lake
noun
a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.
lake
1 American
[layk]
/ leɪk /
noun
-
a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.
-
any similar body or pool of other liquid, as oil.
idioms
lake
2
American
[layk]
/ leɪk /
noun
-
any of various pigments prepared from animal, vegetable, or coal-tar coloring matters by chemical or other union with metallic compounds.
-
a red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal by combination with a metallic compound.
Lake
3
American
[layk]
/ leɪk /
noun
lake
1
British
/ leɪk /
noun
-
an expanse of water entirely surrounded by land and unconnected to the sea except by rivers or streams
-
anything resembling this
-
a surplus of a liquid commodity
a wine lake
lake
2
British
/ leɪk /
noun
-
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
-
a red dye obtained by combining a metallic compound with cochineal
lake
Scientific
/ lāk /
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; see leach 1)
Origin of lake2
First recorded in 1610–20; variant of lac 1
Explanation
A lake is a large body of water that is surrounded by land. The lake's water can be fresh (like Lake Michigan) or, more rarely, salty (like the Great Salt Lake). A lake is generally accepted as being bigger than a "pond." Lake is also a type of pigment or dye that is made when a dye that can dissolve is mixed with a metallic salt or other binder that is incapable of being dissolved, rendering an insoluble pigment. Indigo lake, for example, is a blue pigment that was originally made from the woad plant but later from the indigo plant. Carmine or crimson lake, on the other hand, is made from crushed cochineal insects and is a red pigment.
Vocabulary lists containing lake
Physical Geography - Introductory
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Red
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Physical Geography - Middle School
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
One of them, Steve Edwards, a local safari camp manager, found new, productive sites on the shore of Lake Kariba, the artificial lake which forms most of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
Hardened globs of crude cling to fishing nets pulled from the lake, and natural gas gurgles up from busted underwater pipelines.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
They grow salad onions, broccoli and other vegetables on fields nearby, all irrigated by the lake water.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Born Jan. 2, 1940, James Orsen Bakker was raised in Muskegon, a commercial ship port in Michigan just across the lake from Milwaukee.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 6, 2026
The junction of stream and lake, where he and Abby played sink-the-ships, was underwater.
From "Earthquake Terror" by Peg Kehret
SEQUIM, WASH.—The dashboard on my Kia Niro rental flashed a warning about 40 miles from Lake Crescent.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
One of them, Steve Edwards, a local safari camp manager, found new, productive sites on the shore of Lake Kariba, the artificial lake which forms most of the border between Zimbabwe and Zambia.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 13, 2026
A question has bedeviled a wealthy Lake Tahoe enclave for years: Who is poisoning the towering trees that stand sentry on the lake’s North Shore?
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
Paxton has also gone to the Salt Lake City area 19 times, twice for listed business purposes.
From Salon ● Oct. 11, 2026
A landslide would dam Spirit Lake and hold water in, not create a surge out.
From "Mountain of Fire" by Rebecca E. F. Barone
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
