lask

See also: Lask, läsk, läsk', łask, Łask, and lašk

English

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /lɑːsk/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /læsk/
• Rhymes: -æsk, -ɑːsk

Etymology 1

From Middle English lasken (“to diminish, weaken (the blood or other body fluids, body tissues, etc.); to thin (the blood through bloodletting); to alleviate (pain, sickness); to grow weak; to shorten (one’s life)”) [and other forms], from Old Northern French *lasquer, Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”) (modern French lâcher (“to let go of, release; to loosen”)), from Vulgar Latin *lascāre, *lassicāre, from Latin *laxicāre, the frequentative of Latin laxāre, the present active infinitive of laxō (“to relax, weaken; to release, undo; to make wide, open”), from laxus (“free, loose, slack; roomy, spacious, wide”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“faint; weak”).

Verb

lask (third-person singular simple present lasks, present participle lasking, simple past and past participle lasked)

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To have loose bowels; to suffer from diarrhoea.

Alternative forms

• laske

Etymology 2

From Middle English laske (“lax, weak; of the bowels: loose”), from Old Northern French *lasque, Old French laske, lasche (“not taut or tight, limp”) (modern French lâche (“loose, slack”)), from Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”): see further at etymology 1.

Adjective

lask (comparative more lask, superlative most lask)

1. (obsolete) Lax, weak; specifically of the bowels: affected by diarrhoea; loose.

Etymology 3

From the adjective: see etymology 2.

Noun

lask (countable and uncountable, plural lasks)

1. (uncountable, chiefly veterinary medicine) Originally of both persons and animals, now only of animals: looseness of the bowels; diarrhoea; (countable) a bout of this ailment.
   • 1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Panick”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 79:

     Pannick ſtoppeth the laske as Millet doth, being boiled (as Plinie reporteth) in Goates milk and drunke twiſe in a day.

   • 1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Shame and Disgrace, Causes”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Printed by John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 2, member 3, subsection 6, page 88:

     A graue & learned Miniſter, and an ordinary Preacher at Alcmar in Holland, was one day (as hee was walking in the fields for his recreation) ſuddenly taken with a laske or looſeneſſe, and therevpon compelled to retire to the next ditch; but being ſurpriſed at vnawares, by ſome Gentlewomen of his Pariſh wandering that way; was ſo abaſhed, that hee did neuer after ſhew his head in publike, or come into the Pulpit, but pined away with melancholy: […]

   • 1652, Nich[olas] Culpeper, “Hemp”, in The English Physitian: Or An Astrologo-physical Discourse of the Vulgar Herbs of This Nation. […], London: […] Peter Cole, […], →OCLC, page 64, column 1:

     The Emulſion or Decoction of the Seed ſtaieth Lasks and continual Fluxes, eaſeth the Chollick, and allayeth the troubleſom Humors in the Bowels, […]

Alternative forms

• laske

Further reading

• diarrhea on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

Anagrams

• Salk, alks

Estonian

Etymology

Deverbal from laskma.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑsk/, [ˈlɑsk]
• Rhymes: -ɑsk
• Hyphenation: lask

Noun

lask (genitive lasu, partitive lasku)

1. shot, gunshot

Declension

Declension of lask (ÕS type 22e/riik, k-ø gradation)
		singular	plural
nominative		lask	lasud
accusative	nom.
	gen.	lasu
genitive			laskude
partitive		lasku	laske laskusid
illative		lasku lasusse	laskudesse lasesse
inessive		lasus	laskudes lases
elative		lasust	laskudest lasest
allative		lasule	laskudele lasele
adessive		lasul	laskudel lasel
ablative		lasult	laskudelt laselt
translative		lasuks	laskudeks laseks
terminative		lasuni	laskudeni
essive		lasuna	laskudena
abessive		lasuta	laskudeta
comitative		lasuga	laskudega

Compounds

• halastuslask
• hoiatuslask
• kahurilask
• kuklalask
• paarislask
• proovilask
• püstolilask
• revolvrilask
• rikošettlask
• signaallask
• suurtükilask
• võistluslask
• üksiklask

 

References

• lask in Sõnaveeb (Eesti Keele Instituut)
• “lask”, in [EKSS] Eesti keele seletav sõnaraamat [Descriptive Dictionary of the Estonian Language] (in Estonian) (online version), Tallinn: Eesti Keele Sihtasutus (Estonian Language Foundation), 2009

Livonian

Alternative forms

• (Courland) laskõ

Etymology

From Proto-Finnic *laskëdak.

Verb

lask

1. let