What does "lid" mean?
The top or cover of a container.
Lid
/lɪd/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: The top or cover of a container.
- Grammar: lid is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: eyelid, baby blues, banjo eyes, bottlecap.
- Useful contrasts: mouthe, open eye, uncover.
- Usage evidence: The instant I open the lid an offensive smell greets my nose.
How to use "lid"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lid" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lid" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lid" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lid" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lid" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "eyelid" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "lid", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 The top or cover of a container.
- 2 headdress that protects the head from bad weather; has shaped crown and usually a brim wordnet
- 3 A cap or hat. slang
"“Yes, sir, if that was the language of love, I'll eat my hat,” said the blood relation, alluding, I took it, to the beastly straw contraption in which she does her gardening, concerning which I can only say that it is almost as foul as Uncle Tom's Sherlock Holmes deerstalker, which has frightened more crows than any other lid in Worcestershire."
- 4 a movable top or cover (hinged or separate) for closing the opening at the top of a box, chest, jar, pan, etc. wordnet
- 5 One ounce of cannabis. slang
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 either of two folds of skin that can be moved to cover or open the eye wordnet
- 7 A bodyboard or bodyboarder. Australia, slang
"Mal rider, shortboard or lid everyone surfs like a kook sometimes."
- 8 An operculum or other lid-like cover.
- 9 A motorcyclist's crash helmet. slang
- 10 In amateur radio, an incompetent operator. slang
- 11 Clipping of eyelid. abbreviation, alt-of, clipping
"But he suddenly started up, and, closing his eyes, placed his fingers upon the lids, as though he sought to imprison within his brain some curious dream from which he feared he might awake."
- 12 A hermetically sealed top piece on a microchip such as the integrated heat spreader on a CPU.
- 13 A restraint or control, as when "putting a lid" on something. figuratively
"Basically he says that there is a lid on my organization and on my future, and that lid is me. I am the problem with my company and you are the problem with your company."
- 14 A kid (from the rhyming slang bin lid). slang
Verb
- 1 To put a lid on (something). transitive
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
"The instant I open the lid an offensive smell greets my nose."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lid"?
Common synonyms include: eyelid, baby blues, banjo eyes, bottlecap, bright eyes, bung.
How do you use "lid" in a sentence?
The instant I open the lid an offensive smell greets my nose.
How do you pronounce "lid"?
Pronounced /lɪd/.
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English lid, lyd, from Old English hlid, from Proto-West Germanic *hlid, from Proto-Germanic *hlidą (compare Dutch lid, German Lid (“eyelid”), Swedish lid (“gate”)), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlitós (“covered”), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to cover”).