loud

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See also: Loud

English

Alternative forms

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.

Cognates
Akin to Scots loud, lowd (“loud”), Swedish ljud, West Frisian lûd (“loud”), Dutch luid (“loud”), Low German lud (“loud”), German laut (“loud”), Irish clú (“repute”), Welsh clywed (“heard”), clod (“praise”), Latin laudare (“praise”), Tocharian A/B klots/klautso 'ear', klyostär 'heard', Ancient Greek κλυτός (klutós, “famous”), Albanian quaj (“to name, call”), shquar (“famous, notorious”), Old Armenian լու (lu, “the act of hearing”), Old Church Slavonic слава (slava, “glory”), слово (slovo, “word”), Sanskrit श्रव (śráva, “glory”).

Adjective

One of humanity's loudest inventions: the Saturn V rocket. Its roar was deafening.

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
  3. (of a person, event, etc.) Not subtle or reserved, brash.
    • 1988 December 9, Ben Joravsky, “Property-tax assessments rise; north siders are revolting”, in Chicago Reader‎:
      Some of the loudest blubberers are developers who, having made enormous profits as a result of local, state, and federal subsidies, complain that government doesn't do enough for them.
  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
Antonyms
Derived terms
Terms derived from loud (adjective)
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

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, volume (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.
    • 2014 April 25, Paul Krugman, “The Piketty Panic”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:
      Money still talks — indeed, thanks in part to the Roberts court, it talks louder than ever. Still, ideas matter too, shaping both how we talk about society and, eventually, what we do.
Derived terms

Anagrams

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

Pronunciation

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.
Descendants
  • English: loud
  • Scots: loud, lood
References

Etymology 2

Adverb

loud

  1. Alternative form of loude (“loudly”)
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