loud

English

Alternative forms

• lowd (obsolete)

Pronunciation

• enPR: loud, IPA^(key): /laʊd/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -aʊd

Etymology 1

From Middle English loude, loud, lud, from Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, *hlūþaz (“heard”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewtos (“heard, famous”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlew- (“to hear”). More at listen.

Adjective

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. (of a sound) Of great intensity.

   Turn that music down; it's too loud.

   What was that? It sounded like a really loud sneeze.

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

     Mr. Cooke at once began a tirade against the residents of Asquith for permitting a sandy and generally disgraceful condition of the roads. So roundly did he vituperate the inn management in particular, and with such a loud flow of words, that I trembled lest he should be heard on the veranda.

2. (of a person, thing, event, etc.) Noisy.

   a loud party that went on all night

   • 1611, The Holy Bible,  (King James Version), London: Robert Barker, , →OCLC, Proverbs vii:11:

     She is loud and stubborn.

3. (of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.
4. (of clothing, decorations, etc.) Having unpleasantly and tastelessly contrasting colours or patterns; gaudy.

   a loud style of dress;  loud colors

   • 2006, Janis Mink, Joan Miró, →ISBN, page 22:

     In comparison with the loud Portrait of E.C. Ricart (ill. p. 13) two years earlier, Miró has captured a soft, hushed atmosphere here.

5. (of marijuana, slang) High-quality; premium; (by extension) having a strong or pungent odour indicating good quality.

Synonyms

• (of clothing, etc): garish, gaudy

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of "sound"): quiet, soft
• (antonym(s) of "person"): quiet

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

loud (countable and uncountable, plural louds)

1. (colloquial) A loud sound or part of a sound.
   • 2012, Sam McGuire, Paul Lee, The Video Editor's Guide to Soundtrack Pro, page 103:

     The expander doesn't really make the louds louder and the softs softer in one step […]

2. (slang, uncountable) High-quality marijuana.

See also

• dank

Etymology 2

From Middle English loude, from Old English hlūde (“loudly”), from Proto-Germanic *hlūda, *hlūdô (“loudly”), related to Etymology 1.

Adverb

loud (comparative louder, superlative loudest)

1. Loudly.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, :

     Who knocks so loud at door?

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, chapter 14, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volumes (please specify |volume=I to VI), London: A Millar, , →OCLC, book 7, pages 71-72:

     Unluckily that worthy Officer having, in a literal Sense, taken his Fill of Liquor, had been some Time retired to his Bolster, where he was snoaring so loud, that it was not easy to convey a Noise in at his Ears capable of drowning that which issued from his Nostrils.

Derived terms

Anagrams

• Ludo, ludo, ludo-, ould

Middle English

Etymology 1

Inherited from Old English hlūd, from Proto-West Germanic *hlūd, from Proto-Germanic *hlūdaz, from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlutós.

Alternative forms

• loude, lowd, lowde, lud

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /luːd/

Adjective

loud (plural and weak singular loude, comparative loudere)

1. Loud, noisy; producing much sound.
2. (rare) Audible; detectable by hearing.
3. (rare) Obvious; easily detectable or discernible.

Related terms

• loude

Descendants

• English: loud
• Scots: loud, lood

References

• “lǒud, adj.”, in MED Online, Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan, 2007, retrieved 2018-10-01.

Etymology 2

Adverb

loud

1. Alternative form of loude (“loudly”)