lung
nouncommon in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈlʌŋ//
- //lʊŋ//
- //lʊŋɡ//
A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
noun
- 1
A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
I made a speaking trumpet of my hands and commenced to whoop “Ahoy!” and “Hello!” at the top of my lungs. […] The Colonel woke up, and, after asking what in brimstone was the matter, opened his mouth and roared “Hi!” and “Hello!” like the bull of Bashan.
- 2
Capacity for exercise or exertion; breath.
He no longer has the lungs to play long rallies like he used to.
- 3
That which supplies oxygen or fresh air, such as trees, parklands, forest, etc., to a place.
Afterwards he found that the vague feeling of alarm had spread to the clients of the underground railway, and that the Sunday excursionists began to return from all the South-Western "lungs" - Barnes, Wimbledon, Richmond Park, Kew, and so forth - at unnaturally early hours[.]
Etymology
From Middle English lunge, longe, from Old English lungen, from Proto-Germanic *lunganjō, an enlargement of *lungô (“the light organ, lung”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₁lengʷʰ-, whence ultimately also light. Cognate with West Frisian long, Dutch long, German Lunge, Danish, Norwegian Bokmål, and Norwegian Nynorsk lunge, Swedish lunga, Icelandic lunga, and also Russian лёгкое (ljóxkoje) (lung), Ancient Greek ἐλαφρός (elaphrós, “light in weight”) and perhaps Albanian lungë (“blister, bulge”). Compare Latin levis and Old English lēoht (Modern English light). See also lights (“lungs”). Superseded non-native Middle English pomoun (“lung”), borrowed from Old French poumon, pomon (“lung”).
Forms
- plural
- lungs
lung · A biological organ of vertebrates that controls breathing and oxygenates the blood.
Lung · A surname.Luo · An ethnic group in southern Sudan, Kenya, and neighboring…lupin · Any member of the genus Lupinus in the family Fabaceae.