lass
nounattested in dialogue
- United States//læs//
A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.
noun
- 1
A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.
Come and dance, ye lads and lasses!
[T]heyr founders soules / Haue lost theyr beade rolles, / The mony for theyr masses / Spent amonge wanton lasses; […]
Ste[phano]. Is it ſo braue a Laſſe? / Cal[iban]. I [i.e., aye] Lord, ſhe vvill become thy bed, I vvarrant, / And bring thee forth braue brood.
This is the prettieſt Lovv-borne Laſſe, that euer / Ran on the greene-ſord: […]
- 2
A girl; also (by extension), a young woman. A female member of the Salvation Army; a hallelujah lass.
Jenny Hill, a pale, overwrought, pretty Salvation lass of 18, comes in through the yard gate, leading Peter Shirley, a half hardened, half worn-out elderly man, weak with hunger.
- 3
A sweetheart.
But firſt him ſeemed fit, that vvounded Knight / To viſite, after this nights perillous paſſe, / And to ſalute him, if he vvere in plight, / And eke [also] that Lady his faire louely laſſe.
It vvas a Louer, and his laſſe, / VVith a hey, and a ho, and a hey nonino, / That o're the greene corne feild did paſſe, / In the ſpring time, the onely pretty rang [ring] time, / VVhen Birds do ſing, hey ding a ding, ding.
The youthfull Bull muſt vvander in the VVood; / Behind the Mountain, or beyond the Flood: / […] / VVith tvvo fair Eyes his Miſtreſs burns his Breaſt; / He looks, and languiſhes, and leaves his Reſt; / Forſakes his Food, and pining for the Laſs, / Is joyleſs of the Grove, and ſpurns the grovving graſs.
There might ye ſee the pioney ſpread vvide, / The full-blovvn roſe, the ſhepherd and his laſs, / Lap-dog and lambkin vvith black ſtaring eyes, / And parrots vvith tvvin cherries in their beak.
- 4
A female servant; a maid, a maidservant.
[…] I'll tell ye that after we are done wi' our supper, for it will may be no be sae weel to speak about it while that lang-lugged limmer o' a lass is gaun flisking in and out o' the room.
[S]ure aneugh, the lass washed clottered blood aff the carpet the neist day.
She fleyed Johnnie awa' frae the door when he was for daffin' wi' the serving lasses.
- 5
A term of address for a woman, or a female animal.
As fair art thou, my bonie laſs, / So deep in luve am I; / And I will luve thee ſtill, my Dear, / Till a' the ſeas gang dry.
"Hi, Juno, lass—hi, old girl; down, Daph, down," said Wardle, caressing the dogs.
Etymology
From Middle English las, lasce, lasse (“female infant or child; young woman”), traditionally derived from Old Norse lǫskr (“unmarried”, adjective); see Middle English las for more. Cognates Scots lass, lassie
Forms
- plural
- lasses
lass · A girl; also (by extension), a young woman.
lassie · A young girl, a lass, especially one seen as a sweetheart.Lassie · A name given to female dogs.last · Final, ultimate, coming after all others of its kind.