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definitions

lag line

noun
  1. See under lag1(def 6).

lag

1
[lag]
verb (used without object), lagged, lag·ging.
  1. to fail to maintain a desired pace or to keep up; fall or stay behind: After five minutes of hard running, some of them began to lag.
  2. to move or develop slowly, as toward a goal or objective, or in relation to an associated factor (often followed by behind): to lag behind in production.
  3. to delay or fail in reaching full development: The factory lags regularly in making its quota.
  4. to hang back; linger; delay: The old friends lagged because they wanted to talk some more.
  5. to decrease, wane, or flag gradually, as in intensity: Interest lagged as the meeting went on.
  6. Marbles. to throw one's shooting marble toward a line (lag line) on the ground in order to decide on the order of play.
  7. Billiards, Pool. string(def 17b).
verb (used with object), lagged, lag·ging.
  1. to fail to keep up with: The industry still lags the national economy.
  2. Obsolete. to cause to lag.
noun
  1. a lagging or falling behind; retardation.
  2. a person who lags behind, is the last to arrive, etc.
  3. an interval or lapse of time: There was a developmental lag in the diffusion of ideas.
  4. Mechanics. the amount of retardation of some motion.
  5. Electricity. the retardation of one alternating quantity, as current, with respect to another related alternating quantity, as voltage, often expressed in degrees.
  6. Marbles, Billiards. the act of lagging.

Origin of lag

1
1505–15; < Scandinavian: compare Norwegian lagga to go slowly

Synonyms for lag

1. loiter, linger. 10. slowing, slowdown.

Antonyms for lag

1. hasten.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
British Dictionary definitions for lag line

lag

1
verb lags, lagging or lagged (intr)
  1. (often foll by behind) to hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc
  2. to fall away in strength or intensity
  3. to determine an order of play in certain games, as by rolling marbles towards a line or, in billiards, hitting cue balls up the table against the top cushion in an attempt to bring them back close to the headrail
noun
  1. the act or state of slowing down or falling behind
  2. the interval of time between two events, esp between an action and its effect
  3. an act of lagging in a game, such as billiards

Word Origin for lag

C16: of obscure origin

lag

2
noun
  1. a convict or ex-convict (esp in the phrase old lag)
  2. a term of imprisonment
verb lags, lagging or lagged
  1. (tr) to arrest or put in prison

Word Origin for lag

C19: of unknown origin

lag

3
verb lags, lagging or lagged
  1. (tr) to cover (a pipe, cylinder, etc) with lagging to prevent loss of heat
noun
  1. the insulating casing of a steam cylinder, boiler, etc; lagging
  2. a stave or lath

Word Origin for lag

C17: of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish lagg stave
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for lag line

lag

v.

"fail to keep pace," 1520s, earlier as a noun meaning "last person" (1510s), later also as an adjective (1550s; e.g. lag-mon "last man"), all of uncertain relationship, possibly from a Scandinavian source (cf. Norwegian lagga "go slowly"), or some dialectal version of last, lack, or delay. Related: Lag; lagging. The noun meaning "retardation" is from 1855. First record of lag time is from 1951.

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper