languid

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See also: lànguid

English

WOTD – 26 June 2022

Pronunciation

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Middle French languide (“fatigued, weak; apathetic, indifferent”) (modern French languide), or from its etymon Latin languidus (“faint, weak; dull; slow, sluggish; ill, sick, unwell; (figuratively) inactive, inert, listless”), from langueō (“to be faint or weak; (figuratively) to be idle, inactive, or listless”) (from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“to weaken”)) + -idus (suffix meaning ‘tending to’ forming adjectives). Doublet of languish.

cognates

Adjective

languid (comparative more languid, superlative most languid)

  1. Of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness; faint, listless.
    • 1791, Oliver Goldsmith, “Of Venemous Serpents in General”, in An History of the Earth, and Animated Nature. , new edition, volume VII, London: F Wingrave, successor to Mr. Nourse, , →OCLC, page 191:
      [T]he ſalt of vipers is alſo thought to exceed any other animal ſalt vvhatever, in giving vigour to the languid circulation, and prompting to venery.
    • 1955, Vladimir Nabokov, chapter 12, in Lolita, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] P[almer] Putnam’s Sons, published August 1958, →OCLC, part 2, page 200:
      At first she "ran a temperature" in American parlance, and I could not resist the exquisite caloricity of unexpected delights—Venus febriculosa—though it was a very languid Lolita that moaned and coughed and shivered in my embrace.
  2. Of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort; leisurely, unhurried.
  3. Of a person or their actions, character, etc.: lacking drive, emotion, or enthusiasm; apathetic, listless, spiritless, unenthusiastic.
  4. Of a colour: not bright; dull, muted.
  5. Of an idea, writing, etc.: dull, uninteresting.
  6. Of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity; pleasant and relaxed; unstressful.
  7. Of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength; inactive, slow-moving, weak.
    languid breathing    languid movements
    • 1646, Thomas Browne, “Compendiously of Sundry Tenents Concerning Other Animals, which Examined prove either False or Dubious”, in Pseudodoxia Epidemica: , London: T H for Edward Dod, , →OCLC, 3rd book, paragraph 10, page 176:
      [T]he ſound [of bees or flies] is ſtrongeſt in dry vveather, and very vveake in rainy ſeaſon, and tovvard vvinter; for then the ayre is moyſt, and the invvard ſpirit grovving vveake, makes a languid and dumbe alliſion upon the parts.
    • 1717, Homer, [Alexander] Pope, transl., “Book IX”, in The Iliad of Homer, volume III, London: W Bowyer, for Bernard Lintott , →OCLC, page 16, lines 325–328:
      [W]hen the languid Flames at length ſubſide, / He ſtrovvs a Bed of glovving Embers vvide, / Above the Coals the ſmoaking Fragments turns, / And ſprinkles ſacred Salt from lifted Urns; […]
    • 1753 March 10, Samuel Johnson [et al.], “Number XXXVI. SATURDAY, March 10, 1753.”, in The Adventurer, volume I, London: J Payne, , published 1753, →OCLC, page 212:
      As love vvithout eſteem, is volatile and capricious; eſteem vvithout love, is languid and cold.
    • 1832 December (indicated as 1833), Alfred Tennyson, “A Dream of Fair Women”, in Poems, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, stanza XXV, page 128:
      I knew the flowers, I knew the leaves, I knew / The tearful glimmer of the languid dawn / On those long, rank, dark woodwalks drenched in dew, / Leading from lawn to lawn.
    • 1894, George du Maurier, “Part First”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, pages 11–12:
      His thick, heavy, languid, lustreless black hair fell down behind his ears on to his shoulders, in that musicianlike way that is so offensive to the normal Englishman.
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
of a person or animal, or their body functions: flagging from weakness, or inactive or weak, especially due to illness or tiredness — see also faint,‎ listless
of a person or their movement: showing a dislike for physical effort — see leisurely,‎ unhurried
of a colour: not bright — see dull,‎ muted
of a period of time: characterized by lack of activity — see relaxed,‎ unstressful
of a thing: lacking energy, liveliness, or strength — see inactive,‎ slow-moving,‎ weak

Etymology 2

A variant of languet.

Noun

languid (plural languids)

  1. Synonym of languet (“a flat plate in (or opposite and below the mouth of) the pipe of an organ”)
    Synonym: (rare) language
    • 1913, William Horatio Clarke, “Double Languids”, in Standard Organ Building, Boston, Mass.: Richard G. Badger, the Gorham Press, →OCLC, page 150:
      A new method of voicing flue pipes has recently been introduced by which a greater volume of tone is obtained without increasing the wind pressure. This is accomplished by making use of TWO languids in metal pipes with a space between the upper and lower languids. As may be required, a small hole is bored in either of the languids, or in the back of the pipe in the space between the two languids.
Translations
synonym of languet — see languet

References

  1. ^ Compare “languid, adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022; “languid, adj.”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
  2. ^ “languid, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, March 2022.

Further reading

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