lag-goose, a personification of laziness, Tusser, Husbandry, § 85. 4. In Norfolk ‘lag-goose’ is in prov. use for the wild grey goose, see EDD. (s.v. Lag, sb.9).
lag: in phr. lag of duds, ‘buck’ or ‘wash’ of clothes, Fletcher, Beggar’s Bush, v. 1 (Higgen).
lag, to carry off, to steal. Tusser, Husbandry, § 20. 15.
laire; see [leer].
lam, to beat soundly, to thrash, flog. Lamming, a thrashing, Beaumont and Fl., King and no King, v. 3 (Bacurius); Honest Man’s Fortune, v. 2 (Laverdine); ‘Gaulée, a cudgelling, basting, lamming’, Cotgrave; lambed, pp. beaten, Dekker, Shoemakers’ Holiday, v. 2 (Firk). In gen. prov. and colloq. use (EDD.). Cp. Icel. lemja (pret. lamði), lit. to lame.
lamback, to beat severely. Rare Triumphs of Love, iv. 1 (Lentulo), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, vi. 204; Munday, Death E. Huntington, v. 1 (Brand), in Hazlitt’s Dodsley, viii. 305.
Lamia, a fabulous monster supposed to have the body of a woman, and to suck the blood of children. Burton, Anat. Mel. iii. 2; a witch, sorceress, ‘Where’s the lamia That tears my entrails?’, Massinger, Virgin Martyr, iv. 1. L. lamia, a witch supposed to suck children’s blood. In the Vulgate, Isaiah xxxiv. 14, the Heb. Lîlîth, ‘the night-hag’, is rendered lamia. Gk. Λάμια, a fabulous monster.
lampas, a disease incident to horses, consisting in a swelling of the fleshy lining of the roof of the mouth behind the front teeth. Described in Fitzherbert, Husbandry, § 81; Tam. Shrew, iii. 2. 52. F. lampas (Cotgr.).
lamping, shining brightly. Spenser, F. Q. iii. 3. 1. Cp. Ital. lampante, bright, shining (Florio).
lance-knight, a mercenary foot-soldier, esp. one armed with a lance or pike. B. Jonson, Every Man in Hum., ii. 4 (Brainworm). Palsgrave has: ‘Lansknyght, lancequenet.’ G. lanz-knecht, lance-knight, a perverted form of lands-knecht = land’s knight (see Weigand, s.v. Land). See Dict. (s.v. Lansquenet).