lag Meaning, Definition & Usage

noun the act of slowing down or falling behind
retardation; slowdown.
noun the time between one event, process, or period and another
meantime; interim; meanwhile.
- meanwhile the socialists are running the government
noun one of several thin slats of wood forming the sides of a barrel or bucket
stave.
verb hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc.
dawdle; fall behind; fall back.
verb lock up or confine, in or as in a jail
incarcerate; jug; remand; immure; gaol; jail; put away; imprison; put behind bars.
- The suspects were imprisoned without trial
- the murderer was incarcerated for the rest of his life
verb throw or pitch at a mark, as with coins
verb cover with lagging to prevent heat loss
- lag pipes

Of Celtic origin: cf. Gael. & Ir. lagweak, feeble, faint, W. llag, llac, slack, loose, remiss, sluggish; prob. akin to E. lax, languid.

Coming tardily after or behind; slow; tardy. Obs.
Came too lag to see him buried. Shak.
Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag end. "The lag end of my life." Shak.
Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior. Obs. "Lag souls." Dryden.

One who lags; that which comes in last. Obs. "The lag of all the flock." Pope.
The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.
The common lag of people. Shak.
The amount of retardation of anything, as of a valve in a steam engine, in opening or closing.
A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (Mach.), one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or a steam engine.
(Zoöl.) See Graylag.

imperfect & past participle Lagged ; present participle & verbal noun Lagging

To walk or more slowly; to stay or fall behind; to linger or loiter. "I shall not lag behind." Milton. Syn. -- To loiter; linger; saunter; delay; be tardy.

To cause to lag; to slacken. Obs. "To lag his flight." Heywood.
(Mach.) To cover, as the cylinder of a steam engine, with lags. See Lag, n., 4.