lax

views updated Jun 08 2018

lax / laks/ • adj. 1. not sufficiently strict or severe: lax security arrangements at the airport he'd been a bit lax about discipline in school lately. ∎  careless: why do software developers do little more than parrot their equally lax competitors?2. (of the limbs or muscles) relaxed. ∎  (of the bowels) loose. ∎ Phonet. (of a speech sound, esp. a vowel) pronounced with the vocal muscles relaxed. The opposite of tense1 .DERIVATIVES: lax·i·ty / ˈlaksətē/ n. lax·ly adv.lax·ness n.

lax

views updated May 17 2018

lax1 salmon. OE. læx (WS. leax) = LG. las, OHG. lahs (G. lachs), ON. lax :- Gmc *laχs-, rel. to Lith. la⋅iŝà, Russ. losós; cf. Toch. laks fish. The OE. word appears to have died out, and the Scand. word, adopted in XIII, continued in local use till XVII.

lax

views updated May 11 2018

lax2 (of the bowels) loose XIV; slack, not strict XV. — L. laxus loose; see SLACK1.
So laxative relaxing. XIV. —(O)F. or late (medical) L. laxity XVI. — F. or L.

lax

views updated May 29 2018

lax Scandinavian name for salmon; see also gravadlax; lox.