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lithe

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Readily bent; supple.
  • adjective Marked by effortless grace.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To become calm.
  • To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen.
  • To relax; make less stiff.
  • Soft; tender; mild; calm; agreeable.
  • Easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber.
  • Pleasant; fine.
  • Synonyms Pliable, supple, willowy.
  • To go.
  • To give ear; attend; listen.
  • To listen to.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • verb obsolete To listen or listen to; to hearken to.
  • adjective obsolete Mild; calm.
  • adjective Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber.
  • transitive verb obsolete To smooth; to soften; to palliate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb intransitive, obsolete To go.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To become calm.
  • verb transitive, obsolete To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen; smooth; palliate.
  • verb intransitive, obsolete To give ear; attend; listen.
  • verb transitive To listen to.
  • adjective obsolete Mild; calm.
  • adjective slim but not skinny
  • adjective Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limber
  • noun Scotland Shelter.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective moving and bending with ease

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Old English līthe, flexible, mild.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lithen, from Old English līþan ("to go, travel, sail, be bereft of"), from Proto-Germanic *līþanan (“to go, leave, suffer”), from Proto-Indo-European *leit- (“to go, depart, die”). Cognate with North Frisian lyen, lye ("to suffer"), Dutch lijden ("to suffer, dree, abide"), German leiden ("to suffer, brook, permit"). See also lode, lead.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lithen, from Old English līþian, līþiġian ("to soften, calm, mitigate, assuage, appease, be mild"), from Proto-Germanic *linþēnan, *lenþēnan (“to soften”), from Proto-Indo-European *lento- (“bendsome, resilient”).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lithen, from Old Norse hlýða ("to listen"), from Proto-Germanic *hleuþijanan (“to listen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewe- (“to hear”). Cognate with Danish lytte ("to listen"). Related to Old English hlēoþor ("noise, sound, voice, song, hearing"), Old English hlūd ("loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous"). More at loud.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English, from Old English līþe ("gentle, mild"), from Proto-Germanic *linþiz, from Proto-Indo-European *lento. Akin to Danish and German lind ("mild"), Icelandic linr ("soft to the touch"). Not attested in Gothic nor Old Norse. Some sources list also Latin lenis ("soft"), others Latin lentus ("supple").

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of lewth.

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Examples

Comments

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  • ofravens commented on the word lithe

    Behind snarled thickets of my eyes

    Lurks the lithe one

    from "Pursuit," by Sylvia Plath

    April 8, 2008

  • shadesofinsanity commented on the word lithe

    lissom

    April 4, 2009

  • 516346255 commented on the word lithe

    After many hours of insidious tattle, I disentangled from his lithe arm and sauntered away to my lone gratification.

    May 12, 2011

  • Arthurpod commented on the word lithe

    "She was lithe and light and graceful as she ran..."

    Lord Foul's Bane

    July 29, 2012