Hath carv'd the Universe in less Characters.

1682 R. Blome tr. N. Sanson Mapp Estates of Turkish Empire in Cosmogr. & Geogr. ii. 44 They are obliged to furnish him with 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or more or less Men and Horses..according to the quantity of Land they hold.

1742 E. Montagu Let. 4 Oct. (1809) II. 199 I am persuaded that much less pains, than what we employ, without scruple, upon an harpsichord, would keep both the husband and wife in, what we call, concert pitch.

1748 T. Nugent tr. J.-B. Du Bos Crit. Refl. Poetry, Painting & Music II. xix. 228 Wearing more or less cloaths in particular seasons.

1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship II. 288 A cable coiled against the sun will..have less grinds or kinks in it than a cable coiled with the sun.

1802 G. Culley Let. 15 July in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 319 They keep a greater strength of fire lower down, which makes them do with less coals and cart loads of lime per day.

1862 M. D. Colt Went to Kansas v. 84 I may see them all doing with still less comforts.

1924 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers 43 377/2 Any other number of either more or less digits.

1939 D. Thomas Let. 29 Sept. (1987) 416 How does the body-snatching go? Be quick, there'll be less bodies soon.

1999 BBC Top Gear Mag. June 253/3 This version..needs less trips to the fuel pumps.

2000 Big Issue 28 Feb. 12/2 They wear less clothes, and more make-up.

B. adv.

1. To a lesser or smaller extent; in a lower degree; to an inferior extent, amount, etc.Also in negative expressions: see natheless adv. and prep., netheless adv., nevertheless adv., no less adv. nonetheless adv., not the less adv., nought the less adv.

a. Modifying a verb, an adjective, an adverb, or the whole predicate.(I, etc.) couldn't care less: see care v. 4a(d). (I, etc.) could care less: see care v. 4a(e).

ΘΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adverb] > to a lesser extent

lesseOE

worseeOE

lessera1500

worser1584

eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) lii. 407 We hine mid swa micle maran unryhte & dysige oferhycgeað swa he læs forhogað ðæt he us ðonne giet to him spane.

eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) v. xiii. 424 Oðer [dæl] wes nohte þon læs unaarefndlice [L. non minus intolerabile] cele hægles & snawes.

a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) l. 60 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 163 Vfel we doð al to muchel and god lesse [a1200 Trin. Cambr. lasse] þenne we sculden.

c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 53 Hire leatere were is leasse wurð & leasse haueð þen hefde ear hire earre.

c1300 St. Patrick's Purgatory (Laud) l. 176 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 205 Þe lasse he was of heom a-drad.

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. xii. 15 I my silf schal be ouerȝouun for ȝoure soulis; thouȝ I more louynge, be lesse loued.

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 11207 Ihesu crist hir barn sco bar, Hir child, and maiden neuer less [Gött. neuer þe lesse].

a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 242 The natural hette atte myde-day is lasse stronge.

?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 49 The mair he loutit for my luf, the les of him I rakit.

1542 T. Becon Newes out of Heauen Prol. sig. A.v^v His worde is, that they shoulde sanctify the Sabboth day... But what do they lesse?

1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 5 He fand heit and calde lesse vehement in Scotlande than in france.

1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §953 All this to entertain the Imagination that it waver less.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 479 Less faire, Less winning soft, less amiablie milde, Then that smooth watry image.

1701 D. Defoe True-born Englishman ii. 34 None talk on't more, or understand it less.

1799 W. Godwin St. Leon IV. viii. 189 I was less at a loss.

1808 W. Scott Marmion i. ii. 24 As the fading ray Less bright, and less, was flung.

1856 tr. A. Vulliet Geogr. of Nature ix. 510 The St. Lawrence is less a river than a long strait or canal of fresh water.

1870 N. Brit. Rev. Apr. 46/1 Shakespeare's style was less adapted to the..method of the classical school which Nash and the ‘university wits’ patronized.

1902 Rep. Comptroller of Customs 1901–02 7 Their taste for these foreign articles will be less in evidence.

1934 Acta Radiologica 15 652 Basilar impression—or platybasia as it is less adequately termed.

1975 Economist 27 Sept. 71/2 The car..must be made less polluting and more energy efficient.

2015 Toronto Life July 46/2 EDM is less a music genre than a total physical assault.

b. Modifying an adjective (frequently a participial adjective) used attributively (often hyphenated).

?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 39 (MED) Yf ther of to stronge men v peny wight, to febler and to harde boundyn men more, and to lasse bound men less.

?1530 tr. Compost of Ptholomeus iiii. sig. d.iii In it [sc. the vayne] ought to be made a wyde and a lesse depe wounde: than in any other vayne.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. i. 49 The enuie of lesse happier lands.

1664 H. More Apol. in Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 538 He is to serve God though in that less-seemly or less-perfect Habit.

1682 J. Milton (title) A brief history of Moscovia: and of other less-known countries.

1689 Bp. G. Burnet Tracts I. 54 If I were writing to a less knowing Man than yourself.

1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists ii. ii. 72 There are other less suspected Hands.

1766 Compl. Farmer at Flax It requires a less expensive mill-house.

1818 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 33 108 In the less-enslaved cities and towns.

1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 399 Some other less-known members of the Socratic circle.

1877 M. Arnold Thyrsis in Poems II. 216 The less practised eye of sanguine youth.

1886 W. J. Tucker Life E. Europe 231 Less costly benefits and emoluments, and less extended patronage.

1955 Times 13 May 12/6 Hathersage and Castleton and Edale had become over-run..by the less-desirable types.

2005 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 20 Oct. e1/2 He..has spent plenty of time fixing damage caused by DIYers as well as other less-experienced professionals.

†2. Forming composite numerals one or two less than a multiple of ten, as one (also two) less (the) twenty, thirty, forty, etc. Cf. senses A. 1g, D. 1. Obsolete.See discussion in the etymology. Cf. the conj. 1b.

eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. 6 (table of contents) Ealra læcedoma twam læs þritig.

OE Blickling Homilies 215 Ða he þa hæfde twæm læs þe twentig wintra.

OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 287 Man cweð eac undeuiginti an læs twentig, duodeuigintig [read duodeuiginti] twam læs twentig, duodetriginta twam læs þrittig.

lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 641 He rixode twa læs xxx geara.

†3. Used to characterize a statement or suggestion as still more unacceptable than one that has been already denied; = much less at Phrases 4. Obsolete.

ΘΠ

the mind > language > statement > dissent or disagreement > [adverb] > statement or suggestion still more unacceptable

much less1526

far less1593

lessa1637

still less1791

a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady iii. iv. 72 in Wks. (1640) III You never fought with any; lesse, slew any.

1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders sig. g4^v Dimensions and Formes, which are not to be mended, lesse contradicted.

1718 Answer Bp. of Sarum's Challenge in Mem. Life J. Kettlewell App. xvi. p. lv It is not easily to be expected that any should contradict those Inclinations, less that the Generality should do so.

1721 A. Ramsay Content 250 Mere empty spectres..Which merit not your notice, less your care.

C. pron. and n.

I. Pronoun uses.

1. As a comparative corresponding to little pron. and n. I.

a. A smaller amount, quantity, or number (than one that is specified or implied).Quots. OE¹, OE³ show use of lǣs, adverb, as noun; see discussion in the etymology.

ΘΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > less

lessOE

minc1330

the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > [adjective] > deducted

lessOE

deduct1439

adempt?a1475

OE Guthlac A 79 Lufiað mid lacum þa þe læs agun.

OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xvi. 17 Israhela bearn didon swa, & gadrodon, sum mare sum læsse [L. alius plus, alius minus].

OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) i. ii. 36 Gif þær beo læs þonne seofon.

?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 4 Sum..mei..Paien god mid lesse.

?a1300 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Digby) xxiv, in Anglia (1881) 4 195 (MED) ‘Drink eft lasse, and go bi liȝtte hom,’ Quad Hending.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 403 (MED) Ȝif þey wil þey mowe have lasse in þe somer tyme.

c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 123 (MED) Þe lowere, þe porere, þe lasse a man haþ, þe bettur welcome.

1445–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Feb. 1445 §44. m. 6 Such as lasse deserve, lasse to take, and also in places wher lasse is used to be yeven, lasse to be yeven hereafter.

a1500 in F. B. Bickley Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) I. 153 Of every bote or vessell comyng to Bristow with xxx milwell or lenges or rayes ij to the waterbaylly, and yff ther be lasse then xxx, then the saide bailly to have none prise.

a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 142 Sum askis far les than he servis.

1598 Chaucers Dreame in T. Speght Wks. G. Chaucer f. 364/1 Which hearb in lesse then halfe an houre Gan ouer all knit.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) i. i. 103 Lesse then a pound shall serue me for carrying your Letter.

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. viii. 41 The longer He lived in England, the less He had of an English-man, daily more and more Italianating Himself.

1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite iii, in Fables 79 Though less and less of Emily he saw.

1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xxvii. 91 For Joigny—the less, I think, one says of it, the better.

1773 J. Banks Let. 12 Jan. (2000) 31 Jura is separated from Isla by..less than an English mile.

1781 S. Johnson Lives Eng. Poets II. 127 Of George Granville..less is known than his name and rank might give reason to expect.

1829 T. Arnold Let. 30 Mar. in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1844) I. v. 230 Our little may be more inexcusable than their less was in them.

1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam cix. 171 Not being less but more than all The gentleness he seem'd to be.

1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks iv. 234 The Turks of this day are still in the less than infancy of art.

1879 W. D. Whitney Sanskrit Gram. 236 Less than thirty roots form their present-system.

1938 Life 6 June 64/3 Only one out of four belongs to such organizations as the Y.M.C.A. or the 4-H Club. Less than half frequent the libraries.

1946 Liberty 25 May 68/3 There are super-smart chambray stripes at less than a dollar a yard.

2009 Independent 16 Mar. 40/1 The less said about them the better.

b. Modified adverbially by a lot, far, little, much, or another pronoun or phrase denoting quantity.See also no less n. and pron. Quot. eOE shows no less with use of lǣs, adverb, as noun; see discussion in the etymology.

eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 896 Þy ilcan sumera forwearð nolæs [OE Tiber. B.i na læs] þonne xx scipa mid monnum.

OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) xl. 65 Ðær wana..sy, þæt man þæt fulle wines gemet habban ne mæge, ac mycele læsse, oðþe eallunga næne dæl.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 45 Ȝif he arrer dede litel te gode, ðar after he doð michele lasse.

a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3595 Of ðo ðe weren to ðis red .xxx. hundred to ðe dead Woren ðane don..Ðo woren on liue sumdel les.

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 251 Iohn hadde tweie dayes lasse in his moder wombe.

?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 4330 For ten mark men sold a litille bulchyn, litille lesse men told a bouke of a motoun.

c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 2256 This reuel ful of song & ek of daunce Laste a fortenyght or lytil lasse.

a1500 ( Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) (1953) v. ii. f. 88 (MED) I saughe viine othir speres muche lasse than þis other two, as nedest must the lasse be conteyned with in the more.

?1560 T. Norton Orations of Arsanes sig. S.iij^v What shall it auaile you to haue kept your owne kingdomes in quiet and good estate for a little lesse or more than xx. yeares?

1686 W. Harris tr. N. Lémery Course Chym. (ed. 2) i. viii. 186 You may use either a little more, or a little less, according to the strength of the Spirit.

1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 120 A third part less than usual will sufficiently seed the Ground.

1754 C. Robinson Answer to Pamphlet 14 Even when such Animadversion hath been conceived.., in Terms implying little Less than Censure.

1855 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci.: Elem. Chem. 492 Bell-metal contains about twice that quantity of tin; and gong-metal somewhat less.

1884 E. L. Houghton tr. E. Reuss Hist. Sacred Script. New Test. II. iv. 457 Much less has been done toward the knowledge of..the revival of oppressed nationalities on the Nile and Euphrates.

1943 Christian Cent. 1 Dec. 1/2 Evidently there is a widespread and growing fear lest the United Nations..let loose in Europe what might turn out to be little less than a gigantic lynching bee.

1956 D. Karp All Honorable Men 174 He tells you a lot less than he knows.

2001 Guardian 17 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 65/1 A wine costing a good deal less than £2.99.

c. A smaller amount, quantity, or number of.In Old English with partitive genitive. Quot. eOE² shows use of lǣs, adverb, as noun; see discussion in the etymology.

eOE Metres of Boethius (2009) 179 Þu..on us sawle gesettest.., þæt hire þy læsse on ðæm lytlan ne bið anum fingre þe hire on eallum bið þæm lichoman.

eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. xxxiii. 93 Gecnuwa þa hleomocan, meng wiþ þam gose scearne, do læs þæs scearnes, wyl on buteran.

c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 159 Hwen he of hire naueð ne leasse ne mare.

a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iv. ii. 136 Þey haueþ litil of fleisch and lesse of blood, and þerfore þey ben not couenable to mete.

1522 E. Betts Let. in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500–1700 (1998) 228 Take alytell less of clene Rennyng Water than ys the Iewse.

1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 496/2 I content me with lesse of meate or drinke..than the moste parte do.

a1550 ( G. Ripley Compend of Alchemy (Bodl. e Mus.) f. 63 The lesse of the spirit ther be in this dissponsacione, The rather thy calcinacione for certayne thow shalt make.

1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. i. f. 95^v/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I It reteyneth more of the grosse, and lesse of the pure substance of the wheate.

1655 S. Hartlib Reformed Common-wealth Bees xiii. 19 The Nations, with whom Wine is made, use farre lesse of it than we who buy it at Rack rates.

1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 108 What we have hitherto spoken, will seem to have less of auk in it.

1729 B. Franklin Busy-body iv, in Amer. Weekly Mercury 18 Feb. 1/2 I should be glad to have less of her Company.

1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. x. 350 The gold, the lesser of the two, loses less of its weight than the copper does.

1816 J. Austen Emma iii. 319 She liked his open manners, but a little less of open-heartedness would have made him a higher character.

1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 21/3 Madam mourns over her hard lot, thinks she works harder and sees less of the world than any mechanic's wife.

1937 Amer. Home Apr. 98/4 See that the roots are properly pruned so they will suffer less of a shock at the time they are moved.

1955 D. Barton Glorious Life 199 In winter she had less of the Cinderella look that slutting about in summer cottons imposed on her.

2002 P. Augar & J. Palmer Rise Player Manager v. 100 I did less of the donkeywork.

d. A less true case or example of a type of person or thing.

1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued I. ii. 372 Nobody was less of an epicure than Epicurus himself.

1858 Harper's Mag. Mar. 493/1 Man is much less of an out-door animal.

1871 T. H. Huxley Critiques & Addr. (1873) 251 Mr. Mivart is less of a Darwinian than Mr. Wallace, for he has less faith in the power of natural selection.

1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlv. 222 I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration.

2014 Guardian 10 May 34/2 David Cameron is far less of a logocidal maniac than Miliband.

2. As a comparative corresponding to few adj. 1. A smaller number of the type or kind of person or object specified; fewer. Frequently with of and noun phrase.See note at sense A. 3 regarding opinions about the acceptability or correctness of this use.In Old English, this sense is attested only with use of lǣs, adverb, as noun with a genitive plural; for further discussion see etymology.

eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxii. 489 Swa mid læs worda swa mid m[a, swæðe]r we hit gereccan magon.

OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) x. 34 Sy swa þæt næfre læs sealma [a1225 Winteney læs sealme; L. minus a duodecim psalmorum quantitate] ne sy gesungen æt uhtsange þonne twelf.

lOE Distichs of Cato (Trin. Cambr.) xxxvi, in Anglia (1972) 90 9 Swa mon ma spricð, swa him læs monna gelyfð.

a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 72 His Parts are disproportionate to the whole, and like a Monster he has more of some, and less of others than he should have.

1737 J. Ozell in tr. F. Rabelais Wks. I. iv. 149 More or fewer Actors, among whom were commonly some Devils... These pious Theatrical Representations were called petite, or grand Diablerie. Petite (little Devilry) when there were less than four Devils.

1805 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 95 218 Another piece of Bovey coal, which had less of the characters of wood, and was more perfectly carbonized.

1874 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1873–4 2 161 If ten stamps or less are to be supplied with ore, self-feeding is more economical than feeding by hand.

1909 J. Miller Poems I. 230 While nearly every city in the Union had more or less of these monstrosities [sc. equestrian statues] I had seen but one little figure in honor of woman.

1963 R. E. Davies Methodism App. i. 173 Some contain as many as fifty, others as few as five or even less.

1991 G. Ehrlich Islands, Universe, Home x. 167 It takes one teaspoon of bacteria to infect a thousand cows; we have many less than that.

2000 C. Hanger World Food: Morocco 162 These days there is a definite preference for recipes adapted with less of these weighty ingredients.

II. Noun uses, as a comparative corresponding to little pron. and n. III.

a. With the. That which is smaller or less important (of two things compared). Now somewhat rare.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of less importance

lessOE

small fry1647

the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > that which is smaller

lessOE

OE Blickling Homilies 181 For hwan ne deþ he þæt læsse nu he þæt mare dyde?

c1450 Art Nombryng in R. Steele Earliest Arithm. in Eng. (1922) 36 (MED) The lasse of the more, or even of even, may be withdraw; The more fro the lesse may neuer be.

1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) v. i. 70 Nedes must the lesse be conteyned within the more.

a1500 (?c1450) Merlin (1899) xxi. 373 (MED) The name of the lesse, that is shorte and fatte, is Galashin..and this other, that is longe and yonge, is sone to kynge Vrien.

1539 Introd. lerne for to recken with Pen sig. c.vi^v Fyrste marke howe manye tymes the more doth contayne the lesse, and by that number dyuyde the lesse.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 352 The haire that couers the wit, is more then the wit; for the greater hides the lesse .

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 348 The greater to have rule by Day, The less by Night alterne.

1732 T. Lediard tr. J. Terrasson Life Sethos II. ix. 291 The greater [sc. fleet] seem'd only to be the retinue or tenders upon the less.

1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. v. 177 Duplicato-serrate,..when there is a twofold Serrature, the less upon the greater.

1866 J. H. Newman Dream of Gerontius iii. 23 For spirits and men by different standards mete The less and greater in the flow of time.

1956 E. S. Duckett Alfred the Great ix. 175 All, therefore, writes Alfred, is of God, the greater and the less: the sun and the little stars..; the tiny brook which runs to meet the river and the river winding toward the sea.

1972 M. Kline Math. Thought iv. 69 The greater is a multiple of the less when it is measured by the less.

†b. The one who is less; the lesser person. Also: those who are less. Obsolete.more and less: see more n.³ 1.

OE Ælfric Homily (Corpus Cambr. 188) in B. Assmann Angelsächsische Homilien u. Heiligenleben (1889) 41 Ne seo mare ne sceal modigan to swiðe ofer ða læssan.., ne seo læsse ne sceal laðlice andigan ongean þa maran.

OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) (1888) lxiii. 106 [Transeunte majore] minor surgat et det ei locum sedendi : se læssa aris & he sylla rymet to sittenne.

c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6355 Heo þencheð ufele don, to fallen þæne Cristindom, & turne to heðenesse þa hæȝe & þa læsse [c1300 Otho þe more and þe lasse].

c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 6650 ‘As armes!’ gred alle..Boþe þe more and þe lasse.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xv. C. Two maner of folke are in thy wombe..and the one nacion shall ouercome the other, and the greater shall serue the lesse.

1594 S. Daniel Trag. Cleopatra iii, in Wks. (Grosart) III. 59 Nemesis..Who..Doth raze the great, and raise the lesse.

1611 Bible (King James) Heb. vii. 7 The lesse is blessed of the better.

1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. xvii. 12 Some baptised..in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy-Ghost. Some (as the Arrians) in the name of the Father as the greater, and the Sonne as the lesse.

1852 F. W. Robertson Two Lect. on Infl. Poetry i. 34 There are two kinds of friendship: One is the affection of the greater for the less, the other that of the less for the greater.

1897 R. W. Buchanan Ballad of Mary Mother 124 All who through this world of dream Breathe mystery and ecstasy supreme; The greater and the less.

D. prep.

1. Preceding a numeral or other quantitative expression, used to denote that the number or quantity indicated is to be subtracted from a larger one mentioned or implied; = minus prep. 1a.

ΘΠ

the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > with the deduction of [preposition]

less1623

minus1808

1623 J. Johnson Arithmatick i. ii. 181 Take any number for the price of a yard of the lesser number, which here is veluet, which at 20 shillings a yard, lesse 10 shillings, amounteth vnto 230 shillings.

1695 W. Alingham Geom. Epitomiz'd 1 −Less, as a−b..is thus read..a less b, or the remainder after b is taken from a.

1783 H. Swinburne Trav. in Two Sicilies I. vii. 76 There is another duty of..about ten grains for thrown silk less twenty per cent. for package.

1854 T. H. Palmer Arithmetic i. i. §17 58 20-15=15, is read twenty less five is equal to fifteen.

1885 Q. Rev. Oct. 455 All the money staked is divided between the backers of the winning horse, less ten per cent, which is the profit of the management.

1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. i. 5 The prices given for O.S. maps are the current price less one-third.

2010 D. R. Biddle & M. Dubin Tasting Freedom ix. 294 A salary of ten dollars, less three dollars for uniforms. So they earned seven dollars a month.

2. Not including, excepting; = minus prep. 1b.

1829 Times 28 Oct. 4/5 7 brick-built Houses.., let at rents, producing about £80 per annum (less taxes).

1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. 21 304 Dividends were declared at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum in the preference shares, amounting, less income tax, to 1,218 l.

1880 G. Smith in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 213 The foundations of natural theology, less the mere name of Deity.

1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 661/1 If I borrow £100..I pay my interest, less tax.

1911 Rep. Labour & Social Conditions in Germany (Tariff Reform League) III. vi–vii. 20 All meat is sold less the bone.

1930 Times 25 Mar. 24/2 A full year's dividend on the Preference Shares, less tax, absorbing £16,800.

2016 Isle of Thanet Gaz. (Nexis) 26 Feb. 3 Their modest monthly positive cash flow/profit, i.e. income (rent) less costs (mortgage, fees, tax), will become negative when the tax and mortgage rates rise.

Phrases

†P1. less of (also less on, less in): inferior as regards (a quality). Obsolete.

OE Ælfric 1st Let. to Wulfstan (Corpus Cambr. 190) in B. Fehr Die Hirtenbriefe Ælfrics (1914) 94 Arrianus..sæde, þæt he nære on godcundnysse his fæder gelic, ac wære læssa on mihte.

a1350 (c1307) in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 24 God lete him ner be worse man þen is fader, ne lasse of myht.

a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 1925 (MED) I trowe ther be noman lesse Of eny maner worthinesse That halt him lasse worth thanne I To be beloved.

c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 599 Þe lasse in werke to take more [is] able.

c1480 (a1400) St. Paul 49 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 30 Paule wes lese of dingnite.

1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Esdras v. 55 Ye are lesse of stature, then those that were before you.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. iii. 15 And hope to ioy is little lesse in ioye, Then hope enioyed.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Richard III (1623) iv. iv. 273 + 12 A Grandams name is little lesse in loue, Then is the doting Title of a Mother.

1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Compl. Hist. Warrs Flanders 32 By how much the Regent went every day less in her authority.

1767 C. Smart tr. Horace Epistles i. i, in tr. Horace Wks. (new ed.) IV. 11 Silver is less of price than gold, And gold than virtue, thousand fold.

P2. or less: or not more than (the amount just stated), at most.

a1399 in W. G. Benham Oath Bk. Colchester (1907) 7 (MED) Wax, c lb., ij d.; and for 12 lb. or less, 1/4 d..Canefas de Parce, c, ij d.; and 1 dos. or lesse, quart.

c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Prioress's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 32 As a child of twelue month old or lesse That kan vnnethe any word expresse Right so fare I.

1560 J. Knox et al. Buke Discipline in J. Knox Wks. (1848) II. 198 Quho remane as it war a moneth or less in one place, for the establishing of the kirk.

1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ 159 Let down this Cover within a Foot or less of the Hops.

1741 Boston Weekly News-let. 17 Sept. 2/1 The Reports that we had of the Number of Americans being reduced to a 1000 or less, is groundless, for we are assured..there are nigh 2400 living.

1844 W. Black Pract. Treat. Brewing (ed. 3) 48 By inserting a damper in the flue..any copper can be made to boil 10 gallons or less.

1986 Marketing Week 29 Aug. 16/3 Its idea of what makes a light beer light is that it contains 100 calories or less in a 12-oz serving.

2003 Successful Farming Apr. 32/2 If you have 160 acres or less of timber.

P3. nothing less.

†a. In the sense ‘anything but’.

(a) With than. Anything rather than, anything other than; far from being. Obsolete.Examples such as quots. ?1520, 1598, and 1827 may be construed as showing nothing as direct object of the verb and less as adverb modifying the verb, rather than a phrasal complement.

ΘΠ

the world > relative properties > relationship > contrariety or contrast > [noun] > the opposite of something

contraryc1386

reversec1405

the contraverse1480

nothing less?1520

contrariety1532

negative1532

oppositive1561

different1571

diameter1579

contrariwise1588

opposition1594

counterpoint1599

oppositea1616

other thing1628

antipodes1641

inverse1645

contra1648

contrast1754

converse1786

contrariant1848

antipole1856

obverse1862

antithetic1863

contradictory1874

antipathy-

the world > relative properties > relationship > difference > [adverb] > not nearly or far from being

near1447

nowhere near (also nigh)c1449

nothing less?1520

nothing near1581

nothing nigh1743

nearly1745

?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth xxxvi. f. xlix^v Iugurth sodenly with a great power of men assayled & inuaded the romayns tentes whyle the soudyours..were..at their rest: and suspecting nothing lesse than any suche assaut [L. omnia magis quam proelium].

1548 E. Gest Treat. againste Masse sig. Iviii^v Therfore the before mencioned boke is nothinge lesse then canonical.

1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia i. sig. Biv He retorned again into hys countreye, nothynge lesse then lokyd for.

1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xii. x. 169 The barbarous people know nothing lesse then engines and subtile deuises in besieging and assayling of fortresses.

1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 8 The Spanish..invincible Navy, sent to invade England, in the yeere 1588, being dispersed, and proving nothing lesse then invincible.

1786 H. L. Piozzi Anecd. Johnson 102 Johnson's own notions about eating however were nothing less than delicate; a leg of pork boiled till it dropped from the bone.

1827 W. Scott Life Napoleon V. iv. 77 Who, trusting to the laws.., expected nothing less than an attack upon their personal freedom.

(b) Anything rather than the thing in question. Often used to express denial: far from it. Obsolete.

1538 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Sarcerius Common Places of Script. f. clxxxiiii^v She semeth in outwarde apparaunce to loue the brydegrome..where as in dede she doth in her hert nothing lesse [L. nihil minus] but runneth a hooring.

1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Biii Hee..sayth he would be glad to take payn, for his lyuinge, althoughe he meaneth nothinge lesse.

1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. ii. 34 Bush. Tis nothing but conceit my gratious Lady. Queene. Tis nothing lesse .

1607 T. Tomkis Lingua ii. i. sig. D App. But hast thou rusted this latter time for want of excercise? Mend. Nothing lesse.

a1655 R. Robinson Christ All (1656) 158 Pretending themselves to be the companions of Christ, when indeed they are nothing less.

1672 V. Mullineaux tr. J. E. Nieremberg Treat. Temporal & Eternal iii. ix. 319 The goods of the earth, which she sells for true goods, setting them forth as great, secure and lasting, when they are nothing less.

†b. Modifying an adjective: in no way less; = no less adv. 1b. Obsolete.

1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. dv All though the mendicant orders Are nothynge lesse abhominable.

1574 T. Cartwright tr. W. Travers Full Declar. Eccl. Discipline 77 The priestes whose office was nothing lesse honorable then the Bishopes in this behalffe yea had a greater shew off maiesty and honor in certene pointes.

1608 R. Bernard Christian Advert. To Rdr. sig. A5^v There remaineth neuerthelesse an other mischiefe, nothing lesse dangerous; which is, Atheisticall securitie.

1688 J. Barnes Hist. Edward III iii. i. 502 It will be more profitable by far, and nothing less Honourable to Conquer them so cheaply, than to hazard so flourishing an Army.

c. In the sense ‘nothing that is less’.

(a) With than. Used for emphasis: nothing or no one other than, something or someone equal or amounting to. Compare no less n. and pron. 2a. [Compare Middle French, French rien moins (que) (14th cent.).]

a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) ii. v. 100 But yet me thinkes, my Fathers execution Was nothing lesse then bloody Tyranny.

1652 T. Gataker Antinomianism 5 In those words of mine nothing les was intended, then this Autor would..enforce them to speak.

1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xv. ii. 205 The Girl is, I think, intoxicated, and nothing less than Ruin will content her... I expect every Day to hear she is run away with him.

1836 C. Fox Jrnl. 23 Sept. (1972) 32 ‘A gentleman’ was announced, who proved to be nothing less than Professor Sedgwick!

1863 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (ed. 3) II. xi. 298 But Elizabeth meant nothing less than to recall Sidney.

1895 Bookman Oct. 22/2 His policy became nothing less than a series of gigantic blunders.

1952 William & Mary Q. 9 444 His choice of words is sometimes nothing less than astounding.

2013 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 May 6/4 The tragic turn of events on West 53rd Street is nothing less than impending cultural vandalism.

(b) No other thing, only that same thing as the thing in question.

1650 J. Howell Addit. Lett. xv. 27 in Epistolæ Ho-elianæ (ed. 2) The Parlement persists in their first Propositions, and will go nothing less.

1711 J. Spinke Let. Matrimonial Case 11 I must have prov'd Rem in Re, nothing less being sufficient to prove a Woman a Whore.

1879 J. Lubbock Addresses, Polit. & Educ. iv. 87 Nothing less will suffice here if we are to maintain our position in the van of industrial nations.

1979 J. Lees-Milne Diary 12 Dec. in Deep Romantic Chasm (2003) 63 How I envy those friends who are unaffected by this disease (for it is nothing less).

2014 Yorks. Post 7 Nov. 12/6 The great and good of Yorkshire should..tell the Government that nothing less will do.

P4. much less (also far less, still less): used to characterize a statement or suggestion as still more unacceptable or inapposite than one that has been already denied.

ΘΠ

the mind > language > statement > dissent or disagreement > [adverb] > statement or suggestion still more unacceptable

much less1526

far less1593

lessa1637

still less1791

1526 W. Tyndale Prol. Epist. Rom. sig. bij^v He..concludeth that the Iewes can not be Abrahams heyres because of bloud and kynred only, and moche lesse by the workes of the lawe.

1593 J. Napier Plaine Discouery Reuelation St. Iohn To Rdr. sig. A6^v I purposed not to haue set out the same suddenly, and far lesse to haue written the same also in English.

1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 285 Whether the power given were lesse, equall, or greater then S. Peter's nothing is found there at all, much lesse doth the 17. Verse it self speak of power, still lesse doth it expressely belong to it.

1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 236 The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory.

1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 332 It had no Power to help it self..much less help them.

1791 W. Cowper Let. 29 Mar. (1982) III. 491 I cannot even see Olney spire,..and still less the vicarage, without experiencing the force of those mementos.

1815 S. C. Thacher Apol. for Rational & Evangelical Christianity 24 There is nothing in the differences..which need to loosen, far less to rupture the bonds of christian charity or christian fellowship between us and our brethren.

1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. xxiii. 200 You couldn't do it when your Uncle George was living; much less when he's dead.

1861 Sat. Rev. 21 Dec. 631/2 Still less can a country reporter..accurately report lectures on all subjects indiscriminately. He cannot report, because he does not understand.

1919 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 49 55 It was unsafe for an unarmed man, much less a woman, to walk from one village to another.

1960 A. MacLean Night without End viii. 127 They couldn't even have turned over a hot engine, far less one in which the crankcase, transmission, and differential were all but locked solid in lubricating oil.

1993 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 June 22/3 All the harder to speak of Anglicanism as the official—still less the established—religion of England.

2013 Time Out N.Y. 11 July 45/2 Filling in the gaps about the who, what and where, much less the why, of it all isn't on the menu.

†P5. to go less: to be abated or diminished. Obsolete.

1621 E. Coffin tr. R. F. R. Bellarmino Art of dying Well i. ii. 15 This Charity increasing, the other disorderly appetite will go lesse and lesse [L. minuetur].

1705 J. Collier Ess. Moral Subj.: Pt. III 141 Where the Crime is the same, why should the Disgrace go less?

P6. less than no time: (originally humorous) an exceedingly short time.The more extensive expression used in quot. 1761 perhaps implies the prior existence of the phrase.

ΘΚΠ

the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > [noun] > moment or instant

hand-whileOE

prinkOE

start-while?c1225

twinkling1303

rese?c1335

prick1340

momenta1382

pointa1382

minutea1393

instant1398

braida1400

siquarea1400

twink14..

whip?c1450

movement1490

punct1513

pissing whilea1556

trice1579

turning of a hand1579

wink1585

twinklec1592

semiquaver1602

punto1616

punctilio of time1620

punctum1620

breathing1625

instance1631

tantillation1651

rapc1700

crack1725

turning of a straw1755

pig's whisper1780

jiffy1785

less than no time1788

jiff1797

blinka1813

gliffy1820

handclap1822

glimpsea1824

eyewink1836

thought1836

eye-blink1838

semibreve1845

pop1847

two shakes of a lamb's taila1855

pig's whistle1859

time point1867

New York minute1870

tick1879

mo?1896

second1897

styme1897

split-second1912

split minute1931

no-time1942

sec.1956

1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. xxxviii. 186 A tale out of Slawkenbergius to translate, and all this in five minutes less, than no time at all.]

1788 Minor (London ed.) I. ix. 56 I have digested plans which will wade them through the sciences in less than no time, as the saying goes.

1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. iv. vii. 159 Trust me for sinking, burning, and destroying him in less than no time.

1859 F. E. Paget Curate of Cumberworth 246 He came down, in less than no time, squash on his nose, and broke it.

1932 Irish Monthly Aug. 481 Urban..had no tact, and in less than no time had alienated every one of his supporters.

2013 Dorset Echo (Nexis) 23 Dec. But fear not. There are seasonal treats that can be whipped up in less than no time.

P7. less is more: used to express the view that simplicity, brevity, or restraint is more effective than complexity and copiousness, esp. with regard to aesthetic impressions in art, architecture, etc. Also attributive or as adj.The phrase is often associated with the German Modernist architect L. Mies van der Rohe (see quot. 1947), rendering his use of the equivalent German phrase weniger ist mehr.

1855 R. Browning Andrea del Sarto in Men & Women II. 5 Well, less is more, Lucrezia! I am judged.

1947 P. C. Johnson Mies van der Rohe 49 As in architecture, he has always been guided by his personal motto, ‘less is more’.

1975 Yuma (Arizona) Daily Sun 29 Aug. 5/1 For persons holding high public office, living in style no longer is stylish... California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. is the foremost exponent of the new, less-is-more political lifestyle.

1995 K. Laughlin Overcome Neck & Back Pain (1998) iii. 149 The old adage ‘less is more’ may be correct, as far as weight training is concerned, provided there is genuine maximum intensity in the effort.

2002 Times 11 Nov. (Game section) 5/3 So far, Sven has used the quasi Italian-Scandinavian accent to his benefit, taking the less is more approach when it comes to vocabulary.

2017 Irish Times (Nexis) 3 Jan. 11 Try mixing your foundation with some moisturiser to help it stop caking... Less is more.

P8. less than ——: (followed by a qualitative adjective) not sufficiently ——, not at all ——.

1929 Outlook & Independent 14 Aug. 615/1 Anything less would be less than satisfactory.

1954 J. R. Powers & M. S. Miller Secrets of Charm 179 With a less than perfect figure, can you appear in a swim suit?

1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day ii. 252 He ventured to tell her that the food she served was less than appetizing.

1990 Today's Parent Feb. 37/3 A less than ideal way for an animal to start life in a new home.

2008 N.Y. Mag. 12 May 38/2 When he first saw the space, he was less than enthusiastic.

Compounds

† less age n. chiefly Scottish Obsolete the condition of being under legal age, minority (chiefly in to be of less age). [Perhaps after post-classical Latin aetas minor, minor aetas (from the early 13th cent. in British sources); compare also Middle French minorité and its etymon post-classical Latin minoritas , in the same sense (see minority n.).]

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > child > [noun] > childhood > minority

nonage1400

less agec1436

minority1493

pupillarity1561

nonwit1571

pupilship1581

pupillage1590

pupil age1598

under-age1613

underagedness1648

infancy1658

leading-string1677

minorship1841

minorage1888

c1436 Domesday Ipswich (BL Add. 25011) in T. Twiss Black Bk. Admiralty (1873) II. 161 (MED) Ȝif ony of lesse age his lond or his free tenement..ȝeve, or in other maner aliene, or his right quytcleymyn, be he not barryd for to axyn a ȝeyn his right whanne that he comyth to ful xiiij ȝer of age, with oute havyng ony reward to ony specialtee that he hath maad with ynne age.

1503 Charter Edinb. Reg. House No. 662 in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Les age The saide Mongo..being of les age and vnder tutory.

1531 King Henry VIII in State Papers Henry VIII (1836) IV. 590 Laying apart thexcuses of mynorite and les age.

a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 403 Money, cunȝeit in our Soveraneis less age.

1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem ii. lxx. §2 Gif she being of les age, falles in the warde of her over-lord.

1733 J. Innes Idea Juris Scotici i. 36 The Minor is allowed four Years..for recalling what was done to his Prejudice during his less Age.

less developed adj. designating a country where some aspect of national life is relatively undeveloped; spec. designating one in which economic growth, income per capita, the literacy level, etc., are low compared with some other group of countries; cf. developed adj. 2, developing adj., under-developed adj. b.

ΘΚΠ

society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > [adjective] > types of land or country

merryOE

greatc1325

homeless1725

less developed1857

Bongo Bongo1932

1857 Times 28 Oct. 8/2 The claim that Prussia makes to superior education, more extended liberty, and a higher sense of order than the other less developed States of Germany can boast of.

1940 G. Crowther Outl. Money ii. 76 The more highly developed banking systems are more prone to suffer from such a ‘liquidity preference’ than the less developed countries.

1962 U.N. Econ. & Social Council Resol. XXXIV. cmxvii, in Unctad—Basic Documents (1966) i. 1 Both the developed and the less developed countries are to intensify their efforts in order to ensure a self-sustaining growth.

1992 Economist 29 Feb. 77/2 Portugal will be helped in its fiscal consolidation effort by the agreement reached at Maastricht to create an economic cohesion or catch-up fund to help the less developed member states prepare for EMU.

2009 Canberra Times (Nexis) 8 June a9 While significant falls have occurred in birth rates in most less developed countries, fertility still remains well above replacement level in many.

less-than sign n. the symbol <, as used in mathematical contexts to denote that the quantity on the left of the sign is smaller than the quantity on the right; cf. greater-than sign n. at greater adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2.The signs < and > were invented by Thomas Harriot before 1621 (see Artis analytica praxis (1631) 10).

ΚΠ

1885 J. Jackson Pract. Arithm. 40 (table) < read ‘is less than’, sign of inequality.]

1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 23 Sept. 694 (table) The ‘less than’ sign is used here because in A₄, A₃, and A₂ carcinoma of body has been included.

1961 Nature 24 June 1193/1 Where a fraction was shown to contain substantial impurity, the fact is indicated..by a question mark and a ‘less than’ sign.

2011 J. Szpirglas & D. Saint-Onge Something's Fishy ii. 11 He always drew his greater-than and less-than signs with shark teeth.

† less world n. Obsolete (with the) (a) = microcosm n. (in various senses); (b) the philosopher's stone (as containing all the elements).Quot. OE shows use with Old English middangeard middenerd n. rendering post-classical Latin microscosmus (see microcosm n.).

ΘΚΠ

the world > people > person > [noun] > as pattern of the universe

less worlda1387

microcosmosa1500

petty world1602

OE Brussels Gloss. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 289 Microcosmus, læssa middaneard.]

a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 29 (MED) Þe secunde book auntreþ forto telle berynge and dedes wiþ descripcioun of the lasse world [L. minoris mundi].

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 552 Man es clepid þe lesse werld.

c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 552 (MED) Al this worlde..Was maad..For profyt oonly of A man..For whiche these olde clerkes all The lesse worlde lyst to call.

a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 88 It holdys yn him alle þe elymentz, and it ys callyd þe lesse world..þe Eye [= egg] of Philosophers.

1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection Pref. sig. Ai^v Lyke as the great worlde was made perfecte in .vii. dayes, so the lesse worlde, that is man is made..perfecte by grace in these .vii. spirituall dayes.

1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. ciiij The description of him, who is the Lesse world: and, from the beginning, called Microcosmus (that is. The Lesse World.).

1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. F Als makes his near abode In the lesse world.

1679 L. Hutchinson Order & Disorder v. 68 The less world with the great proportion held: As winds the caverns, sighs the bosomes fill'd.

1732 W. Harper Antiquity, Innocence & Pleasure of Gardening 3 It was Man's Apostacy that disorder'd the Greater as well as less World.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	less
释义	lessadj.adv.pron.n.prep. Brit. /lɛs/, U.S. /lɛs/ Forms: early Old English laessa (Mercian), early Old English lyssa (Kentish), Old English laes (Mercian, as adverb), Old English lassa (rare), Old English læassa (Northumbrian), Old English læssa, Old English leasa (rare), Old English leassa (chiefly non-West Saxon), Old English leæs (Northumbrian, as adverb), Old English les (as adverb), Old English lessa (rare), Old English lęs (Anglian, adverb), Old English lęssa (Anglian), Old English–early Middle English læs (as adverb), Old English (rare)–early Middle English leas (as adverb), early Middle English læss- (in compounds), early Middle English læsse, early Middle English (chiefly south-west midlands) 1500s–1600s leasse, Middle English las, Middle English lase, Middle English lass, Middle English lees, Middle English lesce, Middle English lysse, Middle English–1600s lasse, Middle English–1600s leesse, Middle English–1600s lese, Middle English–1600s lesse, Middle English–1700s les, Middle English– less, 1800s lhose (Irish English (Wexford)); Scottish pre-1700 lass, pre-1700 leis, pre-1700 les, pre-1700 lese, pre-1700 lesse, pre-1700 1700s– less. Origin: A word inherited from Germanic. Etymology: A merging of two distinct, but closely related words: (i) Old English lǣssa (adjective), cognate with Old Frisian lessa < a suffixed form (comparative: see -er suffix³ 1) of the Germanic base seen also in Old English lǣs , adverb (see below), and least adj., least adv.; (ii) Old English lǣs (adverb), cognate with Old Frisian lēs , Old Saxon lēs < a suffixed form (comparative: see -er suffix³ 2) of the same Germanic base (compare bet adv.¹ and leng adv.); further etymology unknown.A suggestion that the Germanic base might be related to the Baltic base of Lithuanian liesas , Latvian liess (both in sense ‘thin’) poses phonological problems. Form history. Both the adjective (Old English lǣssa ) and the adverb (Old English lǣs ) show i-mutation of the stem vowel caused by the i of the comparative suffix (see -er suffix³). The stem vowel was originally long, but had been shortened before the following geminate in the adjective by the end of the early Middle English period. In the adverb, the comparative suffix was phonologically lost, as is regular in monosyllabic adverbial comparatives with a long stem; compare leng adv. and discussion at bet adv.¹ In the adjective, the comparative suffix was obscured by sound change in both Old English and Old Frisian. Old English lǣssa is usually explained as showing regular syncope of i of the suffix (after it had caused i-mutation of the stem vowel), followed by assimilation and simplification of the resulting consonant cluster -sr- . However, in the light of the parallel Old Frisian development it is possible that an earlier and more complex sound change might underlie this; compare discussion at worse adj. and n. Already in Old English use of the neuter adjective (lǣsse* ) as adverb is occasionally found beside inherited lǣs . In early Middle English, reflexes of lǣs quickly become less frequent and the forms of the adverb are increasingly influenced by the adjective (with some exceptions in cases in which it appears in phrases: compare lest conj., natheless adv. and prep.). This is shown by the frequency of geminate -ss- (also implying shortening of the preceding vowel) and final -e . By late Middle English, the forms of the adjective and the adverb are entirely homonymous, as by this time inflection had also been regularly lost in the adjective. Non-adverbial uses of Old English lǣs. Old English lǣs , as well as functioning regularly as adverb, is also used as pronoun (see senses C. 1, C. 2). In this use it is frequently modified by a noun or noun phrase in the genitive (singular when denoting a smaller quantity (see sense C. 1c) and plural when denoting a smaller number (see sense C. 2)); compare corresponding uses of Old English mā mo adv.¹ (see mo pron.¹ and n.¹). Already in Old English, this use is found alongside noun and pronoun uses of forms of the adjective (lǣssa ). Pronoun use of the adverbial form only marginally survives in early Middle English (compare the late copy cited in quot. OE at sense C. 2). Uses of the adverb form leas in the so-called ‘AB language’ of the south-west midlands should probably all be interpreted as adverbial (as opposed to pronoun or noun). For use of the adverb in a conjunctive phrase (Old English þȳ lǣs þe , early Middle English þi les þe ) see lest conj. Suppletive use. With the suppletive use of derivatives of this base in English and Frisian as comparative and superlative forms of little adj., pron., n., and adv. compare similar suppletive use of derivatives of min adj.¹ in other Germanic languages. Compare also suppletive use of the semantically opposite more adj. and mo adv.¹, pron.¹, n.¹, and adj.¹ Specific senses. With senses A. 1c and A. 1e compare similar uses of classical Latin minor (see minor adj.). In Less Britain and Britain the less at sense A. 1c after post-classical Latin Britannia minor (see discussion at Britain n.²). In Less Asia and Asia the less (compare quots. eOE and ?a1475 at sense A. 1c) after post-classical Latin Asia minor (see Lesser Asia n. at lesser adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2). With use forming composite numerals (see sense B. 2) perhaps after classical Latin undēvīgintī nineteen (lit. ‘one less than twenty’), duodēvīgintī eighteen (lit. ‘two less than twenty’), etc. The type may reflect an Indo-European formation; compare ancient Greek δυοῖν δέοντα τεσσεράκοντα thirty-eight (lit. ‘two less than forty’), δυοῖν δεούσαις εἴκοσι eighteen (lit. ‘two less than twenty’), etc. In Old English, the preceding ān ‘1’ is usually uninflected, whereas twā ‘2’ frequently appears in the dative; it has sometimes been argued that the following multiple of ten, always indeclinable in form, is implicitly also a dative (or instrumental) of comparison, i.e. ‘less than twenty’, etc. In this construction the word is formally an adverb, although the construction as a whole is difficult to parse. Compare mo adj.¹ 5, wane adj. 3. With use as preposition (especially with numerals: see sense D. 1) compare minus prep. and the discussion at that entry. The comparative of little adj., pron., n., and adv. A. adj. and determiner. 1. a. Of not so great size, extent, or degree (as something mentioned or implied); of inferior dimensions, bulk, duration, etc.; smaller. Now chiefly with reference to number, degree, etc.; with reference to material dimensions, usually only followed by a complementary clause headed by in, e.g. less in diameter, height, size, etc. Opposed (from Middle English onwards) to greater adj. 1a (in earlier use, to more adj. 1a, more adj. 1b). Cf. lesser adj. 2, no less adj. 1.The more usual comparative denoting inferior material dimensions is smaller. ΘΠ the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [adjective] > smaller lessOE lesser1440 OE tr. Pseudo-Apuleius Herbarium (Vitell.) (1984) xlii. 88 Ðonne ys oþer wyrt þysse gelic; seo hæfð sume dæle læssan leaf ðonne doccoe [read docce]. OE Ælfric Old Eng. Hexateuch: Gen. (Laud) i. 16 Twa micele leoht, þæt mare leoht to þæs dæges lihtinge and þæt læsse leoht to þære nihte lihtinge. a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 179 Þe more fishes in þe se eten þe lasse. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 3687 Sixti scipen heo makeden, vnimete muchele..of lasse scipen þar weoren swa feole þat nuste na man þe tale. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1978) l. 14955 Anglisce & Sexisce seouentene þusend mid machen weoren to-heowen; þa hep wes þa lassen. a1300 Shires & Hundreds Eng. in R. Morris Old Eng. Misc. (1872) 145 (MED) On engle londe syndon two and þrytti schire, summe more and summe lasse. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 11689 Þe bissop..prechede hom þat hii adde of deþ þe lasse fere. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. vii. xiv. 359 Somtyme þe palesie comeþ of anoþir iuel, as whanne þe lasse apoplexia endiþ. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Gött.) l. 436 Summe of less [Fairf. lesse, Trin. Cambr. lasse] and sum of more prise. c1449 R. Pecock Repressor (1860) 74 Herfore it is the lasse merveil. a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (Harl. 7333) (1879) 10 Hit is wreten, that of too Evelis þe lasse Evill is to be chosyn. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 92^v The light wex las. 1567 J. Maplet Greene Forest f. 49 Akoniton..hath leaves like the Cucumber, but somewhat more lesse and rough. 1598 B. Yong tr. J. de Montemayor Diana iii. 70 Other kindes of lesse trees..twyning about the greater. a1616 W. Shakespeare Tempest (1623) i. ii. 337 Teach me how To name the bigger Light, and how the lesse That burne by day, and night. View more context for this quotation 1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 38 Shags..are very like to Cormorants, only less. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables xix. 20 Rather than bear a Less Misfortune to Hazzard a Greater. 1718 M. Prior Henry & Emma 430 Fine by degrees and beautifully less. 1757 J. Harris Ess. Money & Coins 41 Every one will see and understand that 19 is less than 20. 1794 S. Williams Nat. & Civil Hist. Vermont 83 The female is less than the male. 1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. II. 400 The Esculent Swallow is said to be less in size than the Wren. 1816 Ld. Byron Prisoner of Chillon viii. 13 And then the sighs he would suppress..grew less and less. 1872 J. Morley Voltaire (ed. 2) i. 1 The peculiarities of his individual genius changed the mind and spiritual conformation of France, and in a less degree of the whole of the West. 1874 C. M. Scammon Marine Mammals N. Amer. iii. i. 199 He..puts it upon the bench or dressing-board, where it is cut by others into less pieces. 1915 Med. Rec. (N.Y.) 4 Sept. 388/1 They seem to be far less in size and importance than they are either before or after this period. 1976 S. M. Gault Dict. Shrubs in Colour 184/2 A medium sized deciduous shrub generally a good deal less in height than stated. 2011 R. Kautz Chaos vii. 107 One rotation is as much greater than the average as the other is less. b. Of lower degree, rank, gravity, importance, etc.; inferior. Now somewhat rare. Cf. lesser adj. 1, no less adj. 3a.See also no less a (person, figure, etc.) than at no less adj. 3b. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > low or subordinate wokec897 lessOE lesserc1225 secondary1386 lowerc1390 subalternate?a1425 subsidiary1603 pedaneous1617 subordinate1620 undergraduate1655 subdominant1826 unlofty1869 lower case1917 OE Ælfric De Septiformi Spiritu (Trin. Cambr.) in A. S. Napier Wulfstan (1883) 58 Se hæfð arfæstnysse, þe..mæðe cann on mannum.., ge on his gelicum ge on læssum mannum. c1175 ( Ælfric's Homily on Nativity of Christ (Bodl. 343) in A. O. Belfour 12th Cent. Homilies in MS Bodl. 343 (1909) 82 Heo ðreo an God wuniȝende on ane cynde..iliche mihtiȝe, nan læsse þene oðer. Swa hwæt swa bið læsse ðone God, þet ne bið na God. c1175 Ormulum (Burchfield transcript) l. 3745 Acc drihhtin godd warrþ her forr þe Ȝet lasse þann hiss enngell. & lahȝhre inoh. a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) l. 390 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 183 Al þat is and al þat wes is wurse þenne he [sc. God] and lesse. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Matt. xi. 11 He that is lesse [L. minor] in the kyngdam of heuenes, is more than he. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 12166 Noght yee ne vnderstod for-þi Less i wat er yee þan i. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Pardoner's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) l. 274 If þ^t a Prynce vseth hasardrye..He is..Yholde the lasse in reputacioun. 1445–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Feb. 1445 §44. m. 6 By colour of tenure of lasse tenantz. a1500 tr. Thomas à Kempis De Imitatione Christi (Trin. Dublin) (1893) 24 ‘As ofte tymes as I was amonge men, I come a lasse man’, þat is to say lesse holy. c1540 (?a1400) Gest Historiale Destr. Troy (2002) f. 47 Ladys and oþer les wemen. 1610 Bible (Douay) II. Hosea Comm. Foure are called the greater prophetes, and twelve the lesse. 1714 E. Hawarden True Church of Christ I. i. iii. 59 Which, if a less man had said it, than Mr. L. might have seem'd to border upon Blasphemy. 1768 C. Smart Parables Jesus Christ ix. 18 Should'st not thou have had the grace To weigh a less offender's case, And to his debt have pity shown? 1845 N. P. Willis Dashes at Life with Free Pencil i. 16 It was a less woman incomparably painted. 1869 Ld. Tennyson Coming of Arthur 12 And so there grew great tracts of wilderness, Wherein the beast was ever more and more, But man was less and less, till Arthur came. 1932 R. Macaulay Shadow Flies i. 43 Am I a less poet than Tom Carew, then? Am I become nothing since I left the London taverns for Devonshire? 2005 M. Pizarro Chicanas & Chicanos at School vi. 206 They would perceive you as less, not a less person but, like, with less knowledge if they knew that you spoke Spanish. c. In the names of people, places, (now chiefly) churches, etc.: smaller, inferior, less important (as distinguished from another of the same name). Cf. lesser adj. †Less Britain, †Britain the less: Brittany. ΘΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > low or subordinate > of two things of same name lesseOE lesser1440 minorc1500 eOE tr. Orosius Hist. (BL Add.) (1980) i. i. 10 Be westan Capodocia is þæt land þe mon hætt seo læsse Asia [= Asia Minor]. c1325 (c1300) Chron. Robert of Gloucester (Calig.) l. 2120 To þe lasse brutaine þer ne come aliue none. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 5 (MED) Þerof is ȝit contynual strif..wheþer þe more Wilfridus bones..beeþ þese forseide bones, oþer þe bones of þe lasse Wilfrede. ?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 172 Ynde the lesse. ?a1475 (?a1425) tr. R. Higden Polychron. (Harl. 2261) (1865) I. 147 (MED) Asia the lesse towcheth in the este parte Capadocy. 1500 in J. W. Clay North Country Wills (1908) I. 266 To be buried in the parissh church of All Halowen the Lesse in Temysestreete in the Citie of London. 1597 T. Morley Plaine & Easie Introd. Musicke Annot. sig. ¶^v Betwixt mi and fa is not a full halfe note, but is lesse then halfe a note by a comma: and therfore called the lesse halfe note. 1605 J. Sylvester tr. G. de S. Du Bartas Deuine Weekes & Wks. ii. ii. 485 The Tyrant of lesse-Asia. 1613 R. Zouche Dove 39 Allan, the Earle of lesse Brittain. 1614 J. Selden Titles of Honor 344 Barons with the rest vpward we call the Greater Nobilitie, the others beneath them the Lesse Nobilitie. 1676 E. Coles Eng. Dict. Jonism, -ick, belonging to Jonia, a Country of Asia the less. 1692 A. Wood Athenæ Oxonienses II. 227 He died..in the Parish of S. Barthelmew the Less in London on the 16 of August. 1843 T. B. Macaulay Madame D'Arblay in Eclectic Mag. Apr. 310 Dr. Franklin—not, as some have dreamed, the great Pennsylvanian Dr. Franklin,..but Dr. Franklin the less. 1970 N. Pevsner Cambridgeshire (Buildings of Eng. Ser.) (ed. 2) Introd. 19 So the two chief monastic houses and also the Dominican settlement and St Mary the Less were ante portas. 2003 K. Waddington Med. Educ. at St Bartholomew's Hosp. 1123–1995 iii. 85 In 1842, Samuel Wix, hospitaller (chaplain) and vicar of St Bartholomew's-the-Less, presented £200 to the hospital. d. In the names of plants and animals distinguished by having a smaller size than another of the same name; = lesser adj. 3a. Now rare. Cf. least adj. 1c.less centaury, less pigle: see the second element.Contrasted with greater. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > appearance of plant > defined by size or stature > [adjective] > of particular size or stature littleeOE lessOE lesser?a1425 dwarf1548 stubby1572 least1597 pumil1776 tall1789 OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 310 Betonica, seo læsse bisceopwyrt. ?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 11 (MED) Celedony þis maisteris saiþe that þere ben two maneres of hem, þe more and þe lasse and boþe ben gode to þe eyne. ?a1450 Agnus Castus (Stockh.) (1950) 169 Linga serpertis minor is an herbe þat men clepe lesse eddres tungge [a1500 Harl. 3840 lasse addertong]. ?1550 H. Llwyd tr. Pope John XXI Treasury of Healthe sig. S.ii^v With .ix graines of leasse spurge or of Pioni. 1597 W. Langham Garden of Health 406 Hands itch and worms, anoint with iuice of the lesse Morell Beries. 1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iv. iv. 636 The lesse plantaine, siluergrasse of both sorts, peachwoort..and burnet. 1651 D. Border Πολυϕαρμακος και Χυμιστης Table Eng. Names Ebulus, The lesse Wallwort... Flammula minor, The lesse spear-wort. 1768 T. Pennant Brit. Zool. (new ed.) I. ii. 180 (heading) The less spotted woodpecker. 1798 R. Hawes et al. Hist. Framlingham 451/1 Inula pulicaria. less Fleabane.—in places where water stood in the winter; wet pasture land, &c. a1806 C. Smith Nat. Hist. Birds (1819) II. 64 The Less Redpoll, Fringilla Linaria, lives also on seeds, chiefly those of the alder. 1882 Notts. Guardian 23 June 7/2 Vinca major and minor, the greater and less periwinkle, found near Colwick, near Farnsfield, and in Kirklington Wood. 2014 D. Byrne & G. Callaghan Complexity Theory & Social Sci. vii. 158 Where the two forms of the Herring Gull and Less Black Backed Gull are quite different in plumage and seldom if ever inter-breed. e. Chiefly with the. The younger (of two brothers, etc.). Chiefly in (St) James the Less.The precise reason for the epithet in the case of the biblical figure of James the Less is uncertain. Π OE (Northumbrian) Lindisf. Gospels: Mark xv. 40 Iacobi minoris..mater : ðæs iacobes leasse..moder. lOE tr. Trinubium Sanctae Annae in W. Keller Probleme der Englischen Sprache u. Kultur (1925) 116 His agene dohter Mariæn he geaf Alpheon, of þære wæs geboren Jacob se læsse. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1961) Judges iii. 9 Othoniel þe sone off ceneȝ þe lasse [L. minorem] broþer of caleph. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 347 Þe apostles ordeyned þe lasse Iames, Alpheus his sone, bisshop of Ierusalem. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 3486 (MED) O þir tua breþer..Þe less þe mare laght be þe fote. 1624 T. Heywood Γυναικεῖον vi. 270 Iames the lesse was called the Brother of our Lord. 1759 Catal. Harleian Coll. MSS II. No. 2399 The Proto-euangelion falsely ascribed to the Apostle St. James the Less. 1798 W. S. Landor Gebir vii. 73 Never so eager, when the world was waves, Stood the less daughter of the ark. 2006 Art Bull. 88 247/1 James the Less, at the right head of the table, could be responding to Matthew, his counterpart at the other end. †f. With anticipatory it and infinitive as complement. Of an action: not so great, worthy, or excellent. Obsolete. ΘΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > not worthy of notice or consideration lessOE smallc1405 unnotablec1454 regardless1557 mentionless1611 unregardable1614 unremarkable1625 inconsiderable1637 of no mentiona1640 unconsiderable1643 unobservable1658 unnoticeable1760 inconsequent1768 unappreciable1801 mousy1812 unnoteworthy1846 nebbishy1973 OE Wærferð tr. Gregory Dialogues (Hatton) (1900) ii. xvi. 138 Þonne hit læsse [L. minus] is to witenne [OE Corpus Cambr. þæt man wite gehwæt hwylces], þonne hit sy eac to bodianne. a1680 S. Charnock Several Disc. Existence of God (1682) 316 It is less to know than Create; for we know many things which we cannot make. 1715 Earl of Halifax Poems Several Occasions 7 in Wks. & Life Earl of Halifax 'Tis less to conquer, than to make Wars cease. 1798 F. Fernandez New Pract. Gram. Spanish Lang. (rev. ed.) ii. 119 It is less to speak than to do. †g. Following a numeral or other quantitative expression, used to denote that the larger number or quantity mentioned or implied is less by the amount preceding. Cf. senses B. 2, D. 1. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > arithmetic or algebraic operations > [adjective] > of subtraction > denoting subtraction lessc1330 minus1483 c1330 (?a1300) Sir Tristrem (1886) l. 2508 Tvelmoneth þre woukes las. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. xi. 24 I resceyuede of the Jewis fyue sythis fourty strokis oon lesse [L. quinquies quadragenas una minus]. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 2168 Tuelue scor o yeires bot an lesse [Trin. Cambr. saue oon las]. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. lxiii. 84 This siege endured a long season, the space of a xi. wekes, thre dayes lesse. 1769 W. Falconer Universal Dict. Marine sig. Mm4 At four fathoms and ¾ he calls ‘A quarter less five!’ 2. a. Existing in a smaller quantity or amount; a smaller quantity or amount of; not so much. Cf. no less adj. 2. Opposed to more adj. 2a. Π lOE Laws of Æðelstan (Rochester) vi. iv. 176 Man funde ænne man, þær mare folc sig, swa of anre teoðunge, þær læsse folc sy, to rade oððe to gange. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 287 Ne muchte he wið lesse gref habben arud us. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xviii. xxvi. 1168 [A gentil hounde] haþ lasse fleissh þan a dogge. ?a1425 tr. Catherine of Siena Orcherd of Syon (Harl.) (1966) 247 (MED) Summe cacchen moore liht and summe lesse. c1480 (a1400) St. Ninian 443 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 317 Þan to þe catel þai tuk les kepe. 1549 M. Coverdale et al. tr. Erasmus Paraphr. Newe Test. II. 1 Cor. vii. f. xviii^v Rather had I haue in you that, whiche is of lesse perfeccion. 1600 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 2 iv. iii. 139 Lesse noyse, lesse noyse. View more context for this quotation c1600 Balfour's Practicks (1754) 493 Making of the course of the water to be of greiter force or strenth than of befoir, or ȝit to be of less force..than of befoir. a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) iv. iv. 34 I owe him little Dutie, and lesse Loue. View more context for this quotation 1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. ix. 70 The Queen knowing it less difficulty and danger to keep him, then to cast him out of her Dominions. 1665 J. Webb Vindic. Stone-Heng Restored 19 We cannot yet give credit, and less shall, to one word he saith. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 854 More glorie will be wonn, Or less be lost. View more context for this quotation 1669 S. Sturmy Mariners Mag. v. 72 With less Trouble and Charge. 1722 Serm. French Hugonot Teacher 16 Men..who would be reduced to short Commons and a hard Lodging, if their Wives had been born with less Beauty and Wit, or more Vertue. 1791 W. Hamilton tr. C.-L. Berthollet Elements Art of Dyeing II. ii. iii. v. 196 These substances however saddened the crimson colour and gave it less lustre than alum. 1853 G. Brimley Ess. (1858) viii. 293 We should then have less crowd, and no story. 1853 W. E. Gladstone Speech 18 Apr. in Financial Statem. (1863) 5 The estimate for the present year cannot, I fear, be expected to be much less, if at all less, than 530,000l. 1946 L. Bloomfield in C. F. Hockett Leonard Bloomfield Anthol. (1970) 460 Particles appear before nouns in less variety than before verbs [in Algonquian]. 2009 N.Y. Times Mag. 21 June 26/3 (advt.) Minimal access surgery results in less pain, quicker recovery, shorter hospital stays and improved self-esteem. †b. In expressions containing or implying a negative, where the sense requires ‘more’ (in quantity or amount). Cf. sense B. Obsolete.Only in Shakespeare. ΘΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > greatness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > greater in quantity, amount, or degree moOE moreOE the more partOE lessa1616 mo'1858 no mo'1858 a1616 W. Shakespeare Winter's Tale (1623) iii. ii. 55 I ne're heard yet, That any of these bolder Vices wanted Lesse Impudence to gaine-say what they did, Then to performe it first. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Cymbeline (1623) i. iv. 22 To fortifie her iudgement, which else an easie battery might lay flat, for taking a Begger without lesse quality. View more context for this quotation 3. With a plural noun. A smaller number of; fewer. Opposed to more adj. 3b.This use (and likewise sense C. 2) is frequently criticized, and is avoided by many. N.E.D. (1902) says: ‘Frequently found but generally regarded as incorrect.’ Several late 18th-century grammars discuss the use of less than in conjunction with a plural noun. The earliest discussion occurs in R. Baker Refl. Eng. Lang. (1770) 55: ‘Less. This word is most commonly used in speaking of a Number; where I should think Fewer would do better. No fewer than a Hundred appears to me not only more elegant than No less than a Hundred, but more strictly proper.’ Later usage writers tend to limit the unacceptable use to contexts where less directly modifies or stands in for a plural noun; H. W. Fowler Dict. Mod. Eng. Usage (1926) 321/2 even accepts it with ‘plurals equivalent to singulars of indefinite amount’ such as troops or clothes (compare quot. 1748). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > number > plurality > fewness > [adjective] > fewer wanec900 lessa1387 a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 233 Somtyme [mo yeres and somtyme] lasse ȝeres beþ i-radde of Herodes. 1451 in A. Clark Lincoln Diocese Documents (1914) 54 (MED) I will yer be gyfyn to ilke parys of vij plws, to the prest..vij d..& to lytyll parysones of les plows, to ye prest yer-of vij d. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cl. 222 By cause he had so grete plente of men of hys owne countre, he called the fewer and lasse to counseyll of the noble men of the Cyte. 1538 M. Coverdale tr. M. Luther Expos. Magnificat sig. E.ii^v The hygher the contemplacion in sprete be, the lesse wordes [Ger. weniger Worte] ought we to make. 1580 J. Lyly Euphues (new ed.) To Rdrs. sig. Bi^v I thinke there are fewe Vniuersities that haue lesse faults then Oxford, many that haue more. a1643 W. Cartwright Lady-errant iv. i, in Comedies (1651) sig. d Woman's the Gem of Heaven, in which Nature Hath carv'd the Universe in less Characters. 1682 R. Blome tr. N. Sanson Mapp Estates of Turkish Empire in Cosmogr. & Geogr. ii. 44 They are obliged to furnish him with 2, 3, 4, 5, 10, or more or less Men and Horses..according to the quantity of Land they hold. 1742 E. Montagu Let. 4 Oct. (1809) II. 199 I am persuaded that much less pains, than what we employ, without scruple, upon an harpsichord, would keep both the husband and wife in, what we call, concert pitch. 1748 T. Nugent tr. J.-B. Du Bos Crit. Refl. Poetry, Painting & Music II. xix. 228 Wearing more or less cloaths in particular seasons. 1794 D. Steel Elements & Pract. Rigging & Seamanship II. 288 A cable coiled against the sun will..have less grinds or kinks in it than a cable coiled with the sun. 1802 G. Culley Let. 15 July in M. Culley & G. Culley Farming Lett. (2006) 319 They keep a greater strength of fire lower down, which makes them do with less coals and cart loads of lime per day. 1862 M. D. Colt Went to Kansas v. 84 I may see them all doing with still less comforts. 1924 Trans. Amer. Inst. Electr. Engineers 43 377/2 Any other number of either more or less digits. 1939 D. Thomas Let. 29 Sept. (1987) 416 How does the body-snatching go? Be quick, there'll be less bodies soon. 1999 BBC Top Gear Mag. June 253/3 This version..needs less trips to the fuel pumps. 2000 Big Issue 28 Feb. 12/2 They wear less clothes, and more make-up. B. adv. 1. To a lesser or smaller extent; in a lower degree; to an inferior extent, amount, etc.Also in negative expressions: see natheless adv. and prep., netheless adv., nevertheless adv., no less adv. nonetheless adv., not the less adv., nought the less adv. a. Modifying a verb, an adjective, an adverb, or the whole predicate.(I, etc.) couldn't care less: see care v. 4a(d). (I, etc.) could care less: see care v. 4a(e). ΘΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adverb] > to a lesser extent lesseOE worseeOE lessera1500 worser1584 eOE King Ælfred tr. Gregory Pastoral Care (Hatton) (1871) lii. 407 We hine mid swa micle maran unryhte & dysige oferhycgeað swa he læs forhogað ðæt he us ðonne giet to him spane. eOE tr. Bede Eccl. Hist. (Tanner) v. xiii. 424 Oðer [dæl] wes nohte þon læs unaarefndlice [L. non minus intolerabile] cele hægles & snawes. a1225 (?c1175) Poema Morale (Lamb.) l. 60 in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1868) 1st Ser. 163 Vfel we doð al to muchel and god lesse [a1200 Trin. Cambr. lasse] þenne we sculden. c1225 (?c1200) Hali Meiðhad (Bodl.) (1940) l. 53 Hire leatere were is leasse wurð & leasse haueð þen hefde ear hire earre. c1300 St. Patrick's Purgatory (Laud) l. 176 in C. Horstmann Early S.-Eng. Legendary (1887) 205 Þe lasse he was of heom a-drad. c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) 2 Cor. xii. 15 I my silf schal be ouerȝouun for ȝoure soulis; thouȝ I more louynge, be lesse loued. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 11207 Ihesu crist hir barn sco bar, Hir child, and maiden neuer less [Gött. neuer þe lesse]. a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 242 The natural hette atte myde-day is lasse stronge. ?1507 W. Dunbar Tua Mariit Wemen (Rouen) in Poems (1998) I. 49 The mair he loutit for my luf, the les of him I rakit. 1542 T. Becon Newes out of Heauen Prol. sig. A.v^v His worde is, that they shoulde sanctify the Sabboth day... But what do they lesse? 1596 J. Dalrymple tr. J. Leslie Hist. Scotl. (1888) I. 5 He fand heit and calde lesse vehement in Scotlande than in france. 1626 F. Bacon Sylua Syluarum §953 All this to entertain the Imagination that it waver less. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost iv. 479 Less faire, Less winning soft, less amiablie milde, Then that smooth watry image. View more context for this quotation 1701 D. Defoe True-born Englishman ii. 34 None talk on't more, or understand it less. 1799 W. Godwin St. Leon IV. viii. 189 I was less at a loss. 1808 W. Scott Marmion i. ii. 24 As the fading ray Less bright, and less, was flung. 1856 tr. A. Vulliet Geogr. of Nature ix. 510 The St. Lawrence is less a river than a long strait or canal of fresh water. 1870 N. Brit. Rev. Apr. 46/1 Shakespeare's style was less adapted to the..method of the classical school which Nash and the ‘university wits’ patronized. 1902 Rep. Comptroller of Customs 1901–02 7 Their taste for these foreign articles will be less in evidence. 1934 Acta Radiologica 15 652 Basilar impression—or platybasia as it is less adequately termed. 1975 Economist 27 Sept. 71/2 The car..must be made less polluting and more energy efficient. 2015 Toronto Life July 46/2 EDM is less a music genre than a total physical assault. b. Modifying an adjective (frequently a participial adjective) used attributively (often hyphenated). Π ?a1425 (?1373) Lelamour Herbal (1938) f. 39 (MED) Yf ther of to stronge men v peny wight, to febler and to harde boundyn men more, and to lasse bound men less. ?1530 tr. Compost of Ptholomeus iiii. sig. d.iii In it [sc. the vayne] ought to be made a wyde and a lesse depe wounde: than in any other vayne. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. i. 49 The enuie of lesse happier lands. View more context for this quotation 1664 H. More Apol. in Modest Enq. Myst. Iniquity 538 He is to serve God though in that less-seemly or less-perfect Habit. 1682 J. Milton (title) A brief history of Moscovia: and of other less-known countries. 1689 Bp. G. Burnet Tracts I. 54 If I were writing to a less knowing Man than yourself. 1709 Ld. Shaftesbury Moralists ii. ii. 72 There are other less suspected Hands. 1766 Compl. Farmer at Flax It requires a less expensive mill-house. 1818 Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 33 108 In the less-enslaved cities and towns. 1875 B. Jowett in tr. Plato Dialogues (ed. 2) I. 399 Some other less-known members of the Socratic circle. 1877 M. Arnold Thyrsis in Poems II. 216 The less practised eye of sanguine youth. 1886 W. J. Tucker Life E. Europe 231 Less costly benefits and emoluments, and less extended patronage. 1955 Times 13 May 12/6 Hathersage and Castleton and Edale had become over-run..by the less-desirable types. 2005 Herald-Times (Bloomington, Indiana) 20 Oct. e1/2 He..has spent plenty of time fixing damage caused by DIYers as well as other less-experienced professionals. †2. Forming composite numerals one or two less than a multiple of ten, as one (also two) less (the) twenty, thirty, forty, etc. Cf. senses A. 1g, D. 1. Obsolete.See discussion in the etymology. Cf. the conj. 1b. Π eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. 6 (table of contents) Ealra læcedoma twam læs þritig. OE Blickling Homilies 215 Ða he þa hæfde twæm læs þe twentig wintra. OE Ælfric Gram. (St. John's Oxf.) 287 Man cweð eac undeuiginti an læs twentig, duodeuigintig [read duodeuiginti] twam læs twentig, duodetriginta twam læs þrittig. lOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) anno 641 He rixode twa læs xxx geara. †3. Used to characterize a statement or suggestion as still more unacceptable than one that has been already denied; = much less at Phrases 4. Obsolete. ΘΠ the mind > language > statement > dissent or disagreement > [adverb] > statement or suggestion still more unacceptable much less1526 far less1593 lessa1637 still less1791 a1637 B. Jonson Magnetick Lady iii. iv. 72 in Wks. (1640) III You never fought with any; lesse, slew any. 1663 B. Gerbier Counsel to Builders sig. g4^v Dimensions and Formes, which are not to be mended, lesse contradicted. 1718 Answer Bp. of Sarum's Challenge in Mem. Life J. Kettlewell App. xvi. p. lv It is not easily to be expected that any should contradict those Inclinations, less that the Generality should do so. 1721 A. Ramsay Content 250 Mere empty spectres..Which merit not your notice, less your care. C. pron. and n. I. Pronoun uses. 1. As a comparative corresponding to little pron. and n. I. a. A smaller amount, quantity, or number (than one that is specified or implied).Quots. OE¹, OE³ show use of lǣs, adverb, as noun; see discussion in the etymology. ΘΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > smallness of quantity, amount, or degree > [adjective] > less lessOE minc1330 the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > [adjective] > deducted lessOE deduct1439 adempt?a1475 OE Guthlac A 79 Lufiað mid lacum þa þe læs agun. OE Old Eng. Hexateuch: Exod. (Claud.) xvi. 17 Israhela bearn didon swa, & gadrodon, sum mare sum læsse [L. alius plus, alius minus]. OE Byrhtferð Enchiridion (Ashm.) (1995) i. ii. 36 Gif þær beo læs þonne seofon. ?c1225 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Cleo. C.vi) (1972) 4 Sum..mei..Paien god mid lesse. ?a1300 (c1250) Prov. Hendyng (Digby) xxiv, in Anglia (1881) 4 195 (MED) ‘Drink eft lasse, and go bi liȝtte hom,’ Quad Hending. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1879) VII. 403 (MED) Ȝif þey wil þey mowe have lasse in þe somer tyme. c1400 Bk. to Mother (Bodl.) 123 (MED) Þe lowere, þe porere, þe lasse a man haþ, þe bettur welcome. 1445–6 Rolls of Parl.: Henry VI (Electronic ed.) Parl. Feb. 1445 §44. m. 6 Such as lasse deserve, lasse to take, and also in places wher lasse is used to be yeven, lasse to be yeven hereafter. a1500 in F. B. Bickley Little Red Bk. Bristol (1900) I. 153 Of every bote or vessell comyng to Bristow with xxx milwell or lenges or rayes ij to the waterbaylly, and yff ther be lasse then xxx, then the saide bailly to have none prise. a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 142 Sum askis far les than he servis. 1598 Chaucers Dreame in T. Speght Wks. G. Chaucer f. 364/1 Which hearb in lesse then halfe an houre Gan ouer all knit. a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) i. i. 103 Lesse then a pound shall serue me for carrying your Letter. View more context for this quotation 1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. viii. 41 The longer He lived in England, the less He had of an English-man, daily more and more Italianating Himself. 1700 J. Dryden Chaucer's Palamon & Arcite iii, in Fables 79 Though less and less of Emily he saw. 1765 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy VII. xxvii. 91 For Joigny—the less, I think, one says of it, the better. 1773 J. Banks Let. 12 Jan. (2000) 31 Jura is separated from Isla by..less than an English mile. 1781 S. Johnson Lives Eng. Poets II. 127 Of George Granville..less is known than his name and rank might give reason to expect. 1829 T. Arnold Let. 30 Mar. in A. P. Stanley Life & Corr. T. Arnold (1844) I. v. 230 Our little may be more inexcusable than their less was in them. 1850 Ld. Tennyson In Memoriam cix. 171 Not being less but more than all The gentleness he seem'd to be. View more context for this quotation 1854 J. H. Newman Lect. Hist. Turks iv. 234 The Turks of this day are still in the less than infancy of art. 1879 W. D. Whitney Sanskrit Gram. 236 Less than thirty roots form their present-system. 1938 Life 6 June 64/3 Only one out of four belongs to such organizations as the Y.M.C.A. or the 4-H Club. Less than half frequent the libraries. 1946 Liberty 25 May 68/3 There are super-smart chambray stripes at less than a dollar a yard. 2009 Independent 16 Mar. 40/1 The less said about them the better. b. Modified adverbially by a lot, far, little, much, or another pronoun or phrase denoting quantity.See also no less n. and pron. Quot. eOE shows no less with use of lǣs, adverb, as noun; see discussion in the etymology. Π eOE Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Parker) anno 896 Þy ilcan sumera forwearð nolæs [OE Tiber. B.i na læs] þonne xx scipa mid monnum. OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) xl. 65 Ðær wana..sy, þæt man þæt fulle wines gemet habban ne mæge, ac mycele læsse, oðþe eallunga næne dæl. a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 45 Ȝif he arrer dede litel te gode, ðar after he doð michele lasse. a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 3595 Of ðo ðe weren to ðis red .xxx. hundred to ðe dead Woren ðane don..Ðo woren on liue sumdel les. a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1872) IV. 251 Iohn hadde tweie dayes lasse in his moder wombe. ?a1400 (a1338) R. Mannyng Chron. (Petyt) (1996) i. l. 4330 For ten mark men sold a litille bulchyn, litille lesse men told a bouke of a motoun. c1430 (c1386) G. Chaucer Legend Good Women (Cambr. Gg.4.27) (1879) l. 2256 This reuel ful of song & ek of daunce Laste a fortenyght or lytil lasse. a1500 ( Pilgrimage of Soul (Egerton) (1953) v. ii. f. 88 (MED) I saughe viine othir speres muche lasse than þis other two, as nedest must the lasse be conteyned with in the more. ?1560 T. Norton Orations of Arsanes sig. S.iij^v What shall it auaile you to haue kept your owne kingdomes in quiet and good estate for a little lesse or more than xx. yeares? 1686 W. Harris tr. N. Lémery Course Chym. (ed. 2) i. viii. 186 You may use either a little more, or a little less, according to the strength of the Spirit. 1707 tr. P. Le Lorrain de Vallemont Curiosities in Husbandry & Gardening 120 A third part less than usual will sufficiently seed the Ground. 1754 C. Robinson Answer to Pamphlet 14 Even when such Animadversion hath been conceived.., in Terms implying little Less than Censure. 1855 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circle Sci.: Elem. Chem. 492 Bell-metal contains about twice that quantity of tin; and gong-metal somewhat less. 1884 E. L. Houghton tr. E. Reuss Hist. Sacred Script. New Test. II. iv. 457 Much less has been done toward the knowledge of..the revival of oppressed nationalities on the Nile and Euphrates. 1943 Christian Cent. 1 Dec. 1/2 Evidently there is a widespread and growing fear lest the United Nations..let loose in Europe what might turn out to be little less than a gigantic lynching bee. 1956 D. Karp All Honorable Men 174 He tells you a lot less than he knows. 2001 Guardian 17 Mar. (Weekend Suppl.) 65/1 A wine costing a good deal less than £2.99. c. A smaller amount, quantity, or number of.In Old English with partitive genitive. Quot. eOE² shows use of lǣs, adverb, as noun; see discussion in the etymology. Π eOE Metres of Boethius (2009) 179 Þu..on us sawle gesettest.., þæt hire þy læsse on ðæm lytlan ne bið anum fingre þe hire on eallum bið þæm lichoman. eOE Bald's Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) i. xxxiii. 93 Gecnuwa þa hleomocan, meng wiþ þam gose scearne, do læs þæs scearnes, wyl on buteran. c1230 (?a1200) Ancrene Riwle (Corpus Cambr.) (1962) 159 Hwen he of hire naueð ne leasse ne mare. a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) I. iv. ii. 136 Þey haueþ litil of fleisch and lesse of blood, and þerfore þey ben not couenable to mete. 1522 E. Betts Let. in B. Cusack Everyday Eng. 1500–1700 (1998) 228 Take alytell less of clene Rennyng Water than ys the Iewse. 1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 496/2 I content me with lesse of meate or drinke..than the moste parte do. a1550 ( G. Ripley Compend of Alchemy (Bodl. e Mus.) f. 63 The lesse of the spirit ther be in this dissponsacione, The rather thy calcinacione for certayne thow shalt make. 1577 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Islande Brit. iii. i. f. 95^v/1, in R. Holinshed Chron. I It reteyneth more of the grosse, and lesse of the pure substance of the wheate. 1655 S. Hartlib Reformed Common-wealth Bees xiii. 19 The Nations, with whom Wine is made, use farre lesse of it than we who buy it at Rack rates. 1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 108 What we have hitherto spoken, will seem to have less of auk in it. 1729 B. Franklin Busy-body iv, in Amer. Weekly Mercury 18 Feb. 1/2 I should be glad to have less of her Company. 1766 T. Amory Life John Buncle II. x. 350 The gold, the lesser of the two, loses less of its weight than the copper does. 1816 J. Austen Emma iii. 319 She liked his open manners, but a little less of open-heartedness would have made him a higher character. 1861 Amer. Agriculturist Jan. 21/3 Madam mourns over her hard lot, thinks she works harder and sees less of the world than any mechanic's wife. 1937 Amer. Home Apr. 98/4 See that the roots are properly pruned so they will suffer less of a shock at the time they are moved. 1955 D. Barton Glorious Life 199 In winter she had less of the Cinderella look that slutting about in summer cottons imposed on her. 2002 P. Augar & J. Palmer Rise Player Manager v. 100 I did less of the donkeywork. d. A less true case or example of a type of person or thing. Π 1768 A. Tucker Light of Nature Pursued I. ii. 372 Nobody was less of an epicure than Epicurus himself. 1858 Harper's Mag. Mar. 493/1 Man is much less of an out-door animal. 1871 T. H. Huxley Critiques & Addr. (1873) 251 Mr. Mivart is less of a Darwinian than Mr. Wallace, for he has less faith in the power of natural selection. 1915 W. S. Maugham Of Human Bondage xlv. 222 I, less of a humbug than you, neither applaud myself for my pleasure nor demand your admiration. 2014 Guardian 10 May 34/2 David Cameron is far less of a logocidal maniac than Miliband. 2. As a comparative corresponding to few adj. 1. A smaller number of the type or kind of person or object specified; fewer. Frequently with of and noun phrase.See note at sense A. 3 regarding opinions about the acceptability or correctness of this use.In Old English, this sense is attested only with use of lǣs, adverb, as noun with a genitive plural; for further discussion see etymology. Π eOE King Ælfred tr. Boethius De Consol. Philos. (Otho) (2009) I. xxii. 489 Swa mid læs worda swa mid m[a, swæðe]r we hit gereccan magon. OE Rule St. Benet (Corpus Cambr.) x. 34 Sy swa þæt næfre læs sealma [a1225 Winteney læs sealme; L. minus a duodecim psalmorum quantitate] ne sy gesungen æt uhtsange þonne twelf. lOE Distichs of Cato (Trin. Cambr.) xxxvi, in Anglia (1972) 90 9 Swa mon ma spricð, swa him læs monna gelyfð. a1680 S. Butler Genuine Remains (1759) II. 72 His Parts are disproportionate to the whole, and like a Monster he has more of some, and less of others than he should have. 1737 J. Ozell in tr. F. Rabelais Wks. I. iv. 149 More or fewer Actors, among whom were commonly some Devils... These pious Theatrical Representations were called petite, or grand Diablerie. Petite (little Devilry) when there were less than four Devils. 1805 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 95 218 Another piece of Bovey coal, which had less of the characters of wood, and was more perfectly carbonized. 1874 Trans. Amer. Inst. Mining Engineers 1873–4 2 161 If ten stamps or less are to be supplied with ore, self-feeding is more economical than feeding by hand. 1909 J. Miller Poems I. 230 While nearly every city in the Union had more or less of these monstrosities [sc. equestrian statues] I had seen but one little figure in honor of woman. 1963 R. E. Davies Methodism App. i. 173 Some contain as many as fifty, others as few as five or even less. 1991 G. Ehrlich Islands, Universe, Home x. 167 It takes one teaspoon of bacteria to infect a thousand cows; we have many less than that. 2000 C. Hanger World Food: Morocco 162 These days there is a definite preference for recipes adapted with less of these weighty ingredients. II. Noun uses, as a comparative corresponding to little pron. and n. III. 3. a. With the. That which is smaller or less important (of two things compared). Now somewhat rare. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [noun] > that which is unimportant > of less importance lessOE small fry1647 the world > space > extension in space > measurable spatial extent > smallness > [noun] > that which is small > that which is smaller lessOE OE Blickling Homilies 181 For hwan ne deþ he þæt læsse nu he þæt mare dyde? c1450 Art Nombryng in R. Steele Earliest Arithm. in Eng. (1922) 36 (MED) The lasse of the more, or even of even, may be withdraw; The more fro the lesse may neuer be. 1483 ( tr. G. Deguileville Pilgrimage of Soul (Caxton) (1859) v. i. 70 Nedes must the lesse be conteyned within the more. a1500 (?c1450) Merlin (1899) xxi. 373 (MED) The name of the lesse, that is shorte and fatte, is Galashin..and this other, that is longe and yonge, is sone to kynge Vrien. 1539 Introd. lerne for to recken with Pen sig. c.vi^v Fyrste marke howe manye tymes the more doth contayne the lesse, and by that number dyuyde the lesse. a1616 W. Shakespeare Two Gentlemen of Verona (1623) iii. i. 352 The haire that couers the wit, is more then the wit; for the greater hides the lesse . View more context for this quotation 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost vii. 348 The greater to have rule by Day, The less by Night alterne. 1732 T. Lediard tr. J. Terrasson Life Sethos II. ix. 291 The greater [sc. fleet] seem'd only to be the retinue or tenders upon the less. 1760 J. Lee Introd. Bot. iii. v. 177 Duplicato-serrate,..when there is a twofold Serrature, the less upon the greater. 1866 J. H. Newman Dream of Gerontius iii. 23 For spirits and men by different standards mete The less and greater in the flow of time. 1956 E. S. Duckett Alfred the Great ix. 175 All, therefore, writes Alfred, is of God, the greater and the less: the sun and the little stars..; the tiny brook which runs to meet the river and the river winding toward the sea. 1972 M. Kline Math. Thought iv. 69 The greater is a multiple of the less when it is measured by the less. †b. The one who is less; the lesser person. Also: those who are less. Obsolete.more and less: see more n.³ 1. Π OE Ælfric Homily (Corpus Cambr. 188) in B. Assmann Angelsächsische Homilien u. Heiligenleben (1889) 41 Ne seo mare ne sceal modigan to swiðe ofer ða læssan.., ne seo læsse ne sceal laðlice andigan ongean þa maran. OE Rule St. Benet (Tiber.) (1888) lxiii. 106 [Transeunte majore] minor surgat et det ei locum sedendi : se læssa aris & he sylla rymet to sittenne. c1275 (?a1200) Laȝamon Brut (Calig.) (1963) l. 6355 Heo þencheð ufele don, to fallen þæne Cristindom, & turne to heðenesse þa hæȝe & þa læsse [c1300 Otho þe more and þe lasse]. c1330 (?a1300) Arthour & Merlin (Auch.) (1973) l. 6650 ‘As armes!’ gred alle..Boþe þe more and þe lasse. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) Gen. xv. C. Two maner of folke are in thy wombe..and the one nacion shall ouercome the other, and the greater shall serue the lesse. 1594 S. Daniel Trag. Cleopatra iii, in Wks. (Grosart) III. 59 Nemesis..Who..Doth raze the great, and raise the lesse. 1611 Bible (King James) Heb. vii. 7 The lesse is blessed of the better. View more context for this quotation 1655 T. Fuller Church-hist. Brit. xvii. 12 Some baptised..in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy-Ghost. Some (as the Arrians) in the name of the Father as the greater, and the Sonne as the lesse. 1852 F. W. Robertson Two Lect. on Infl. Poetry i. 34 There are two kinds of friendship: One is the affection of the greater for the less, the other that of the less for the greater. 1897 R. W. Buchanan Ballad of Mary Mother 124 All who through this world of dream Breathe mystery and ecstasy supreme; The greater and the less. D. prep. 1. Preceding a numeral or other quantitative expression, used to denote that the number or quantity indicated is to be subtracted from a larger one mentioned or implied; = minus prep. 1a. ΘΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > deduction > with the deduction of [preposition] less1623 minus1808 1623 J. Johnson Arithmatick i. ii. 181 Take any number for the price of a yard of the lesser number, which here is veluet, which at 20 shillings a yard, lesse 10 shillings, amounteth vnto 230 shillings. 1695 W. Alingham Geom. Epitomiz'd 1 −Less, as a−b..is thus read..a less b, or the remainder after b is taken from a. 1783 H. Swinburne Trav. in Two Sicilies I. vii. 76 There is another duty of..about ten grains for thrown silk less twenty per cent. for package. 1854 T. H. Palmer Arithmetic i. i. §17 58 20-15=15, is read twenty less five is equal to fifteen. 1885 Q. Rev. Oct. 455 All the money staked is divided between the backers of the winning horse, less ten per cent, which is the profit of the management. 1952 G. H. Dury Map Interpr. i. 5 The prices given for O.S. maps are the current price less one-third. 2010 D. R. Biddle & M. Dubin Tasting Freedom ix. 294 A salary of ten dollars, less three dollars for uniforms. So they earned seven dollars a month. 2. Not including, excepting; = minus prep. 1b. Π 1829 Times 28 Oct. 4/5 7 brick-built Houses.., let at rents, producing about £80 per annum (less taxes). 1869 Bradshaw's Railway Man. 21 304 Dividends were declared at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum in the preference shares, amounting, less income tax, to 1,218 l. 1880 G. Smith in Atlantic Monthly Feb. 213 The foundations of natural theology, less the mere name of Deity. 1910 Chambers's Jrnl. Oct. 661/1 If I borrow £100..I pay my interest, less tax. 1911 Rep. Labour & Social Conditions in Germany (Tariff Reform League) III. vi–vii. 20 All meat is sold less the bone. 1930 Times 25 Mar. 24/2 A full year's dividend on the Preference Shares, less tax, absorbing £16,800. 2016 Isle of Thanet Gaz. (Nexis) 26 Feb. 3 Their modest monthly positive cash flow/profit, i.e. income (rent) less costs (mortgage, fees, tax), will become negative when the tax and mortgage rates rise. Phrases †P1. less of (also less on, less in): inferior as regards (a quality). Obsolete. Π OE Ælfric 1st Let. to Wulfstan (Corpus Cambr. 190) in B. Fehr Die Hirtenbriefe Ælfrics (1914) 94 Arrianus..sæde, þæt he nære on godcundnysse his fæder gelic, ac wære læssa on mihte. a1350 (c1307) in R. H. Robbins Hist. Poems 14th & 15th Cent. (1959) 24 God lete him ner be worse man þen is fader, ne lasse of myht. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) i. l. 1925 (MED) I trowe ther be noman lesse Of eny maner worthinesse That halt him lasse worth thanne I To be beloved. c1400 (?c1380) Pearl l. 599 Þe lasse in werke to take more [is] able. c1480 (a1400) St. Paul 49 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) I. 30 Paule wes lese of dingnite. 1535 Bible (Coverdale) 2 Esdras v. 55 Ye are lesse of stature, then those that were before you. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. iii. 15 And hope to ioy is little lesse in ioye, Then hope enioyed. View more context for this quotation a1616 W. Shakespeare Richard III (1623) iv. iv. 273 + 12 A Grandams name is little lesse in loue, Then is the doting Title of a Mother. 1654 Earl of Monmouth tr. G. Bentivoglio Compl. Hist. Warrs Flanders 32 By how much the Regent went every day less in her authority. 1767 C. Smart tr. Horace Epistles i. i, in tr. Horace Wks. (new ed.) IV. 11 Silver is less of price than gold, And gold than virtue, thousand fold. P2. or less: or not more than (the amount just stated), at most. Π a1399 in W. G. Benham Oath Bk. Colchester (1907) 7 (MED) Wax, c lb., ij d.; and for 12 lb. or less, 1/4 d..Canefas de Parce, c, ij d.; and 1 dos. or lesse, quart. c1405 (c1390) G. Chaucer Prioress's Tale (Hengwrt) (2003) Prol. l. 32 As a child of twelue month old or lesse That kan vnnethe any word expresse Right so fare I. 1560 J. Knox et al. Buke Discipline in J. Knox Wks. (1848) II. 198 Quho remane as it war a moneth or less in one place, for the establishing of the kirk. 1669 J. Worlidge Systema Agriculturæ 159 Let down this Cover within a Foot or less of the Hops. 1741 Boston Weekly News-let. 17 Sept. 2/1 The Reports that we had of the Number of Americans being reduced to a 1000 or less, is groundless, for we are assured..there are nigh 2400 living. 1844 W. Black Pract. Treat. Brewing (ed. 3) 48 By inserting a damper in the flue..any copper can be made to boil 10 gallons or less. 1986 Marketing Week 29 Aug. 16/3 Its idea of what makes a light beer light is that it contains 100 calories or less in a 12-oz serving. 2003 Successful Farming Apr. 32/2 If you have 160 acres or less of timber. P3. nothing less. †a. In the sense ‘anything but’. (a) With than. Anything rather than, anything other than; far from being. Obsolete.Examples such as quots. ?1520, 1598, and 1827 may be construed as showing nothing as direct object of the verb and less as adverb modifying the verb, rather than a phrasal complement. ΘΠ the world > relative properties > relationship > contrariety or contrast > [noun] > the opposite of something contraryc1386 reversec1405 the contraverse1480 nothing less?1520 contrariety1532 negative1532 oppositive1561 different1571 diameter1579 contrariwise1588 opposition1594 counterpoint1599 oppositea1616 other thing1628 antipodes1641 inverse1645 contra1648 contrast1754 converse1786 contrariant1848 antipole1856 obverse1862 antithetic1863 contradictory1874 antipathy- the world > relative properties > relationship > difference > [adverb] > not nearly or far from being near1447 nowhere near (also nigh)c1449 nothing less?1520 nothing near1581 nothing nigh1743 nearly1745 ?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth xxxvi. f. xlix^v Iugurth sodenly with a great power of men assayled & inuaded the romayns tentes whyle the soudyours..were..at their rest: and suspecting nothing lesse than any suche assaut [L. omnia magis quam proelium]. 1548 E. Gest Treat. againste Masse sig. Iviii^v Therfore the before mencioned boke is nothinge lesse then canonical. 1551 R. Robinson tr. T. More Vtopia i. sig. Biv He retorned again into hys countreye, nothynge lesse then lokyd for. 1598 R. Grenewey tr. Tacitus Annales xii. x. 169 The barbarous people know nothing lesse then engines and subtile deuises in besieging and assayling of fortresses. 1617 F. Moryson Itinerary ii. 8 The Spanish..invincible Navy, sent to invade England, in the yeere 1588, being dispersed, and proving nothing lesse then invincible. 1786 H. L. Piozzi Anecd. Johnson 102 Johnson's own notions about eating however were nothing less than delicate; a leg of pork boiled till it dropped from the bone. 1827 W. Scott Life Napoleon V. iv. 77 Who, trusting to the laws.., expected nothing less than an attack upon their personal freedom. (b) Anything rather than the thing in question. Often used to express denial: far from it. Obsolete. Π 1538 R. Taverner tr. Erasmus Sarcerius Common Places of Script. f. clxxxiiii^v She semeth in outwarde apparaunce to loue the brydegrome..where as in dede she doth in her hert nothing lesse [L. nihil minus] but runneth a hooring. 1567 T. Harman Caueat for Commen Cursetors (new ed.) sig. Biii Hee..sayth he would be glad to take payn, for his lyuinge, althoughe he meaneth nothinge lesse. 1597 W. Shakespeare Richard II ii. ii. 34 Bush. Tis nothing but conceit my gratious Lady. Queene. Tis nothing lesse . View more context for this quotation 1607 T. Tomkis Lingua ii. i. sig. D App. But hast thou rusted this latter time for want of excercise? Mend. Nothing lesse. a1655 R. Robinson Christ All (1656) 158 Pretending themselves to be the companions of Christ, when indeed they are nothing less. 1672 V. Mullineaux tr. J. E. Nieremberg Treat. Temporal & Eternal iii. ix. 319 The goods of the earth, which she sells for true goods, setting them forth as great, secure and lasting, when they are nothing less. †b. Modifying an adjective: in no way less; = no less adv. 1b. Obsolete. Π 1528 Rede me & be nott Wrothe sig. dv All though the mendicant orders Are nothynge lesse abhominable. 1574 T. Cartwright tr. W. Travers Full Declar. Eccl. Discipline 77 The priestes whose office was nothing lesse honorable then the Bishopes in this behalffe yea had a greater shew off maiesty and honor in certene pointes. 1608 R. Bernard Christian Advert. To Rdr. sig. A5^v There remaineth neuerthelesse an other mischiefe, nothing lesse dangerous; which is, Atheisticall securitie. 1688 J. Barnes Hist. Edward III iii. i. 502 It will be more profitable by far, and nothing less Honourable to Conquer them so cheaply, than to hazard so flourishing an Army. c. In the sense ‘nothing that is less’. (a) With than. Used for emphasis: nothing or no one other than, something or someone equal or amounting to. Compare no less n. and pron. 2a. [Compare Middle French, French rien moins (que) (14th cent.).] Π a1616 W. Shakespeare Henry VI, Pt. 1 (1623) ii. v. 100 But yet me thinkes, my Fathers execution Was nothing lesse then bloody Tyranny. View more context for this quotation 1652 T. Gataker Antinomianism 5 In those words of mine nothing les was intended, then this Autor would..enforce them to speak. 1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones V. xv. ii. 205 The Girl is, I think, intoxicated, and nothing less than Ruin will content her... I expect every Day to hear she is run away with him. 1836 C. Fox Jrnl. 23 Sept. (1972) 32 ‘A gentleman’ was announced, who proved to be nothing less than Professor Sedgwick! 1863 J. A. Froude Hist. Eng. (ed. 3) II. xi. 298 But Elizabeth meant nothing less than to recall Sidney. 1895 Bookman Oct. 22/2 His policy became nothing less than a series of gigantic blunders. 1952 William & Mary Q. 9 444 His choice of words is sometimes nothing less than astounding. 2013 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 23 May 6/4 The tragic turn of events on West 53rd Street is nothing less than impending cultural vandalism. (b) No other thing, only that same thing as the thing in question. Π 1650 J. Howell Addit. Lett. xv. 27 in Epistolæ Ho-elianæ (ed. 2) The Parlement persists in their first Propositions, and will go nothing less. 1711 J. Spinke Let. Matrimonial Case 11 I must have prov'd Rem in Re, nothing less being sufficient to prove a Woman a Whore. 1879 J. Lubbock Addresses, Polit. & Educ. iv. 87 Nothing less will suffice here if we are to maintain our position in the van of industrial nations. 1979 J. Lees-Milne Diary 12 Dec. in Deep Romantic Chasm (2003) 63 How I envy those friends who are unaffected by this disease (for it is nothing less). 2014 Yorks. Post 7 Nov. 12/6 The great and good of Yorkshire should..tell the Government that nothing less will do. P4. much less (also far less, still less): used to characterize a statement or suggestion as still more unacceptable or inapposite than one that has been already denied. ΘΠ the mind > language > statement > dissent or disagreement > [adverb] > statement or suggestion still more unacceptable much less1526 far less1593 lessa1637 still less1791 1526 W. Tyndale Prol. Epist. Rom. sig. bij^v He..concludeth that the Iewes can not be Abrahams heyres because of bloud and kynred only, and moche lesse by the workes of the lawe. 1593 J. Napier Plaine Discouery Reuelation St. Iohn To Rdr. sig. A6^v I purposed not to haue set out the same suddenly, and far lesse to haue written the same also in English. 1657 J. Sergeant Schism Dispach't 285 Whether the power given were lesse, equall, or greater then S. Peter's nothing is found there at all, much lesse doth the 17. Verse it self speak of power, still lesse doth it expressely belong to it. 1671 J. Milton Paradise Regain'd iii. 236 The world thou hast not seen, much less her glory. View more context for this quotation 1719 D. Defoe Farther Adventures Robinson Crusoe 332 It had no Power to help it self..much less help them. 1791 W. Cowper Let. 29 Mar. (1982) III. 491 I cannot even see Olney spire,..and still less the vicarage, without experiencing the force of those mementos. 1815 S. C. Thacher Apol. for Rational & Evangelical Christianity 24 There is nothing in the differences..which need to loosen, far less to rupture the bonds of christian charity or christian fellowship between us and our brethren. 1856 C. Dickens Little Dorrit (1857) i. xxiii. 200 You couldn't do it when your Uncle George was living; much less when he's dead. 1861 Sat. Rev. 21 Dec. 631/2 Still less can a country reporter..accurately report lectures on all subjects indiscriminately. He cannot report, because he does not understand. 1919 Jrnl. Royal Anthropol. Inst. 49 55 It was unsafe for an unarmed man, much less a woman, to walk from one village to another. 1960 A. MacLean Night without End viii. 127 They couldn't even have turned over a hot engine, far less one in which the crankcase, transmission, and differential were all but locked solid in lubricating oil. 1993 N.Y. Times Mag. 13 June 22/3 All the harder to speak of Anglicanism as the official—still less the established—religion of England. 2013 Time Out N.Y. 11 July 45/2 Filling in the gaps about the who, what and where, much less the why, of it all isn't on the menu. †P5. to go less: to be abated or diminished. Obsolete. Π 1621 E. Coffin tr. R. F. R. Bellarmino Art of dying Well i. ii. 15 This Charity increasing, the other disorderly appetite will go lesse and lesse [L. minuetur]. 1705 J. Collier Ess. Moral Subj.: Pt. III 141 Where the Crime is the same, why should the Disgrace go less? P6. less than no time: (originally humorous) an exceedingly short time.The more extensive expression used in quot. 1761 perhaps implies the prior existence of the phrase. ΘΚΠ the world > time > duration > shortness or brevity in time > [noun] > moment or instant hand-whileOE prinkOE start-while?c1225 twinkling1303 rese?c1335 prick1340 momenta1382 pointa1382 minutea1393 instant1398 braida1400 siquarea1400 twink14.. whip?c1450 movement1490 punct1513 pissing whilea1556 trice1579 turning of a hand1579 wink1585 twinklec1592 semiquaver1602 punto1616 punctilio of time1620 punctum1620 breathing1625 instance1631 tantillation1651 rapc1700 crack1725 turning of a straw1755 pig's whisper1780 jiffy1785 less than no time1788 jiff1797 blinka1813 gliffy1820 handclap1822 glimpsea1824 eyewink1836 thought1836 eye-blink1838 semibreve1845 pop1847 two shakes of a lamb's taila1855 pig's whistle1859 time point1867 New York minute1870 tick1879 mo?1896 second1897 styme1897 split-second1912 split minute1931 no-time1942 sec.1956 1761 L. Sterne Life Tristram Shandy III. xxxviii. 186 A tale out of Slawkenbergius to translate, and all this in five minutes less, than no time at all.] 1788 Minor (London ed.) I. ix. 56 I have digested plans which will wade them through the sciences in less than no time, as the saying goes. 1809 B. H. Malkin tr. A. R. Le Sage Adventures Gil Blas II. iv. vii. 159 Trust me for sinking, burning, and destroying him in less than no time. 1859 F. E. Paget Curate of Cumberworth 246 He came down, in less than no time, squash on his nose, and broke it. 1932 Irish Monthly Aug. 481 Urban..had no tact, and in less than no time had alienated every one of his supporters. 2013 Dorset Echo (Nexis) 23 Dec. But fear not. There are seasonal treats that can be whipped up in less than no time. P7. less is more: used to express the view that simplicity, brevity, or restraint is more effective than complexity and copiousness, esp. with regard to aesthetic impressions in art, architecture, etc. Also attributive or as adj.The phrase is often associated with the German Modernist architect L. Mies van der Rohe (see quot. 1947), rendering his use of the equivalent German phrase weniger ist mehr. Π 1855 R. Browning Andrea del Sarto in Men & Women II. 5 Well, less is more, Lucrezia! I am judged. 1947 P. C. Johnson Mies van der Rohe 49 As in architecture, he has always been guided by his personal motto, ‘less is more’. 1975 Yuma (Arizona) Daily Sun 29 Aug. 5/1 For persons holding high public office, living in style no longer is stylish... California Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. is the foremost exponent of the new, less-is-more political lifestyle. 1995 K. Laughlin Overcome Neck & Back Pain (1998) iii. 149 The old adage ‘less is more’ may be correct, as far as weight training is concerned, provided there is genuine maximum intensity in the effort. 2002 Times 11 Nov. (Game section) 5/3 So far, Sven has used the quasi Italian-Scandinavian accent to his benefit, taking the less is more approach when it comes to vocabulary. 2017 Irish Times (Nexis) 3 Jan. 11 Try mixing your foundation with some moisturiser to help it stop caking... Less is more. P8. less than ——: (followed by a qualitative adjective) not sufficiently ——, not at all ——. Π 1929 Outlook & Independent 14 Aug. 615/1 Anything less would be less than satisfactory. 1954 J. R. Powers & M. S. Miller Secrets of Charm 179 With a less than perfect figure, can you appear in a swim suit? 1967 T. Wilder Eighth Day ii. 252 He ventured to tell her that the food she served was less than appetizing. 1990 Today's Parent Feb. 37/3 A less than ideal way for an animal to start life in a new home. 2008 N.Y. Mag. 12 May 38/2 When he first saw the space, he was less than enthusiastic. Compounds † less age n. chiefly Scottish Obsolete the condition of being under legal age, minority (chiefly in to be of less age). [Perhaps after post-classical Latin aetas minor, minor aetas (from the early 13th cent. in British sources); compare also Middle French minorité and its etymon post-classical Latin minoritas , in the same sense (see minority n.).] ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > child > [noun] > childhood > minority nonage1400 less agec1436 minority1493 pupillarity1561 nonwit1571 pupilship1581 pupillage1590 pupil age1598 under-age1613 underagedness1648 infancy1658 leading-string1677 minorship1841 minorage1888 c1436 Domesday Ipswich (BL Add. 25011) in T. Twiss Black Bk. Admiralty (1873) II. 161 (MED) Ȝif ony of lesse age his lond or his free tenement..ȝeve, or in other maner aliene, or his right quytcleymyn, be he not barryd for to axyn a ȝeyn his right whanne that he comyth to ful xiiij ȝer of age, with oute havyng ony reward to ony specialtee that he hath maad with ynne age. 1503 Charter Edinb. Reg. House No. 662 in Dict. Older Sc. Tongue at Les age The saide Mongo..being of les age and vnder tutory. 1531 King Henry VIII in State Papers Henry VIII (1836) IV. 590 Laying apart thexcuses of mynorite and les age. a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 403 Money, cunȝeit in our Soveraneis less age. 1609 J. Skene tr. Regiam Majestatem ii. lxx. §2 Gif she being of les age, falles in the warde of her over-lord. 1733 J. Innes Idea Juris Scotici i. 36 The Minor is allowed four Years..for recalling what was done to his Prejudice during his less Age. less developed adj. designating a country where some aspect of national life is relatively undeveloped; spec. designating one in which economic growth, income per capita, the literacy level, etc., are low compared with some other group of countries; cf. developed adj. 2, developing adj., under-developed adj. b. ΘΚΠ society > inhabiting and dwelling > inhabited place > district in relation to human occupation > a land or country > [adjective] > types of land or country merryOE greatc1325 homeless1725 less developed1857 Bongo Bongo1932 1857 Times 28 Oct. 8/2 The claim that Prussia makes to superior education, more extended liberty, and a higher sense of order than the other less developed States of Germany can boast of. 1940 G. Crowther Outl. Money ii. 76 The more highly developed banking systems are more prone to suffer from such a ‘liquidity preference’ than the less developed countries. 1962 U.N. Econ. & Social Council Resol. XXXIV. cmxvii, in Unctad—Basic Documents (1966) i. 1 Both the developed and the less developed countries are to intensify their efforts in order to ensure a self-sustaining growth. 1992 Economist 29 Feb. 77/2 Portugal will be helped in its fiscal consolidation effort by the agreement reached at Maastricht to create an economic cohesion or catch-up fund to help the less developed member states prepare for EMU. 2009 Canberra Times (Nexis) 8 June a9 While significant falls have occurred in birth rates in most less developed countries, fertility still remains well above replacement level in many. less-than sign n. the symbol <, as used in mathematical contexts to denote that the quantity on the left of the sign is smaller than the quantity on the right; cf. greater-than sign n. at greater adj., adv., and n. Compounds 2.The signs < and > were invented by Thomas Harriot before 1621 (see Artis analytica praxis (1631) 10). ΚΠ 1885 J. Jackson Pract. Arithm. 40 (table) < read ‘is less than’, sign of inequality.] 1905 Brit. Med. Jrnl. 23 Sept. 694 (table) The ‘less than’ sign is used here because in A₄, A₃, and A₂ carcinoma of body has been included. 1961 Nature 24 June 1193/1 Where a fraction was shown to contain substantial impurity, the fact is indicated..by a question mark and a ‘less than’ sign. 2011 J. Szpirglas & D. Saint-Onge Something's Fishy ii. 11 He always drew his greater-than and less-than signs with shark teeth. † less world n. Obsolete (with the) (a) = microcosm n. (in various senses); (b) the philosopher's stone (as containing all the elements).Quot. OE shows use with Old English middangeard middenerd n. rendering post-classical Latin microscosmus (see microcosm n.). ΘΚΠ the world > people > person > [noun] > as pattern of the universe less worlda1387 microcosmosa1500 petty world1602 OE Brussels Gloss. in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 289 Microcosmus, læssa middaneard.] a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1865) I. 29 (MED) Þe secunde book auntreþ forto telle berynge and dedes wiþ descripcioun of the lasse world [L. minoris mundi]. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 552 Man es clepid þe lesse werld. c1450 (?c1408) J. Lydgate Reson & Sensuallyte (1901) l. 552 (MED) Al this worlde..Was maad..For profyt oonly of A man..For whiche these olde clerkes all The lesse worlde lyst to call. a1500 (?a1425) tr. Secreta Secret. (Lamb.) 88 It holdys yn him alle þe elymentz, and it ys callyd þe lesse world..þe Eye [= egg] of Philosophers. 1526 W. Bonde Pylgrimage of Perfection Pref. sig. Ai^v Lyke as the great worlde was made perfecte in .vii. dayes, so the lesse worlde, that is man is made..perfecte by grace in these .vii. spirituall dayes. 1570 J. Dee in H. Billingsley tr. Euclid Elements Geom. Math. Præf. sig. ciiij The description of him, who is the Lesse world: and, from the beginning, called Microcosmus (that is. The Lesse World.). 1642 H. More Ψυχωδια Platonica sig. F Als makes his near abode In the lesse world. 1679 L. Hutchinson Order & Disorder v. 68 The less world with the great proportion held: As winds the caverns, sighs the bosomes fill'd. 1732 W. Harper Antiquity, Innocence & Pleasure of Gardening 3 It was Man's Apostacy that disorder'd the Greater as well as less World. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022). lessv. Brit. /lɛs/, U.S. /lɛs/ Forms: early Middle English leasse, Middle English lessi, Middle English lisse, Middle English (1500s Scottish) les, Middle English–1500s lasse, Middle English–1600s lesse, 1500s–1600s 1900s– less, 1600s leassie (Scottish). Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: less adj. Etymology: < less adj. †1. intransitive. To become less, decrease; = lessen v. 1a. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > decrease in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (intransitive)] littleOE setc1000 wanzec1175 lessc1225 allayc1275 wane1297 slaken1303 disincreasec1374 slakec1380 decrease1382 debatea1400 unwaxa1400 wastea1400 adminishc1400 lessenc1400 imminish14.. aslakec1405 minish?a1425 assuagec1430 shrinkc1449 to let down1486 decay1489 diminish1520 fall1523 rebate1540 batea1542 to come down1548 abate1560 stoop1572 pine1580 slack1580 scanten1585 shrivel1588 decrew1596 remit1629 contract1648 subside1680 lower1697 relax1701 drop1730 to take off1776 to run down1792 reduce1798 recede1810 to run off1816 to go down1823 attenuatea1834 ease1876 downscale1945 c1225 (?c1200) St. Katherine (Royal) (1981) l. 788 Þet neauer ne linneð nowðer ne lesseð, ah leasteð aa mare. ?c1335 in W. Heuser Kildare-Gedichte (1904) 171 I lench, i len, on lyme i lasse. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) iv. l. 782 (MED) Hire love encresceth, and his lasseth. c1425 J. Lydgate Troyyes Bk. (Augustus A.iv) iv. l. 1844 (MED) Euery day þe noumbre lasseth fast Of worþi knyȝtes, ded with-oute rouþe. ?a1475 Ludus Coventriae (1922) 210 My grett desesse I hope xal lesse. 1502 tr. Ordynarye of Crysten Men (de Worde) v. ii. sig. mm.v ^v That [the fire] of hell is eternall, and neuer lesseth. 1523 Ld. Berners tr. J. Froissart Cronycles I. ccxlix. 369 The englishmen were sore displeased, for their strength dayly lassed. 1602 T. Fitzherbert Apol. 36 The samin lessed when seuen of Sauls offspring were deliuered to the Gabaonits. 2. a. transitive. To make less, diminish; = lessen v. 2a. Occasionally with of: to diminish by (a certain amount). Cf. lessing n. Now colloquial and regional.In quot. c1225 to mitigate (a sin). ΘΚΠ the world > relative properties > quantity > decrease or reduction in quantity, amount, or degree > reduce in quantity, amount, or degree [verb (transitive)] littleeOE anitherOE wanzelOE lessc1225 slakea1300 littenc1300 aslakec1314 adminisha1325 allayc1330 settle1338 low1340 minisha1382 reprovea1382 abatea1398 rebatea1398 subtlea1398 alaskia1400 forlyten?a1400 imminish14.. lessenc1410 diminish1417 repress?a1425 assuagec1430 scarcec1440 small1440 underslakec1440 alessa1450 debate?c1450 batec1460 decreasec1470 appetisse1474 alow1494 mince1499 perswage?1504 remita1513 inless?1521 attenuate1530 weaken1530 defray1532 mitigate1532 minorate1534 narrow?1548 diminuec1550 extenuate1555 amain1578 exolve1578 base1581 dejecta1586 amoinder1588 faint1598 qualify1604 contract1605 to pull down1607 shrivel1609 to take down1610 disaugment1611 impoverish1611 shrink1628 decoct1629 persway1631 unflame1635 straiten1645 depress1647 reduce1649 detract1654 minuate1657 alloy1661 lower?1662 sinka1684 retreat1690 nip1785 to drive down1840 minify1866 to knock down1867 to damp down1869 scale1887 mute1891 clip1938 to roll back1942 to cut back1943 downscale1945 downrate1958 slim1963 downshift1972 c1225 (?c1200) St. Juliana (Royal) 557 Bireowseð ower sunnen & lasseð wið soð schrift & wið dedbote. c1350 (a1333) William of Shoreham Poems (1902) 124 Hyre poer nys nouȝt y-lessed. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Prov. xiii. 11 Substaunce hastid shal be lassid. a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) xi. 1 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 144 Lessed ere sothenes fra mennes sones. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cvii. 164 They had ben mynnysshed moche and lassed in the bataylle. a1500 (?c1450) Merlin xxii. 401 Holy cherche was lessed full sore of xx^ti thousande peple that ther was slain. a1513 W. Dunbar Poems (1998) I. 223 It wald me sumthing satisfie And les of my malancolie. a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) i. xix. sig. E.viii^v We..shal..finde our hartes lighted, and therby the griefe of our tribulacion lessed. 1562 W. Turner 2nd Pt. Herball f. 4 Polypody drieth and lesseth or thinneth the body. 1633 P. Fletcher Poeticall Misc. 77 in Purple Island By silence thou mayst adde, but never lesse it. 1678 J. P. tr. J. Johnstone Descr. Nature Four-footed Beasts ii. ii. 27/2 About the calves-gall, understand that with vineger warmed, it takes away Nits, it lesses the chops of the eyes. 1937 V. McNabb God's Way of Mercy xvii. 147 The little lesses things a great Hope makes futile. 1996 R. Allsopp Dict. Caribbean Eng. Usage 344/1 I say to less the noise in there, you-all hear me? 2003 C. Lewis Dict. Playground Slang 136 ‘Less it will yer!’ (i.e. Please stop performing that action. It is annoying me immensely). †b. transitive. In passive. To be deprived of; to cause to have less of (a quality). Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > possession > loss > taking away > take away [verb (transitive)] > deprive (of) benimc890 to do of ——eOE bedealc1000 disturbc1230 bereavec1275 reave?a1300 acquitc1300 benemec1300 deprivec1330 privea1382 subvertc1384 oppressc1395 abridgea1400 to bate of, from1399 lessa1400 nakena1400 dischargea1425 privatec1425 to bring outa1450 abatec1450 sever?1507 spulyie?1507 denude1513 disable1529 distrain1530 destituec1540 destitutec1540 defalk1541 to turn out of ——1545 discomfit1548 wipe1549 nude1551 disannul?a1556 bereft1557 diminish1559 benoom1563 joint1573 uncase1583 rid1585 disarm1590 visitc1592 ease1600 dispatch1604 unfurnisha1616 rig1629 retrench1640 unbecomea1641 disentail1641 cashier1690 twin1722 mulct1748 fordo1764 to do out of ——1796 to cut out1815 bate1823 deprivate1832 devoid1878 a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) xxxiii. 10 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 164 Riche men, of aght þat ware, Þai neded, and hungred sare; And sekand lauerd after fode Noght be þai lessed of alle gode. 1481 W. Caxton tr. Siege & Conqueste Jerusalem (1893) cxcix. 291 But me thynketh that therfore he ought not to be lassed ne dymynued of his honoure. ?1520 A. Barclay tr. Sallust Cron. Warre agaynst Iugurth xiii. f. 20 But for all this suffrance of Adherball: y^e mynde of Iugurth was nat more pacified: nor lessed of his cruelte. 1657 J. Davies tr. H. D'Urfé Astrea I. 32 You Madam, from amongst your faithfull servants, are lessed of one, who perhaps was not the least affectionate nor the most unprofitable in your service. †3. transitive. To lower in position or station; to degrade, demean; = lessen v. 4. Obsolete. ΘΚΠ the mind > emotion > humility > make humble [verb (transitive)] edmodienc1175 lowc1175 meekc1175 lessa1382 abatec1390 abasea1393 belowc1400 meekenc1400 disadvance?c1425 simplec1450 lowlyc1485 humilea1492 chasten1526 to pare the nails ofa1549 lessen1579 vail1582 to take (something) a hole lower1591 destate1615 humblea1616 thorough-humblea1617 humiliate1656 level1712 unnichea1751 to level up, down1791 unpedestal1821 to take the starch out of1830 a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Ecclus. xix. 5 Who hateth correccioun, shal be lassid in lif [L. comminuetur vita]. a1393 J. Gower Confessio Amantis (Fairf.) Prol. l. 56 (MED) The world..is now lassed In worse plit than it was tho. c1480 (a1400) St. John Baptist 233 in W. M. Metcalfe Legends Saints Sc. Dial. (1896) II. 229 In-to man lessit are we, to god þat we ma grewande be. 1484 W. Caxton tr. G. de la Tour-Landry Bk. Knight of Tower (1971) cxxvi. 169 Yf she tooke hym, her parentes and Frendes shold hold her lassed and hyndered. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) viii. 6 (MED) Thou lessid hym a litel fra aungels. 1528 R. Copland tr. Secrete of Secretes of Arystotle sig. C.i And his dedes shalbe lessed, & the honoure of the crowne of his realme shall fayle. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2022). lessconj. Brit. /lɛs/, U.S. /lɛs/ Forms: Middle English lasse, Middle English leisse, Middle English lese, Middle English (1500s–1600s Scottish) les, Middle English 1600s lesse, 1500s leas (Scottish), 1600s 'lesse, 1600s leasse, 1600s– 'less, 1600s– less. Origin: Formed within English, by conversion Etymon: less adv. Etymology: Apparently < less adv. With sense 1 compare less adj. 3; in later use in this sense probably also partly shortened < unless adv., conj., prep., and n. In sense 2 perhaps reflecting an earlier conjunctive phrase such as Old English þȳ lǣs þæt , þȳ lǣs þonne , formed similarly to þȳ lǣs þe (see lest conj.); compare earlier lest conj.Forms with initial apostrophe (compare 'lesse and 'less) probably originate with sense 1 (when interpreted as a shortening), but are also sometimes used in sense 2. In early use forming a compound conjunction with than, that, or (Scottish) nor. 1. Unless. Also occasionally: except (for). Now chiefly U.S. regional and nonstandard and Caribbean.In later use (frequently written 'less) representing or regarded as a shortened form of unless. ΚΠ c1390 in J. Slater Early Scots Texts (Ph.D. thesis, Univ. of Edinb.) (1952) No. 21 We can nocht wytt qwat he suld do lesse than mak hym obedienc. a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 116 (MED) I wil not letyn þe gon hens for thyng þat þow canst seyn, les þan þu wil gon to my Lord of Lynkoln for a lettyr. 1488 (c1478) Hary Actis & Deidis Schir William Wallace (Adv.) (1968–9) iii. l. 304 That thai sall do him nocht..les it be on thaim socht. a1500 ( J. Yonge tr. Secreta Secret. (Rawl.) (1898) 137 Lasse than a kynge..dred god..he shall..fall..in a shorte tyme. 1513 G. Douglas in tr. Virgil Æneid i. Prol. 233 Les than wyse autouris lene [i.e. lie]. 1558 Q. Kennedy Compendius Tractiue viii. sig. Div^v Les nor this medicyne be applyit dewlie, it is not proffitable. 1567 R. Sempill Deeclaratioun Lordis Iust Quarrell (single sheet) Les schamefullie thair office thay abuse. 1616 B. Jonson Poëtaster (rev. ed.) iii. v, in Wks. I. 311 'Lesse, learn'd Trebativs censure disagree. 1640 H. Glapthorne Wit in Constable iii. sig. Eiv For Musicke, lesse the Virginalls, I never car'd for any. 1645 J. Milton Il Penseroso in Poems 39 And the mute Silence hist along, 'Less Philomel will daign a Song. 1712 E. Ward Poet. Entertainer iii. 31 For the future, 'less you find a Riot Within her House, pray let her live in quiet. 1822 W. Scott Fortunes of Nigel II. ii. 28 The deep pool hath ooze and sludge enough To mar your fishing—'less you are more careful. a1835 J. Grant Tales of Glens (1836) 191 Speerits can ha'e naething ado wi' siller, ye'd think, 'less it waur for a sham. 1892 R. Kipling Many Inventions (1893) 41 'Less you want your toes trod off, you'd better get back. 1900 ‘J. Flynt’ & ‘F. Walton’ Powers that Prey 62 If any of 'em knows us they'll beef dead sure, 'less we square 'em. 1929 W. Faulkner Sound & Fury 22 They wont know you got wet... Less me and Jason tells. 1973 Black World Apr. 61 Don't no broad be puttin' me down, less I go upside her head. 1975 T. Callender It so Happen 11 Out o' the way, 'less you want a maulsprigging too. 2006 G. Malkani Londonstani iii. 32 You can't sleep less you stop tryin to. †2. Lest; that..not; (after verbs of fearing) that, in case. Obsolete (chiefly Scottish in later use). less when: lest at any time. ΘΚΠ the mind > attention and judgement > testing > attestation, witness, evidence > qualification > on condition that [conjunction] > except, unless warne1340 savea1393 lessa1400 unless1473 except that if1513 except1526 excepta1616 'cept1851 a1400 Psalter (Vesp.) ii. 12 in C. Horstmann Yorkshire Writers (1896) II. 132 Gripes lare, leswhen [L. nequando] lauerd wrethide be. c1425 Bk. Found. St. Bartholomew's (1923) 13 (MED) Yn the sacrifice of God the moweth and bylle of the Turtyll was returnyd to his Armepittes, and reclyned vnto the wyngys, leisse that he, prechynge to othir, schulde be fownde reprouable yn hym-self. a1438 Bk. Margery Kempe (1940) i. 86 (MED) And, ȝyf sche sey a semly man, sche had gret peyn to lokyn on hym les þan sche myth a seyn hym þat was boþe God & man. c1440 (?a1400) Sir Perceval (1930) l. 925 (MED) He was ferd lesse my sonnes sold hym slo, When þay ware eldare and moo. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) cxxxix. §9. 468 Forsake me noght, leswhen [L. ne forte] thai be heghid. a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iii. vi. 100 Les than amyd the godly fyris, per cace, Thi ennemeis mycht occur and knaw thi face. a1522 G. Douglas tr. Virgil Æneid (1957) iv. iii. 43 I affeir me les the fatis onstable..consent nocht, ne aggre, That [etc.]. a1612 W. Fowler Trivmphs Petrarke in Wks. (1914) I. 91 It is my part for to foirsee these ewillis before they grow, less commoun bruit vnto owr shame our Infamie furth blow. 1764 Answer to Budget 12 Our Author..doubtless knew this; but he would not confess it, less he should thereby render the greatest Part of his Pamphlet of no Effect. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022). > see also also refers to : -lesssuffix < adj.adv.pron.n.prep.eOEv.c1225conj.c1390 see also
随便看	embag embail embailing embain embait embalance embale embaled embales embaling emball emballage emballing embalm embalmed embalment embalmer embalmers embalming embalmings embalmment embalmments embalms embamma embandown

lessadj.adv.pron.n.prep.

Phrases

Compounds

lessv.

lessconj.

> see also