lash
/læʃ/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.38 in modern English
7
Scrabble Score
4
Letters
1
Syllables
4
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A stroke with a whip, or anything pliant and tough, often given as a punishment.
noun
In carpet weaving, a group of strings for lifting simultaneously certain yarns, to form the figure.
noun
Flowering plants of genus Blepharis.
Example Sentences
- "I observed that your whip wanted a lash to it."
- "The culprit received thirty-nine lashes."
- "The moral is a lash at the vanity of arrogating that to ourselves which succeeds well."
- "But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections."
- "I'll have a lash."
- "Much-loved characters living on after their author’s death is not so unusual these days. Every second bloke in possession of a keyboard seems to have had a lash at a James Bond thriller, including Kingsley Amis, John Gardner, Raymond Benson, Jeffery Deaver, William Boyd, Anthony Horowitz, Christopher Wood and Sebastian Faulks."
Etymology
From Middle English lashe, lasshe, lasche (“a stroke; the flexible end of a whip”), from Proto-Germanic *laskô (“flap of fabric, strap”). Cognate with Dutch lasch, las (“a piece; seal; joint; notch; seam”), German Low German Laske, Lask (“a flap; dag; strap”), German Lasche (“a flap; joint; strap; tongue; scarf”), Swedish lask (“scarf”), Icelandic laski (“the bottom part of a glove”).
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /læʃ/
- British English: /læʃ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
lashes (plural)
lashes (present, singular)
lashing (participle, present)
lashed (participle, past)
lashed (past)
more lash (comparative)
most lash (superlative)