Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lacking in rigor, strictness, or firmness. synonym: negligent.
  • adjective Not taut, firm, or compact; slack. synonym: loose.
  • adjective Loose and not easily retained or controlled. Used of bowel movements.
  • adjective Linguistics Pronounced with the muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed, as the vowel (ĕ) in let.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To relax.
  • Slack; loose; soft; not firm in texture, consistency, or tension; readily yielding to touch or pressure: as, lax flesh or fiber; a lax cord.
  • Loose; free; being at ease.
  • Relaxed; not retentive: as, lax bowels.
  • Loose as regards force or energy; wanting vigor; weak; remiss; lacking in strictness: as, lax discipline; he is lax in his duty.
  • Loose in construction or application; not rigidly exact or precise; vague; equivocal.
  • In botany, loose or open; not compact: said of some panicles.
  • noun A loosing; relief.
  • noun A looseness; diarrhea.
  • noun A salmon.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A looseness; diarrhea.
  • adjective Not tense, firm, or rigid; loose; slack
  • adjective Not strict or stringent; not exact; loose; weak; vague; equivocal.
  • adjective Having a looseness of the bowels; diarrheal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective lenient and allowing for deviation; not strict.
  • adjective loose; not tight or taut.
  • adjective lacking care; neglectful, negligent
  • noun lacrosse
  • noun Scotland A salmon.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective pronounced with muscles of the tongue and jaw relatively relaxed (e.g., the vowel sound in `bet')
  • adjective lacking in rigor or strictness
  • adjective emptying easily or excessively
  • adjective lacking in strength or firmness or resilience

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, from Latin laxus, loose, lax; see slēg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin laxus ("wide, roomy, loose")

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English lax, from Old English leax ("salmon"), from Proto-Germanic *lahsaz (“salmon”), from Proto-Indo-European *lAḱis- (“salmon, trout”). Cognate with Middle Dutch lacks, lachs, lasche ("salmon"), Middle Low German las ("salmon"), German Lachs ("salmon"), Danish laks ("salmon"), Swedish lax ("salmon"), Icelandic lax ("salmon"), Lithuanian lašišà ("salmon"), Latvian lasis, Russian лосось (losos, "salmon"), Albanian leshterik ("eel-grass"). See also lox.

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Examples

  • Speaking to security officials, Medvedev said airport officials and police responsible for what he called lax security at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport would be punished.

    World Watch 2011

  • Five years later, the FSA ordered Citibank Japan to suspend sales activities at the bank's retail business, including advertising, for a month for what it called lax policies to protect against money laundering.

    Citigroup Under Scrutiny in Japan Atsuko Fukase 2011

  • Speaking to security officials, Mr. Medvedev said airport officials and police responsible for what he called lax security at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport would be punished.

    Russia Vows Crackdown on Terror Richard Boudreaux 2011

  • ZURICH—Swiss regulator Finma may discipline four banks for having what it called lax controls on accepting money from foreign public officials associated with deposed Middle Eastern and North African leaders, but generally found that the country's lenders complied with anti-money-laundering rules.

    Swiss Banks Face Sanctions Deborah Ball 2011

  • The union has been at odds with Morton over what it calls lax enforcement and gave him a no-confidence vote in June.

    Unusual methods helped ICE break deportation record, e-mails and interviews show Andrew Becker 2010

  • The union has been at odds with Morton over what it calls lax enforcement and gave him a no-confidence vote in June.

    Unusual methods helped ICE break deportation record, e-mails and interviews show Andrew Becker 2010

  • Mr. Webb blasted the exchange for what he characterized as lax enforcement of its listing rules, which, he wrote, were too heavily influenced by special interests.

    Director Resigns in Protest 2008

  • Many came out and criticize what they described as lax security measures for this rally, but the government pointed out that this incident happened outside the rally, in a perimeter set up by police, Richard.

    CNN Transcript Jul 6, 2008 2008

  • ZAHN: Bill, earlier this morning, you pointed out a blistering piece in "The Boston Globe," focusing in on some of what they describe as lax security at the airport.

    CNN Transcript Sep 26, 2001 2001

  • Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations last February criticized Bank of America and HSBC for what it called lax policing on a few African accounts, including some from Angola and

    NYT > Home Page By NEIL MacFARQUHAR 2011

Comments

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  • Airport code for Los Angeles International Airport. The original code was just "LA," but when airport codes were universally expanded in the 1930's to three letters, the "X" was added to fill out the code. It doesn't mean anything.

    October 21, 2008

  • Doesn't it mark the spot where the buried treasure is?

    October 22, 2008

  • Or the spot where the runaway bus hits.

    October 23, 2008