Definitions for: Lag


[n] the act of slowing down or falling behind
[n] one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket
[n] the time between one event, process, or period and another
[v] cover with lagging to prevent heat loss; "lag pipes"
[v] throw or pitch at a mark, as with coins
[v] hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.
[v] lock up or confine, in or as in a jail; "The suspects were imprisoned without trial"; "the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life"



Webster (1913) Definition: Lag, a. [Of Celtic origin: cf. Gael. & Ir. lagweak,
feeble, faint, W. llag, llac, slack, loose, remiss, sluggish;
prob. akin to E. lax, languid.]
1. Coming tardily after or behind; slow; tardy. [Obs.]

Came too lag to see him buried. --Shak.

2. Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag
end. ``The lag end of my life.'' --Shak.



3. Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior. [Obs.] ``Lag
souls.'' --Dryden.


Lag, n.
1. One who lags; that which comes in last. [Obs.] ``The lag
of all the flock.'' --Pope.

2. The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.

The common lag of people. --Shak.

3. The amount of retardation of anything, as of a valve in a
steam engine, in opening or closing.

4. A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (Mach.), one of
the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a
cylindrical object, as a boiler, or the cylinder of a
carding machine or a steam engine.

5. (Zo["o]l.) See Graylag.

Lag of the tide, the interval by which the time of high
water falls behind the mean time, in the first and third
quarters of the moon; -- opposed to priming of the tide,
or the acceleration of the time of high water, in the
second and fourth quarters; depending on the relative
positions of the sun and moon.

Lag screw, an iron bolt with a square head, a sharp-edged
thread, and a sharp point, adapted for screwing into wood;
a screw for fastening lags.


Lag, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lagged; p. pr. & vb. n.
Lagging.]
To walk or more slowly; to stay or fall behind; to linger or
loiter. ``I shall not lag behind.'' --Milton.

Syn: To loiter; linger; saunter; delay; be tardy.


Lag, v. t.
1. To cause to lag; to slacken. [Obs.] ``To lag his flight.''
--Heywood.

2. (Mach.) To cover, as the cylinder of a steam engine, with
lags. See Lag, n., 4.


Lag, n.
One transported for a crime. [Slang, Eng.]


Lag, v. t.
To transport for crime. [Slang, Eng.]

She lags us if we poach. --De Quincey.


Lag, n.
The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with
respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the
lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force
(hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating
circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which
produced it.

Synonyms: dawdle, fall back, fall behind, gaol, immure, imprison, incarcerate, interim, jail, jug, put away, put behind bars, remand, retardation, slowdown, stave

See Also: barrel, cask, confine, cover, delay, detain, drag, drop behind, flip, follow, get behind, hang back, holdup, interregnum, interval, pitch, sky, slat, spline, time interval, toss, trail

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