local

Etymology

The adjective is borrowed from Old French local, from Late Latin localis (“belonging to a place”), from Latin locus (“a place”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊkl̩/
• (General American) enPR: lōk′əl, IPA^(key): /ˈloʊkl̩/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊkəl

Adjective

local (comparative more local, superlative most local)

1. From or in a nearby location.

   We prefer local produce.

   • 1918, W. B. Maxwell, chapter 22, in The Mirror and the Lamp:

     Not unnaturally, “Auntie” took this communication in bad part. […] Next day she […] tried to recover her ward by the hair of the head. Then, thwarted, the wretched creature went to the police for help; she was versed in the law, and had perhaps spared no pains to keep on good terms with the local constabulary.

   • 2012 December 1, “An internet of airborne things”, in The Economist, volume 405, number 8813, page 3 (Technology Quarterly):

     A farmer could place an order for a new tractor part by text message and pay for it by mobile money-transfer. A supplier many miles away would then take the part to the local matternet station for airborne dispatch via drone.

2. (computing, of a variable or identifier) Having limited scope (either lexical or dynamic); only being accessible within a certain portion of a program.
3. (mathematics, not comparable, of a condition or state) Applying to each point in a space rather than the space as a whole.
4. (medicine) Of or pertaining to a restricted part of an organism.

   The patient didn't want to be sedated, so we applied only local anesthesia.

5. Descended from an indigenous population.

   Hawaiian Pidgin is spoken by the local population.

Noun

local (plural locals)

1. A person who lives near a given place.

   It's easy to tell the locals from the tourists.

2. A branch of a nationwide organization such as a trade union.

   I'm in the TWU, too. Local 6.

3. (rail transport) A train that stops at all, or almost all, stations between its origin and destination, including very small ones.

   The expresses skipped my station, so I had to take a local.

4. (Britain) One's nearest or regularly frequented public house or bar.

   I got barred from my local, so I've started going all the way into town for a drink.

5. (programming) A locally scoped identifier.

   Functional programming languages usually don't allow changing the immediate value of locals once they've been initialized, unless they're explicitly marked as being mutable.

6. (US, slang, journalism) An item of news relating to the place where the newspaper is published.
7. (colloquial, medicine) Clipping of local anesthetic.

   1989, Road House, 39:59:

   Well, Mr. Dalton, you may add nine staples to your dossier of thirty‐one broken bones, two bullet wounds, nine puncture wounds and four steel screws. That’s an estimate, of course. I’ll give you a local.

Derived terms

Related terms

Further reading

• local in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• local in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• local at OneLook Dictionary Search

Anagrams

• colla

Adjective

local (epicene, plural locales)

1. Alternative form of llocal

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin locālis, from Latin locus

Adjective

local (masculine and feminine plural locals)

1. local

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin locālis, from Latin locus

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /lɔ.kal/

• audio

  (file)

Adjective

local (feminine singular locale, masculine plural locaux, feminine plural locales)

1. local

Noun

local m (plural locaux)

1. room

Further reading

• “local” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• colla

Adjective

local m (feminine singular locala, masculine plural locai, feminine plural locales)

1. local

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin locālis, from Latin locus. Cognate with the inherited lugar.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /lo.ˈkaw/
• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /lu.ˈkaɫ/

Adjective

local m, f (plural locais, comparable)

1. local

Noun

local m (plural locais)

1. premises, rooms
2. site
3. place, location

Etymology

Borrowed from French local, Late Latin localis.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /loˈkal/

Adjective

local m, n (feminine singular locală, masculine plural locali, feminine and neuter plural locale)

1. local

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin locālis, from Latin locus. Compare the inherited doublet lugar.

Adjective

local (plural locales)

1. local

Noun

local m (plural locales)

1. premises, rooms
2. (Mexico) store or other retail unit in a shopping center