Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Soft; supple; limber; pliant.
  • Bad; wicked; corrupt; lazy.

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

  • adjective obsolete Bad; wicked; false; worthless; slothful.

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

  • adjective comparative form of lithe: more lithe
  • adjective Bad; wicked; false; worthless; slothful; lazy.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

See lithe

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lither, lyther, luther, lithere, lidder, from Old English lȳþre ("bad, wicked, base, mean, corrupt, wretched"), from Proto-Germanic *lūþrijaz (“neglected, dissolute, useless, bad”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leu- (“slack, limp”). Related to Old English loþrung ("delusion, rubbish, nonsense"), Old English loddere ("beggar"), Dutch lodder ("a wanton"), Dutch loddering ("drowsy, trifling, wanton"), German lotterig ("slovenly"), German lüderlich ("slovenly"), German liederlich ("dissolute"). See litherly.

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Examples

  • Behind this stolid figure, a lither Vishnu flies through the air astride his snake-eating mount, Garuda, one arm wielding a sword, the other poised to throw a lethal discus.

    From Stillness, Cosmic Action Lee Lawrence 2011

  • Purrful, all the girls in their lither games and the girl herself.

    Final Resting Place of The Pen 2010

  • Windows is bloated and moribund compared to these lither mobile OSes pushing up into the PC market.

    Is the Windows Era over? Nomad 2010

  • “It is thine own laziness, thou false English blood, that dost nothing but drink and sleep,” retorted the page, “and leaves that lither lad to do the work, which he minds as little as thou.”

    The Abbot 2008

  • January 25th, 2007 at 10:53 am adolfo lither says:

    Think Progress » Anti-escalation rally in Washington, DC, on Saturday. 2007

  • He was the head of the army's Objective Force Task Force, the group charged with developing a lighter, lither army, built around "Future Combat Systems" of high-tech armored vehicles, drones, and sensors.

    The Night of the Generals Margolick, David 2007

  • Of course there aren't enough elevators for everyone to be moving around at once, so the younger, lither members of staff resorted to the fire stairs.

    Reading away. bradamant 2003

  • He must have those hushed, still, quiet, lying at a stay, lither, and full of ease, whom he is able, though his mother help him, to touch, much less to pierce with all his arrows.

    Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002

  • He must have those hushed, still, quiet, lying at a stay, lither, and full of ease, whom he is able, though his mother help him, to touch, much less to pierce with all his arrows.

    Five books of the lives, heroic deeds and sayings of Gargantua and his son Pantagruel 2002

  • With one swift stroke from the lighter and lither of them, the bag was on its side, spilling its contents of tortoise-shell hair brushes and the silver box, Bruce standing above it, tightening of jaw and knuckles.

    Star-Dust Fannie Hurst 1928

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