lask
/lɑːsk/US/læsk/
lask verb: to have loose bowels; to suffer from diarrhoea.
Verb
lask (third-person singular simple present lasks, present participle lasking, simple past and past participle lasked)
Adjective
lask (comparative more lask, superlative most lask)
Noun
lask (countable and uncountable, plural lasks)
- Originally of both persons and animals, now only of animals: looseness of the bowels; diarrhoea; (countable) a bout of this ailment.
- Pannick ſtoppeth the laske as Millet doth, being boiled (as Plinie reporteth) in Goates milk and drunke twiſe in a day.1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Panick”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book I, page 79
- A graue & learned Miniſter, and an ordinary Preacher at Alcmar in Holland, was one day (as hee was walking in the fields for his recreation) ſuddenly taken with a laske or looſeneſſe, and therevpon compelled to retire to the next ditch; but being ſurpriſed at vnawares, by ſome Gentlewomen of his...1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], “Shame and Disgrace, Causes”, in The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry...
Forms of lask
| Verb | |
|---|---|
| third-person singular present | lasks |
| present participle | lasking |
| past participle | lasked |
| past | lasked |
| alternative form | laske |
| Adjective | |
| comparative | more lask |
| superlative | most lask |
| Noun | |
| plural | lasks |
Origin of lask
From Middle English lasken (“to diminish, weaken (the blood or other body fluids, body tissues, etc.); to thin (the blood through bloodletting); to alleviate (pain, sickness); to grow weak; to shorten (one’s life)”) [and other forms], from Old Northern French *lasquer, Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”) (modern French lâcher (“to let go of, release; to loosen”)), from Vulgar Latin *lascāre, *lassicāre, from Latin *laxicāre, the frequentative of Latin laxāre, the present active infinitive of laxō (“to relax, weaken; to release, undo; to make wide, open”), from laxus (“free, loose, slack; roomy, spacious, wide”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)leg-, *(s)leh₁g- (“faint; weak”).
From Middle English laske (“lax, weak; of the bowels: loose”), from Old Northern French *lasque, Old French laske, lasche (“not taut or tight, limp”) (modern French lâche (“loose, slack”)), from Old French lascher, laschier (“to let go of, release; to loosen, relax”): see further at etymology 1.
From the adjective: see etymology 2.
Words that rhyme with lask
5 more rhymesFewer rhymes
Questions about lask
- What does lask mean?
- Lask means to have loose bowels; to suffer from diarrhoea.
- What part of speech is lask?
- Lask can be a verb, an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce lask?
- Lask is pronounced /lɑːsk/ (UK).
- What is the past tense of lask?
- The past tense of lask is lasked.
Words near lask in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: lask (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lask.wav.
Cite this entry: “lask.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/lask. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.