lass

From Middle English las, lasce, lasse (“female infant or child; young woman”),^[1] probably from Old Norse laskwa (“unmarried”, adjective).^[2]

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /læs/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æs

lass (plural lasses) (archaic except UK, dialectal, informal or poetic)

1. A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:girl, Thesaurus:woman

   Coordinate term: lad

   Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!

   • 1521–1522, John Skelton, “Here after Followeth a Litel Boke Called Colyn Cloute, ”, in Alexander Dyce, editor, The Poetical Works of John Skelton: , volume I, London: Thomas Rodd, , published 1843, →OCLC, page 327, lines 423–426:

     heyr founders soules / Haue lost theyr beade rolles, / The mony for theyr masses / Spent amonge wanton lasses; […]

   • 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tempest”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 12, column 2:

     Ste[phano]. Is it ſo braue a Laſſe? / Cal[iban]. I [i.e., aye] Lord, ſhe vvill become thy bed, I vvarrant, / And bring thee forth braue brood.

   • c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 292, column 2:

     This is the prettieſt Lovv-borne Laſſe, that euer / Ran on the greene-ſord: […]

   • 1678, J Ray, “An Alphabet of Joculatory, Nugatory and Rustick Proverbs”, in A Collection of English Proverbs , 2nd edition, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: John Hayes, printer to the University, for W. Morden, →OCLC, pages 80–81:

     The laſs i' th' red petticoat ſhall pay for all. Young men anſvver ſo vvhen they are chid for being ſo prodigal and expenſive, meaning they vvill get a vvife vvith a good portion, that ſhall pay for it.

   • 1722 (indicated as 1721), [Daniel Defoe], The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders, &c. , London: W Chetwood, ; and T. Edling, , published 1722, →OCLC, page 8:

     ray vvhich is the little Laſs that intends to be a Gentlevvoman?

   • 1777 May 8 (first performance), [Richard Brinsley Sheridan], The School for Scandal; a Comedy; , Dublin: [s.n.], published 1780, →OCLC, Act III, scene , page 40:

     Let the toaſt paſs, drink to the laſs, / I vvarrant ſhe'll find an excuſe for the glaſs.

   • 1799–1805 (date written), William Wordsworth, “Book VIII. Retrospect.—Love of Nature Leading to Love of Man.”, in The Prelude, or Growth of a Poet’s Mind; an Autobiographical Poem, London: Edward Moxon, , published 1850, →OCLC, page 208:

     But one there is, the loveliest of them all, / Some sweet lass of the valley, looking out / For gains, and who that sees her would not buy?

   • , volume I (The Bride of Lammermoor), Edinburgh: [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; Hurst, Robinson, and Co. , →OCLC, pages 309–310:

     he was the bonniest lass in our parochine and the neest till't.

     Written in Scots.]

   • 1892, Robert Louis Stevenson, “Black Andie’s Tale of Tod Lapraik”, in Catriona, London; Edinburgh: Thomas Nelson & Sons, →OCLC, page 172:

     He was fond of a lass and fond of a glass, and fond of a ran-dan; […]

   • 1952 February, H C Casserley, “Permanent Wayfarings”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 77:

     My audience to this not-too-easy operation was a small group of Scottish school lasses, who seemed (perhaps naturally) to find the proceedings somewhat mysterious, but at any rate amusing. I wished they would go away, but they didn't, so I had to get on with the job to the accompaniment of a background of giggles!

   1. (specifically) A female member of the Salvation Army; a hallelujah lass.
      • 1905, Bernard Shaw, “Major Barbara”, in John Bull’s Other Island and Major Barbara: Also How He Lied to Her Husband, London: Archibald Constable & Co., published 1907, →OCLC, Act II, page 216:

        Jenny Hill, a pale, overwrought, pretty Salvation lass of 18, comes in through the yard gate, leading Peter Shirley, a half hardened, half worn-out elderly man, weak with hunger.

        A stage direction.

2. (especially Geordie, Wearside) A sweetheart.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:sweetheart

   Coordinate term: lad

   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto III”, in The Faerie Queene. , part II (books IV–VI), London: [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 14, page 388:

     But firſt him ſeemed fit, that vvounded Knight / To viſite, after this nights perillous paſſe, / And to ſalute him, if he vvere in plight, / And eke [also] that Lady his faire louely laſſe.

   • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 205, column 2:

     It vvas a Louer, and his laſſe, / VVith a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, / That o're the greene corne feild did paſſe, / In the ſpring time, the onely pretty rang [ring] time, / VVhen Birds do ſing, hey ding a ding, ding.

   • 1697, Virgil, “The Third Book of the Georgics”, in John Dryden, transl., The Works of Virgil: Containing His Pastorals, Georgics, and Æneis. , London: Jacob Tonson, , →OCLC, page 106, lines 329–330 and 333–336:

     The youthfull Bull muſt vvander in the VVood; / Behind the Mountain, or beyond the Flood: / […] / VVith tvvo fair Eyes his Miſtreſs burns his Breaſt; / He looks, and languiſhes, and leaves his Reſt; / Forſakes his Food, and pining for the Laſs, / Is joyleſs of the Grove, and ſpurns the grovving graſs.

   • 1785, William Cowper, “Book I. The Sofa.”, in The Task, a Poem, , London: J Johnson;  , →OCLC, page 3:

     There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.

   • 1889, J M Barrie, “Leeby and Jamie”, in A Window in Thrums, London: Hodder and Stoughton, , →OCLC, page 166:

     The love Leeby bore for Jamie was such that in their younger days it shamed him. […] "Hoo is your lass?" they used to cry to him, inventing a new game.

3. (Northern England, Scotland) A female servant; a maid, a maidservant.
   • 1815 February 24, [Walter Scott], chapter VI, in Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer. , volume III, Edinburgh: James Ballantyne and Co. for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, ; and Archibald Constable and Co., , →OCLC, page 101:

     […] I'll tell ye that after we are done wi' our supper, for it will may be no be sae weel to speak about it while that lang-lugged limmer o' a lass is gaun flisking in and out o' the room.

     I'll tell you that after we are done with our supper, for it will maybe not be so well to speak about it while that long-eared rogue of a maidservant is going capering in and out of the room.

   • , volume I, Edinburgh: [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 234:

     ure aneugh, the lass washed clottered blood aff the carpet the neist day.

     Written in Scots.]