A Dictionary of Cont..

especially to qualify an adjective or adverb in
the comparative, as in he is working a lot harder,
he is working lots harder.
In all constructions, lots is the more emphatic
of the two terms, but a lot is generally preferred,
perhaps for that reason.
loud. This word is as truly an adverb as it is an
adjective. Spenser wrote, a lyonesse that roaring
all with rage did lowd requere her children
deare.
loud; showy. Although loud properly means striking
strongly upon the organs of hearing, as sound
or noise, it has assumed, by analogy, the sense
of excessively striking to the eye, or offensively
showy, making an imposing display, usually in
bad taste (He turned up at the funeral in a loud
green pinstripe). This use is commonly labeled
“colloquial” in the dictionaries, meaning that it
is used in cultivated speech but not in formal
writing. But since there has been a marked tendency
for almost two generations now to approximate
in writing the easy familiarity of
speech the distinction between colloquial and
standard has tended to disappear. Loud in this
sense conveys a striking impression. It is generally
accepted and widely used. Its appearance
in any piece of writing except, perhaps, a sermon,
a legal document, or an epitaph would be accepted
today.
loud speaker; loudspeaker. A loud speaker is a
speaker who speaks loudly. A loudspeaker is
any one of various amplifying devices by which
speech, music, or other sounds can be made
audible through a room, hall, or the like (He is
such a loud speaker that even in the municipal
auditorium he doesn’t need a loudspeaker).
low. See lower.
louse. The mural is lice. The sineular louse is ureferred
asthe first element in a-compound, as in
louse nits and lousewort, but the plural is also
heard, and is acceptable, as in lice nits and licebane.
lovable. See amatory.
love. This verb may be followed by an infinitive,
as in I love to tell this story. It may also be followed
by the -ing form of a verb, as in I love
telling this story. This latter construction is relatively
new but it is thoroughly established in the
United States.
love; like. Love has been used so much to mean
to have a strong liking for, to take pleasure
in (She loves to travel-anywhere, it doesn’t
matter so long as she’s moving), that this sense
is accepted as standard. But it is used on such
trivial occasions (as in I’d love to join you for
a cup of coffee but I’ve got to get these reports
finished) that it is often nothing more than an
expression of mild inclination. Whether one uses
love or like depends upon the intensity of the
emotion one intends to suggest (an adult might
say I like to ride in front; there’s more leg room.
Of children, however, whose delight is more intense
and not a mere rational preference, it
might properly be said The kids love to ride in
front and pretend they’re driving). In general,
it is well to avoid using love unless the emotion
is strong.
love or money. To say that one cannot get something
or get something done for love or money
is to employ one of those phrases that once had
vigor but have been worn out by overuse.
loving. See amatory.
low. This word has two superlative forms, lowest
and lowermost. The two forms low and lowly
are both adjectives and both adverbs. We may
say the low lands, a lowly captain’s daughter,
and swing low sweet chariot, bow lowly.
lower; lour. The verb lower means to let down
from a higher position, to reduce in amount,
decrease, diminish. The verb lower also means
to be dark or threatening, as the sky or the
weather, to frown, scowl, or look sullen, and
sometimes, though not often now in America, it
is spelled lour.
The two verbs are wholly different words
springing from wholly different roots, but in
their meanings there are an astonishing number
of opportunities for ambiguity. When the clouds
lower, in the sense of threatening rain, they usually
lower in the sense of coming down nearer
to the earth. When a countenance lowers, in the
sense of becoming sullen and threatening, the
brows are lowered or drawn down nearer the
eyes. Fowler felt that the distinction should be
preserved in the spellings, lower for letting down
and lour for being sullen, but this does not hold
in standard American usage where lower is used
for both meanings, though with a different
pronunciation, and lour is recognized only as
a permissible variant spelling for the second
meaning.
ludicrous. See funny.
luggage. See baggage.
lumber. The word lumber derives from the Lombards
(which, in turn, derives from Langobardi,
long beards) who, as money lenders and
pawnbrokers, accumulated stores of cumbrous
and discarded household articles. This is still the
primary meaning of lumber in England, where a
lumber room is a place where such things are
stored. In America this meaning is recognized
(We’ve got to clear all that lumber out of the
attic; there just isn’t room for anything to be put
up there) but the primary meaning of the word
in the United States and Canada is timber sawed
or split into planks, beams, joists, boards and
the like (See if you can get me some two-byfours
at the lumber yard, Jim).
The origin of the American meaning is not
absolutely certain. One would assume that in a
rapidly expanding country where so much building
was of wood it was because sawed timbers
were stored in the lumber room, but A Dictionary
of American English says that the specific
American meaning “undoubtedly arose from the
fact that ship masts, sawed timber, barrel staves,
etc., as important but bulky commodities, once
blocked or lumbered up roads, streets, and harbors
of various towns.” The assertion is supported
by a number of convincing quotations.
lunch and luncheon both mean a light meal between
breakfast and dinner or, more loosely,
any light meal. Of the two lunch is the more
casual, luncheon more formal (They dropped in