lake

Meaning

Noun

1. A large, landlocked stretch of water or similar liquid.
2. A large amount of liquid; as, a wine lake.
3. A small stream of running water; a channel for water; a drain.
4. (obsolete) A pit, or ditch.

Verb

1. (obsolete) To present an offering.
2. To leap, jump, exert oneself, play.
3. Subject biological cells to repeated cycles of freezing and thawing until lysis.

Verb

To make lake-red.

Concepts

lake

pond

pool

loch

sea

river

tank

mere

swamp

lagoon

ocean

lough

puddle

bog

inland sea

lago

basin

lacus

small lake

well

large pond

canal

reservoir

tarn

large sheet of water

pool of water

i arge stretch of water

metal binding at ends of spear shaft

large lake

PR

inland lake

lacustrine

permanent

bay

water body

dam

billabong

water-hole

water hole

shore

deep

profound

vast

water basin

mer-

flooded area

open water

fishpond

swamps

deep pool

Pronounced as (IPA)

/leɪk/

Etymology

Arose from a conflation of the form of inherited Middle English lake (“small stream of running water, pool, lake”) with Middle English lac (“lake”), from Old French lac (“lake”) or Latin lacus (“lake, basin, tank”), see lac. The former, lake (“stream, pool, lake”), is inherited from Old English lacu (“stream, pool, expanse of water, lake”), from Proto-West Germanic *laku, from Proto-Germanic *lakō (“stream, pool, water aggregation”), ultimately derived from Proto-Indo-European *leg- (“to leak, drain”). It is related to Dutch laak (“stream, drainage ditch, pond”), German Low German Lake, Laak (“drainage, marshland”), German Lache (“puddle”), Icelandic lækur (“stream”).
Despite their similarity in form and meaning, Old English lacu is not related to English lay (“lake”), Latin lacus (“hollow, lake, pond”), Scottish Gaelic loch (“lake”), Ancient Greek λάκκος (lákkos, “waterhole, tank, pond, pit”), all from Proto-Indo-European *lókus, *l̥kwés (“lake, pool”).