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Origin and history of lax

lax(adj.)

c. 1400, "loose" (in reference to bowels), from Latin laxus "wide, spacious, roomy," figuratively "loose, free, wide" (also used of indulgent rule and low prices). This is reconstructed to be from PIE *lag-so-, suffixed form of root *sleg- "be slack, be languid."

In English, of rules, discipline, etc., from mid-15c. Related: Laxly; laxness. A transposed Vulgar Latin form yielded Old French lasche, French lâche. The laxists, though they formed no avowed school, were nonetheless condemned by Innocent XI in 1679.

lax(n.1)

"salmon," from Old English leax (see lox). Cognate with Middle Dutch lacks, German Lachs, Danish laks, etc.; according to OED (1989) the English word was obsolete except in the north and Scotland from 17c., later reintroduced in reference to Scottish or Norwegian salmon.

lax(n.2)

1951 as an abbreviation of lacrosse.

also from 1951

Entries linking to lax

lacrosse(n.)

team ball-game played with netted sticks, 1850, American English, from Canadian French jeu de la crosse (18c.), literally "game of the hooked sticks," from crosse "hooked stick," such as that used in the game to throw the ball. This French word is, perhaps via a Gallo-Romance *croccia, from Proto-Germanic *kruk- (see crook (n.)).

Originally a North American Indian game; the native name is represented by the Ojibwa (Algonquian) verb baaga'adowe "to play lacrosse." Modern form and rules of the game were laid down 1860 in Canada.

lox(n.)

1934, American English, from Yiddish laks, from Middle High German lahs "salmon," from Proto-Germanic *lakhs-, from the common IE root for the fish, *laks- (source also of Lithuanian lašiša, Russian losos, Polish łosoś "salmon").

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c. 1300, delaien, "to put off, postpone;" late 14c., "to put off or hinder for a time," from Old French delaiier, from de- "away, from" (see de-) + laier "leave, let." This is perhaps a variant of Old French laissier, from Latin laxare "slacken, undo" (see lax). But Watkins has i
lackadaisical
"sentimentally woebegone" [Century Dictionary], 1768, lack-adaysical (Sterne), from interjection lackadaisy "alas, alack" (1748), a ludicrous alteration of lack-a-day (1690s), an exclamation of sorrow or regret, from alack the day (1590s). Hence, "given to crying 'lack-a-day,' va
laissez-faire
also laissez faire, 1822, French, literally "let (people) do (as they think best)," from laissez, second person plural imperative of laisser "to let, to leave" (10c., from Latin laxare, from laxus "loose;" see lax) + faire "to do" (from Latin facere "to make, to do" (from PIE roo
laches
of zeal" (late 14c.), from Anglo-French laches, Old French lachesse "lawlessness, remissness," from Old French lasche "lax...
lush
mid-15c., "lax, flaccid, soft, tender" (obsolete or dialectal), from Old French lasche "soft, loose, slack, negligent, cowardly...
fluent
freely" (of water), also, of speakers, "able and nimble in the use of words," from Latin fluentem (nominative fluens) "lax...
slake
English sleacian, slacian "become slack or remiss; relax an effort" (intransitive); "delay, retard" (transitive), from slæc "lax...
slack
Middle English slak, of persons, "indolent, lazy;" also (from c. 1300), of things or parts, "loose, not tight or taut;" from Old English slæc "remiss, lax, characterized by lack of energy, sluggish, indolent, languid; slow in movement, gentle, easy," from Proto-Germanic *slakas (
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bizarre
"fantastical, odd, grotesque," 1640s, from French bizarre "odd, fantastic" (16c.), from Italian bizarro "irascible, tending to quick flashes of anger" (13c.), from bizza "fit of anger, quick flash of anger" (13c.). The sense in Italian evolved to "unpredictable, eccentric," then

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