lake

¹ American  

[leyk] / leɪk /

noun

1. a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.

2. any similar body or pool of other liquid, as oil.

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idioms

1. (go) jump in the lake, (used as an exclamation of dismissal or impatience.)

lake ² American  

[leyk] / leɪk /

noun

1. any of various pigments prepared from animal, vegetable, or coal-tar coloring matters by chemical or other union with metallic compounds.

2. a red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal by combination with a metallic compound.

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Lake ³ American  

[leyk] / leɪk /

noun

1. Simon, 1866–1945, U.S. engineer and naval architect.

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lake ¹ British  

/ leɪk /

noun

1. an expanse of water entirely surrounded by land and unconnected to the sea except by rivers or streams

2. anything resembling this

3. a surplus of a liquid commodity

   a wine lake

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lake ² British  

/ leɪk /

noun

1. a bright pigment used in textile dyeing and printing inks, produced by the combination of an organic colouring matter with an inorganic compound, usually a metallic salt, oxide, or hydroxide See also mordant

2. a red dye obtained by combining a metallic compound with cochineal

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lake Scientific  

/ lāk /

1. A large inland body of standing fresh or salt water. Lakes generally form in depressions, such as those created by glacial or volcanic action; they may also form when a section of a river becomes dammed or when a channel is isolated by a change in a river's course.

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Etymology

Origin of lake¹

before 1000; Middle English lak ( e ), lac ( e ), apparently a conflation of Old French lac, its source, Latin lacus (compare Greek lákkos, Old Irish loch, Old English, Old Saxon lagu sea, water) and Old English lacu stream, water course (compare leccan to moisten, modern dial. lake stream, channel; leach ¹ )

Origin of lake¹

First recorded in 1610–20; variant of lac ¹

Example Sentences

Its natural diversity includes misty rainforests, great lakes and snow-capped mountains.

From Barron's

I squeezed one eye shut and pointed it off toward a cluster of trees and the lake beyond.

From Literature

This includes rivers and lakes, snow and ice, moisture in the soil, and groundwater below the surface.

From Science Daily

The video also whirls through black-and-white landscapes of created objects—paper trees, a cardboard strip mine, a mirror lake.

From The Wall Street Journal

Disasters like rockfalls, landslides, glacial lakes bursting out and devastating debris flows are already becoming more common.

From BBC

Related Words

• basin
• lagoon
• pond
• pool
• reservoir