lass

From Middle English las, lasce, lasse (“female infant or child; young woman”),^[1] probably from Proto-Norse *laskwa (“unmarried”, adjective).^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /læs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æs

lass (plural lasses) (archaic except UK, dialectal, informal or poetic)

1. A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:girl, Thesaurus:woman

   Coordinate term: lad

   Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!

   • 1521–1522, John Skelton, “Here after Followeth a Litel Boke Called Colyn Cloute, […]”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: […], volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, […], published 1843, →OCLC, page 327, lines 423–426:

     [T]heyr founders soules / Haue lost theyr beade rolles, / The mony for theyr masses / Spent amonge wanton lasses; […]

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii], page 12, column 2:

     Ste[phano]. Is it ſo braue a Laſſe? / Cal[iban]. I [i.e., aye] Lord, ſhe vvill become thy bed, I vvarrant, / And bring thee forth braue brood.

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 292, column 2:

     This is the prettieſt Lovv-borne Laſſe, that euer / Ran on the greene-ſord: […]

   • 1678, J[ohn] Ray, “An Alphabet of Joculatory, Nugatory and Rustick Proverbs”, in A Collection of English Proverbs […], 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] John Hayes, printer to the University, for W. Morden, →OCLC, pages 80–81:

     The laſs i' th' red petticoat ſhall pay for all. Young men anſvver ſo vvhen they are chid for being ſo prodigal and expenſive, meaning they vvill get a vvife vvith a good portion, that ſhall pay for it.

   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. […], London: […] W[illiam Rufus] Chetwood, […]; and T. Edling, […], published 1722, →OCLC, page 8:

     [P]ray vvhich is the little Laſs that intends to be a Gentlevvoman?

   • 1777 May 8 (first performance), [Richard Brinsley Sheridan], The School for Scandal; a Comedy; […], Dublin: [s.n.], published 1780, →OCLC, Act III, scene [ii], page 40:

     Let the toaſt paſs, drink to the laſs, / I vvarrant ſhe'll find an excuſe for the glaſs.

   • 1799–1805 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book VIII. Retrospect.—Love of Nature Leading to Love of Man.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 208:

     But one there is, the loveliest of them all, / Some sweet lass of the valley, looking out / For gains, and who that sees her would not buy?

   • [1819, Jedediah Cleishbotham [pseudonym; Walter Scott], chapter XI, in Tales of My Landlord, Third Series. […], volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC, pages 309–310:

     [S]he was the bonniest lass in our parochine and the neest till't.

     Written in Scots.]

   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Black Andie’s Tale of Tod Lapraik”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 172:

     He was fond of a lass and fond of a glass, and fond of a ran-dan; […]

   • 1952 February, H[enry] C[yril] Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 77:

     My audience to this not-too-easy operation was a small group of Scottish school lasses, who seemed (perhaps naturally) to find the proceedings somewhat mysterious, but at any rate amusing. I wished they would go away, but they didn't, so I had to get on with the job to the accompaniment of a background of giggles!

   1. (specifically) A female member of the Salvation Army; a hallelujah lass.
      • 1905, [George] Bernard Shaw, “Major Barbara”, in John Bull’s Other Island and Major Barbara: Also How He Lied to Her Husband, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1907, →OCLC, Act II, page 216:

        Jenny Hill, a pale, overwrought, pretty Salvation lass of 18, comes in through the yard gate, leading Peter Shirley, a half hardened, half worn-out elderly man, weak with hunger.

        A stage direction.

2. (especially Geordie, Wearside) A sweetheart.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sweetheart

   Coordinate term: lad

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 388:

     But firſt him ſeemed fit, that vvounded Knight / To viſite, after this nights perillous paſſe, / And to ſalute him, if he vvere in plight, / And eke [also] that Lady his faire louely laſſe.

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iii], page 205, column 2:

     It vvas a Louer, and his laſſe, / VVith a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, / That o're the greene corne feild did paſſe, / In the ſpring time, the onely pretty rang [ring] time, / VVhen Birds do ſing, hey ding a ding, ding.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, page 106, lines 329–330 and 333–336:

     The youthfull Bull muſt vvander in the VVood; / Behind the Mountain, or beyond the Flood: / […] / VVith tvvo fair Eyes his Miſtreſs burns his Breaſt; / He looks, and languiſhes, and leaves his Reſt; / Forſakes his Food, and pining for the Laſs, / Is joyleſs of the Grove, and ſpurns the grovving graſs.

   • 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, […], London: […] J[oseph] Johnson;  […], →OCLC, page 3:

     There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.

   • 1889, J[ames] M[atthew] Barrie, “Leeby and Jamie”, in A Window in Thrums, London: Hodder and Stoughton, […], →OCLC, page 166:

     The love Leeby bore for Jamie was such that in their younger days it shamed him. […] "Hoo is your lass?" they used to cry to him, inventing a new game.

3. (Northern England, Scotland) A female servant; a maid, a maidservant.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. […], volume III, Edinburgh: […] James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, […]; and Archibald Constable and Co., […], →OCLC, page 101:

     […] I'll tell ye that after we are done wi' our supper, for it will may be no be sae weel to speak about it while that lang-lugged limmer o' a lass is gaun flisking in and out o' the room.

     […] I'll tell you that after we are done with our supper, for it will maybe not be so well to speak about it while that long-eared rogue of a maidservant is going capering in and out of the room.

   • [1824 June, [Walter Scott], “Letter XI. The Same [Darsie Latimer] to the Same [Alan Fairford].”, in Redgauntlet, […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 234:

     [S]ure aneugh, the lass washed clottered blood aff the carpet the neist day.

     Written in Scots.]

   • [1927 July, John Buchan, “The Black Wood by Day”, in Witch Wood, London: Hodder and Stoughton, published August 1927, →OCLC, page 90:

     She fleyed Johnnie awa' frae the door when he was for daffin' wi' the serving lasses.

     Written in Scots.]

4. (Scotland, familiar) A term of address for a woman, or a female animal.
   • [1794, Robert Burns, “A Red, Red Rose”, in Songs, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect, volume IV, Kilmarnock, Scotland: […] James M‘Kie, published 1869, →OCLC, stanza 2, page 210:

     As fair art thou, my bonie laſs, / So deep in luve am I; / And I will luve thee ſtill, my Dear, / Till a' the ſeas gang dry.

     Written in Scots.]

   • 1836 March – 1837 October, Charles Dickens, “A Pleasant Day, with an Unpleasant Termination”, in The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1837, →OCLC, page 188:

     "Hi, Juno, lass—hi, old girl; down, Daph, down," said Wardle, caressing the dogs.

• The word is still prevalent in parts of England (chiefly Lancashire, the Northeast, and Yorkshire), and in Ireland and Scotland. It is also sometimes used poetically in other dialects of English.

• lass (disambiguation) on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “Lass”, in Palgrave’s Word List: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[1], archived from the original on 5 September 2024, from F[rancis] M[ilnes] T[emple] Palgrave, A List of Words and Phrases in Everyday Use by the Natives of Hetton-le-Hole in the County of Durham […] (Publications of the English Dialect Society; 74), London: Published for the English Dialect Society by Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1896, →OCLC.
• “lass”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• Scott Dobson, Dick Irwin “lass”, in Newcastle 1970s: Durham & Tyneside Dialect Group‎^[2], archived from the original on 5 September 2024.
• Frank Graham, editor (1987), “LASS”, in The New Geordie Dictionary, Rothbury, Northumberland: Butler Publishing, →ISBN, page 31.
• Douglas Harper (2001–2025) “lass”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• “lass, n., v.”, in The Dictionary of the Scots Language, Edinburgh: Scottish Language Dictionaries, 2004–present, →OCLC, reproduced from W[illiam] Grant and D[avid] D. Murison, editors, The Scottish National Dictionary, Edinburgh: Scottish National Dictionary Association, 1931–1976, →OCLC.
• Bill Griffiths, editor (2004), “lass”, in A Dictionary of North East Dialect, Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear: Northumbria University Press, →ISBN, page 96, column 1.

• ALSs, SALs, SLAs, SALS, SASL, sals, SLSA, sALS

• IPA^(key): /las/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -as

lass

1. singular imperative of lassen
2. (colloquial) first-person singular present of lassen

• “lass” in Digitales Wörterbuch der deutschen Sprache
• “lass” in Duden online

From Middle High German los, from Old High German *los, variant of lōs (“loose; free; lacking; sly, deceitful”). Compare for the short vowel Ripuarian Central Franconian loss, Dutch los. The uninflected stem of this adjective develops regularly into Luxembourgish lass, while the inflected stem yields the doublet lues (“slow, quiet”). See the English cognate loose for more.

• IPA^(key): /lɑs/

  Rhymes: -ɑs

lass (masculine lassen, neuter lasst, comparative méi lass, superlative am lassten)

1. loose, unattached

• lassgoen
• lassloossen

• IPA^(key): /ˈlass/
• Rhymes: -ass
• Syllabification: lass

lass n

1. genitive plural of lasso

Inherited from Old Swedish las. Originally the past participle of a verb derived from Proto-Germanic *hlaþaną (“to load”). Doublet of lada and last.

• IPA^(key): /lasː/

• Audio:

  (file)

lass n

1. a load (amount transported at one time (on a cart, (open) trailer, or the like, or carried), also as an (informal) unit of measurement)

   ett lass ved

   a/one load of firewood

2. a load (large amount)

   glass i stora lass

   loads of ice cream [ice cream in big loads]

Possibly also including the conveyance itself intuitively, like in the second image.

• dra det tyngsta lasset (“carry the main burden; do the heavy lifting [pull the heaviest load]”)
• flyttlass
• liten tuva stjälper ofta stort lass

• lassa

• lass in Svenska Akademiens ordlista (SAOL)
• lass in Svensk ordbok (SO)
• lass in Svenska Akademiens ordbok (SAOB)
• lass in Elof Hellquist, Svensk etymologisk ordbok (1st ed., 1922)

From Middle English los, from Old English los.

• IPA^(key): /las/

lass

1. loss

lass

1. alternative form of lhose
   • 1867, “A YOLA ZONG”, in SONGS, ETC. IN THE DIALECT OF FORTH AND BARGY, number 2, page 84:

     Th' valler w'speen here, th' lass ee chourch-hey.

     The more we spend here, the less in the churchyard.

• Jacob Poole (d. 1827) (before 1828) William Barnes, editor, A Glossary, With some Pieces of Verse, of the old Dialect of the English Colony in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy, County of Wexford, Ireland, London: J. Russell Smith, published 1867, page 52