lithe

See also: liþe and -lithe

English

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /laɪð/
  • Audio (UK)(file)
  • Rhymes: -aɪð

Etymology 1

From Middle English lithen, from Old English līþan (“to go, travel, sail, be bereft of”), from Proto-Germanic *līþaną (“to go, leave, suffer”), from Proto-Indo-European *leyt- (“to go, depart, die”). Cognate with North Frisian lyen, lije (“to suffer”), Dutch lijden (“to suffer, dree, abide”), German leiden (“to suffer, brook, permit”). See also lode, lead.

Verb

lithe (third-person singular simple present lithes, present participle lithing, simple past lithed or lode, past participle lithed or lidden)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To go.

Etymology 2

From Middle English lithe, from Old English līþe (“gentle, mild”), from Proto-Germanic *linþaz, from Proto-Indo-European *lentos. Akin to Saterland Frisian lied (“thin, skinny, gaunt”), Danish and German lind (“mild”), Icelandic linur (“soft to the touch”). Not attested in Gothic. Some sources also list Latin lenis (“soft”) and/or Latin lentus (“supple”) as possible cognates.

Adjective

lithe (comparative lither, superlative lithest)

  1. (obsolete) Mild; calm.
    lithe weather
  2. slim but not skinny
    lithe body
    • 1914, Louis Joseph Vance, Nobody, chapter III:
      She was frankly disappointed. For some reason she had thought to discover a burglar of one or another accepted type—either a dashing cracksman in full-blown evening dress, lithe, polished, pantherish, or a common yegg, a red-eyed, unshaven burly brute in the rags and tatters of a tramp.
  3. Capable of being easily bent
    the elephant’s lithe proboscis.
    Synonyms: pliant, flexible, limber
  4. Adaptable.
    • 2018 March 8, Eric Asimov, “Bubbles, With Joy: Pétillant Naturel’s Triumphant Return”, in The New York Times‎:
      Yet the 2016 Éxilé rosé from Lise et Bertrand Jousset in the Loire Valley, made mostly of gamay, was yeasty let light and lithe, while the 2016 Indigeno from Ancarani in Emilia-Romagna, made of trebbiano, was taut and earthy.
Synonyms
Derived terms
Translations

Etymology 3

From Middle English lithen, from Old English līþian, līþiġian (“to soften, calm, mitigate, assuage, appease, be mild”), from Proto-Germanic *linþijaną (“to soften”), from Proto-Indo-European *lento- (“bendsome, resilient”). Cognate with German lindern (“to alleviate, ease, relieve”).

Verb

lithe

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To become calm.
  2. (transitive, obsolete) To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen; smooth; palliate.
    • Hamilton (1552)
      The holy spirit, by his grace, lithes and turns out heart to God.
    • T. Adams (1614)
      England.. hath now suppled, lithed and stretched their throats.
    • Rogers Naamen (1642)
      Give me also faith, Lord,.. to lithe, to form, and to accommodate my spirit and members.

Etymology 4

From Middle English lithen, from Old Norse hlýða (“to listen”), from Proto-Germanic *hliuþijaną (“to listen”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewe- (“to hear”). Cognate with Danish lytte (“to listen”). Related to Old English hlēoþor (“noise, sound, voice, song, hearing”), Old English hlūd (“loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous”). More at loud.

Verb

lithe (third-person singular simple present lithes, present participle lithing, simple past and past participle lithed)

  1. (intransitive, obsolete) To attend; listen.
  2. (transitive) To listen to.

Etymology 5

Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of lewth.

Noun

lithe (plural lithes)

  1. (Scotland) Shelter.
    • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song:
      So Cospatric got him the Pict folk to build a strong castle there in the lithe of the hills, with the Grampians dark and bleak behind it, and he had the Den drained and he married a Pict lady and got on her bairns and he lived there till he died.

Anagrams

Middle English

Etymology 1

From from Old English lēoht (“light, daylight; power of vision; luminary; world”), from Proto-Germanic *leuhtą (“light”), from Proto-Indo-European *lewktom, from the root *lewk- (“light”).

Noun

lithe (plural lithes)

  1. Alternative form of light

References

Etymology 2

From Old English liþ (“limb, member, joint, point”).

Noun

lithe (plural lithes)

  1. Alternative form of lyth

References

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