lavish

English

Alternative forms

• lavis, laves, lavas (obsolete)

Etymology

From Middle English laves, lavas, lavage (“extravagant, wasteful, prodigal”), from lavas (“excessive abundance”), from Old French lavasse, lavache (“torrent of rain”); possibly later conflated in some senses by Middle English laven (“to pour out”), equivalent to lave +‎ -ish. Compare Scots lawage, lavisch, lavish (“unrestrained, excessively prodigal, extravagant”). Compare also English lavy (“lavish, liberal”), Dutch lafenis (“lavishness”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlævɪʃ/

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• Rhymes: -ævɪʃ

Adjective

lavish (comparative lavisher or more lavish, superlative lavishest or most lavish)

1. Expending or bestowing profusely; profuse; prodigal.

   lavish of money;   lavish of praise

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter VIII, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .

   • 1977, Agatha Christie, chapter 4, in An Autobiography, part II, London: Collins, →ISBN:

     Mind you, clothes were clothes in those days. There was a great deal of them, lavish both in material and in workmanship.

2. Superabundant; excessive.

   lavish spirits

   lavish meal

   • c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Measure for Measure”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Let her haue needfull, but not lauish meanes

3. (obsolete) Unrestrained, impetuous.
   • c. 1587–1588, [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. The First Part , 2nd edition, part 1, London: Richard Iones, , published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire, London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act III, scene iii:

     Thou wilt repent theſe lauiſh words of thine

4. (chiefly dialectal) Rank or lush with vegetation.
   • 1850, [Alfred, Lord Tennyson], In Memoriam, London: Edward Moxon, , →OCLC, Canto XXIII, page 39:

     […] Thro’ lands where not a leaf was dumb;
     ⁠But all the lavish hills would hum
     The murmur of a happy Pan: […]

Synonyms

• (expending profusely): profuse, prodigal, wasteful, extravagant, exuberant, immoderate, opulent
• See also Thesaurus:prodigal

Related terms

• lavy

Translations

Verb

lavish (third-person singular simple present lavishes, present participle lavishing, simple past and past participle lavished)

1. (transitive) To give out extremely generously; to squander.

   They lavished money on the dinner.

2. (transitive) To give out to (somebody) extremely generously.

   They lavished him with praise.

Derived terms

• lavisher
• lavishly
• lavishment
• lavishness

Translations

Noun

lavish (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Excessive abundance or expenditure, profusion, prodigality.

Anagrams

• Vishal