Wiktionary

louse

English

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A head louse under illumination and magnified.

Etymology

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From Middle English lous, lows, lowse, from Old English lūs, from Proto-West Germanic *lūs, from Proto-Germanic *lūs, from Proto-Indo-European *lewH-.

See also West Frisian lûs, Dutch luis, German Low German Luus, German Laus; also Welsh llau (“lice”), Tocharian B luwo, maybe Sanskrit यूका (yūkā).

Pronunciation

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  • (UK) IPA(key): /laʊs/
  • Audio (UK):(file)
  • Rhymes: -aʊs

Noun

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louse (plural lice or louses)

  2. A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea.
  3. (colloquial, dated, not usually used in plural form) A contemptible person; one who is deceitful or causes harm.
    • 1946, Joseph Thompson Shaw, The hard-boiled omnibus: early stories from Black Mask, page 388:
      He said: "Thanks, friend; but you're wasting your time. You better warn Crocker. If that louse makes a play for me, he'll get hit with Chicago lightning!"
    • 1949, Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend (song)
      It's then that those louses go back to their spouses. Diamonds are a girl's best friend.
    • 1965 December, Phil Ochs, “That Was The Year That Weren't”, in Cavalier:
      […] as she raised her guitar for the last loud chord, an unseen louse let loose a rubber-tipped arrow that landed right on her dark-skinned forehead.
    • 1983 December 17, “GDMFSOB (personal advertisement)”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 22, page 17:
      After you get finished betraying all your friends, how long do you think it will be before you're all alone? You will age and die all alone. You are attractive but unloving and unlovable. You're the worst louse I have met in a long time. I hope you get what you deserve.

Usage notes

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  • When used as a term of abuse, the plural is typically louses, though lice is also possible.
  • Informally, it is common to use the plural form lice attributively, e.g. lice check.

Synonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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Verb

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louse (third-person singular simple present louses, present participle lousing, simple past and past participle loused)

  1. To remove lice from; to delouse.
    • 1938, Norman Lindsay, Age of Consent, 1st Australian edition, Sydney, N.S.W.: Ure Smith, published 1962, →OCLC, page 108:
      There were a few wire-netted enclosures to keep young chickens from the hawks, but the fowls wandered at large, coming about the hut to ruffle their feathers in the dust, and louse themselves, and pick up scraps.

Synonyms

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Translations

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Anagrams

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Galician

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Verb

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louse

  1. inflection of lousar:
    1. first/third-person singular present subjunctive
    2. third-person singular imperative

Middle English

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Noun

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louse

  1. Alternative form of lous
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