lid
Americannoun
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a removable or hinged cover for closing the opening, usually at the top, of a pot, jar, trunk, etc.; a movable cover.
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an eyelid.
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a restraint, ceiling, or curb, as on prices or news.
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Slang. a hat, cap, or other head covering.
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(in mosses)
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the cover of the capsule; operculum.
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the upper section of a pyxidium.
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Slang. one ounce of marijuana.
verb (used with object)
idioms
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blow / flip one's lid, to lose control, especially to rage hysterically: Also flip one's wig.
He nearly flipped his lid over the way they damaged his car.
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blow the lid off, to expose to public view, especially to reveal something scandalous, illegal, etc.
noun
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a cover, usually removable or hinged, for a receptacle
a saucepan lid
a desk lid
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short for eyelid
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botany another name for operculum
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slang short for skidlid
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old-fashioned a quantity of marijuana, usually an ounce
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informal to raise one's hat as a greeting, etc
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slang to become crazy or angry
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informal
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to be the final blow to
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to curb, prevent, or discourage
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informal to make startling or spectacular revelations about
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of lid
before 1000; Middle English; Old English hlid; cognate with Dutch, German lid, Old Norse hlith gate, gateway
Explanation
A lid is a top, or a cap — some kind of removable or hinged cover for a container. If you forget to put the lid on your tin of cat food, you may discover that your cat and dog have eaten it all by the end of the day. The lid on your trash can keeps raccoons out of it, and the lid on your travel mug keeps your tea hot for hours. Another lid is your eyelid, the skin that moves over your eyeball like a lid: "Her heavy lids told me she didn't sleep at all." A lid is also slang for a hat or a helmet, and if someone says, "Put a lid on it," they're telling you (somewhat rudely) to quiet down.
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:
When he went to see his friend, Bush told Banyard the deceased "didn't look good", so the lid of the casket was kept down.
From BBC ● Jul. 27, 2026
The Typhur Sync Gold Quad, meanwhile, tracks several foods at once, plus the ambient temperature, so you can stop obsessively lifting the lid and enjoy the people gathered around the fire.
From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026
June was particularly brutal for Europe as a "heat dome" -- a high-pressure system acting like a lid on a boiling pot -- led to all-time and monthly temperature records in several countries.
From Barron's ● Jul. 9, 2026
Many companies, grappling with the affordability of goods from automobiles to prescription drugs and groceries, have looked for ways to keep a lid on costs to appeal to cash-starved consumers and get ahead of rivals.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 7, 2026
She yanked, wrenching the lid off with such force that it snapped in two.
From "Night Owls" by A.R. Vishny
Milkmen fought back in various ways, putting stones atop the lids and draping cloths over them.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 22, 2026
The pink, mouse-like creatures lived in craters covered by dustbin lids - the lids' noisy "clang" gave the show its name.
From BBC ● Apr. 2, 2026
Asked how things were going, one delegate sent back a clip from a famous Egyptian soap opera that showed a hapless boss pointlessly opening and closing the lids and drawers of his desk.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2025
A new Assembly bill that went into effect Tuesday requires any establishment in the state where alcohol is sold for on-site consumption to have lids at the ready upon customer request.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 2, 2025
The eyes were half closed and the lids thick and dry.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
In the kitchen, hand-carved ceramic birds, whales, elephants and owls look out from the counters, surrounded by lidded cache pots and heavy candlestick holders that feel good in your hand.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 18, 2026
Mix it all together and deliver in a lidded deli tub.
From Salon ● Jan. 19, 2026
Auctioneers originally thought the lidded vase was from the 20th Century but now believe it to be a "superb quality" 18th Century creation from the Qianlong period.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2023
For each species, the researchers chose a particularly irresistible food — carrots, alfalfa or another treat — and put them in lidded cups in their enclosures.
From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
“Very pleasant, thank you,” said Mum, as a tubby man with joke-shop sideburns trundled a large, white, lidded wheely bucket round from the front of the house.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
Seattle City Councilmember Dan Strauss and some of his City Council colleagues want to explore lidding Interstate 5.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 15, 2023
The spectrum of highway-skeptical advocacy is broad — on behalf of the wholesale removal of a portion of 99, the redesign of Aurora Avenue, the lidding of I-5 near downtown Seattle, against U.S.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 19, 2022
Kirwan is never loath to combat a political foe by lidding his barrel.
From Time Magazine Archive
The light had retreated at the insistence of the darkness—a scrap of cloud lidding the blank eye of the moon—and Bone Gap was still.
From "Bone Gap" by Laura Ruby
"I can all but read your thoughts," he went on, lidding his green eyes a number of times.
From Peter the Brazen A Mystery Story of Modern China by Hoskins, Gayle Porter
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.
