Jump to:

• lisp
  lisp

  noun
• LISP
  LISP

  noun

  a high-level programming language that processes data in the form of lists: widely used in artificial intelligence applications.

lisp

¹ American  

[lisp] / lɪsp /

noun

1. Phonetics.

   1. the systematic articulation of s and z in a forward, dental position, like th- sounds, as a manifestation of a speech disorder or a stylistic affectation.

   2. any unconventional articulation of the sibilants, as the pronunciation of s and z with the tongue between the teeth lingual protrusion lisp, close to or touching the upper front teeth dental lisp, or raised so that the breath is emitted laterally lateral lisp.

2. the act, habit, or sound of lisping.

---

verb (used with or without object)

1. to pronounce or speak with a lisp.

2. to speak imperfectly, especially in a childish manner.

LISP ² American  

[lisp] / lɪsp /

noun

Computers.

1. a high-level programming language that processes data in the form of lists: widely used in artificial intelligence applications.

---

lisp ¹ British  

/ lɪsp /

noun

1. the articulation of s and z like or nearly like the th sounds in English thin and then respectively

2. the habit or speech defect of pronouncing s and z in this manner

3. the sound of a lisp in pronunciation

---

verb

1. to use a lisp in the pronunciation of (speech)

2. to speak or pronounce imperfectly or haltingly

LISP ² British  

/ lɪsp /

noun

1. a high-level computer-programming language suitable for work in artificial intelligence

---

Other Word Forms

• lisper
  noun
• lisping
  adjective
• lispingly
  adverb
• unlisping
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of lisp¹

First recorded before 1100; Middle English wlispen, lipsen, Old English āwlyspian; akin to Dutch lisp(el)en, German lispeln, Norwegian leipsa

Origin of LISP²

lis(t) p(rocessing)

Explanation

A lisp is a manner of speaking so that s and other similar consonants are blurred into more of a th- sound. Most little kids have a bit of a lisp when they first start speaking. If you speak with a lisp, you can also say that you tend to lisp — and if you lisp in a way that makes it hard for people to understand what you're saying, you can visit a speech therapist who will teach you to speak without a lisp. Sometimes dental work — braces, or a mouth that's numb from having cavities filled — can give you a temporary lisp. Lisp comes from the imitative Old English wlisp.

Example Sentences

Gackle and Bell met in Calgary, in the early two-thousands, at a local user group for the rarefied programming language Lisp.

From The New Yorker • Aug. 8, 2019

This year, Eduardo Julian introduced us to his unapologetically ambitious Lux programming language, a functional, statically-typed Lisp.

From The Verge • Oct. 2, 2017

Languages will evolve, and ideas from Lisp and Haskell will continue to trickle down into everyday use, but I doubt that programming in 20 years will be an unrecognizable activity today.

From Forbes • Apr. 9, 2015

Harlan's syntax is based on Scheme, a dialect of the influential programming language Lisp, which was created by artificial intelligence researcher John McCarthy in 1958.

From The Guardian • Jul. 4, 2013

Led by AI Lab arch-hacker Richard Greenblatt, AI Lab programmers during the 1970s built up an entire Lisp-based operating system, dubbed the Lisp Machine operating system.

From Free as in Freedom: Richard Stallman's Crusade for Free Software by Williams, Sam