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List

//lɪst// name, noun, verb

Definitions

Proper Noun

1
A surname.

Noun

1
A strip of fabric, especially from the edge of a piece of cloth.
"1. Gent[leman]. Well: there went but a paire of ſheeres betweene vs. / Luc[io]. I grant: as there may betweene the Liſts, and the Veluet. Thou art the Liſt. / 1. Gent. And thou the Veluet. Thou art good Veluet; thou'rt a three pild-piece I warrant thee: I had as liefe be a Lyſt of an Engliſh Kerſey, as be pil'd, as thou art pil'd, for a French Veluet. Do I ſpeake feelingly now?"
2
Art; craft; cunning; skill. archaic, uncountable
"In discussing the Syllabus and the last dogma of 1870, so much must be allowed for Italian list and cunning, or a word-fence. An Englishman, with his matter-of-fact way of putting things, is no match for these gentry."
3
Desire, inclination. obsolete
"I know too much: / I finde it, I; for when I ha liſt to ſleepe, / Mary, before your Ladiſhip I grant, / She puts her tongue alittle in her heart, / And chides with thinking."
4
A tilt to a building.
5
the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the vertical wordnet

Show 13 more definitions

6
Material used for cloth selvage.
"Previous to the offering up of prayer, however, the persons chosen for this office [of praying for the people] had divested themselves of their boots and put on list slippers, their hands being washed by "the descendants of Levi" at a basin near the Holy of Holies."
7
A careening or tilting to one side, usually not intentionally or under a vessel's own power.
8
a database containing an ordered array of items (names or topics) wordnet
9
A register or roll of paper consisting of a compilation or enumeration of a set of possible items; the compilation or enumeration itself.
"Natures that haue much Heat, and great and violent deſires and Perturbations, are not ripe for Action, till they haue paſſed the Meridian of their yeares: As it was with Iulius Cæſar, and Septimius Seuerus. […] And yet he [Septimus Severus] was the Ableſt Emperour, almoſt, of all the Liſt."
10
The barriers or palisades used to fence off a space for jousting or tilting tournaments. historical, in-plural
"On pain of death, no person be so bold Or daring-hardy as to touch the lists, Except the marshal and such officers Appointed to direct these fair designs."
11
The scene of a military contest; the ground or field of combat; an enclosed space that serves as a battlefield; the site of a pitched battle. historical, in-plural
"The sun’s bright lances rout the mists of morning, and by George! Here’s Longstreet struggling in the lists, hemmed in an ugly gorge. Pope and his Yankees, whipped before, “Bay’nets and grape!” hear Stonewall roar; “Charge, Stuart! Pay off Ashby’s score!” in “Stonewall Jackson’s Way.”"
12
A codified representation of a list used to store data or in processing; especially, in the Lisp programming language, a data structure consisting of a sequence of zero or more items.
"Lisp is an applicative language. This means that it is structured around applying functions (operations) to a linked list of arguments that accompany those functions. […] A function call or function definition is only coded in the syntax of a list, which can be of an indefinite length. Thus, the list is the only data structure for a Lisp program."
13
A little square moulding; a fillet or listel.
"STRIÆ, in ancient architecture, the liſts, fillets or rays which ſeparate the ſtriges or flutings of columns."
14
A narrow strip of wood, especially sapwood, cut from the edge of a board or plank.
15
A piece of woollen cloth with which the yarns are grasped by a worker.
16
The first thin coating of tin; a wire-like rim of tin left on an edge of the plate after it is coated.
17
A stripe. obsolete
"Thus the Aſſe having a peculiar mark of a croſſe made by a black liſt down his back, and another athwart, or at right angles down his ſhoulders; common opinion aſcribes this figure unto a peculiar ſignation; ſince that beaſt had the honour to bear our Saviour on his back."
18
A boundary or limit; a border. obsolete
"[W]ere it good / […] to ſet ſo rich a maine / On the nice hazard of one doubtfull houre? / It were not good for therein ſhould we read / The very bottome and the ſoule of hope, / The very liſt, the very vtmost bound / Of all our fortunes."

Verb

1
To create or recite a list. transitive
2
To listen. intransitive, poetic
"2 [Soldier] Peace, what noiſe? / 1 [Soldier] Liſt liſt. / 2 Hearke. / 1 Music i' th' Ayre."
3
To desire, like, or wish (to do something). archaic, transitive
"who liſt to lyue yn quyetnes by me lett hym beware For I by highe dyſdayne ame made withoute redreſſe and vnkyndenes Alas hathe ſlayne my poore trew hart all comfortles"
4
To cause (something) to tilt to one side. transitive
"the steady wind listed the ship"
5
give or make a list of; name individually; give the names of wordnet

Show 18 more definitions

6
To place in listings. transitive
"As the export market for tropical hardwoods expanded, timber from tropical rain forests very rapidly became the dominant or major forest product, dominant to such an extent that trade figures often do not even list the minor forest products exported, or their value."
7
To listen to. poetic, transitive
"Then way what loſſe your honor may ſuſtaine / If with too credent eare you liſt his ſongs / Or looſe your hart, or your chaſt treaſure open / To his vnmaſtred importunity."
8
To be pleasing to. archaic, transitive
"Might then I depart, and dwell as listeth me, out of all the world?"
9
To tilt to one side. intransitive
"the ship listed to port"
10
enumerate wordnet
11
To sew together, as strips of cloth, so as to make a show of colours, or to form a border. transitive
12
tilt to one side wordnet
13
To cover with list, or with strips of cloth; to put list on; to stripe as if with list. transitive
"to list a door"
14
cause to lean to the side wordnet
15
To plough and plant with a lister. transitive
16
include in a list wordnet
17
To prepare (land) for a cotton crop by making alternating beds and alleys with a hoe. Southern-US, transitive
18
To cut away a narrow strip, as of sapwood, from the edge of. transitive
"to list a board"
19
To enclose (a field, etc.) for combat. transitive
20
To engage a soldier, etc.; to enlist. obsolete, transitive
"[…] It is therefore ordered that the Maior and Aldermen of Colchester [et al.], shall forthwith procure and raise in the said severall townes, and other pleces adjacent, two thousand horses for dragooners, or as manie as possible they may, for the service as aforesaid, and with all possible speed to send them up to London unto Thomas Browne Grocer, and Maximilian Beard Girdler, by us appointed to list horses for the service aforesaid; […]"
21
To engage in public service by enrolling one's name; to enlist. intransitive, obsolete
22
To give a building of architectural or historical interest listed status; see also the adjective listed.
"A century later, BR demolished the downside main buildings, so the eastbound and central platforms were promptly listed - which has ensured their survival, albeit increasingly neglected in recent years. This has now been rectified, [...]."
23
To trade on a particular stock exchange. intransitive
"Responsible for public affairs, business strategy, corporate development and finance, he [Donald Tang] now faces the task of getting an initial public offering over the line in London after ditching earlier plans to list in New York in the face of US political opposition."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English lī̆st, lī̆ste (“band, stripe; hem, selvage; border, edge, rim; list, specification; barriers enclosing area for jousting, etc.”), from Old English līste (“hem, edge, strip”), or Old French liste, listre (“border; band; strip of paper; list”), or Medieval Latin lista, all from Proto-West Germanic *līstā, from Proto-Germanic *līstǭ (“band, strip; hem, selvage; border, edge”), possibly from Proto-Indo-European *leys- (“to trace, track”). Cognates * Saterland Frisian Lieste (“margin, strip, list”) * Dutch lijst (“picture frame, list”) * German Low German Liest (“edging, border”) * German Leiste (“strip, rail, ledge; (heraldry) bar”) * Swedish lista (“list”) * Icelandic lista listi (“list”) * Italian lista (“list; strip”) * Portuguese lista (“list”) * Spanish lista (“list, roll; stripe”) * Galician lista (“band, strip; list”) * Finnish lista (“(informal) list; batten”).

Etymology 2

Etymology 3

From Middle English list, liste (“ability, cleverness, cunning, skill; adroitness, dexterity; strategem, trick; device, design, token”), from Old English list (“art, craft; cleverness, cunning, experience, skill”), from Proto-West Germanic *listi, from Proto-Germanic *listiz (“art, craft”), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-, *leyǝs- (“furrow, trace, track, trail”). The word is cognate with Dutch list (“artifice, guile, sleight; ruse, strategem”), German List (“cunning, guile; ploy, ruse, trick”), Low German list (“artifice, cunning; prudence, wisdom”), Icelandic list (“art”), Saterland Frisian list (“cunning, knowledge”), Scots list (“art, craft, skill; cunning”), Swedish list (“art; cunning, guile, wile; ruse, trick; stealth”), and possibly Spanish listo (“clever”). It is also related to learn, lore.

Etymology 4

From Middle English listen, from Old English hlystan (“to listen”), from hlyst (“hearing”), from Proto-West Germanic *hlusti, from Proto-Germanic *hlustiz (“hearing”).

Etymology 5

From Middle English listen, list, liste, leste, lesten (“to choose, desire, wish (to do something)”), from Old English lystan, from Proto-West Germanic *lustijan, from Proto-Germanic *lustijaną, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz (“pleasure”). The word is cognate with Saterland Frisian läste (“to wish for, desire, crave”), West Frisian lêste (“to like, desire”), Dutch lusten (“to appreciate, like; to lust”), German lüsten, gelüsten (“to desire, want, crave”), Danish lyste (“to desire, feel like, want”), Faroese lysta (“to desire”). The noun sense is from the verb, or from Middle English list, liste, lest, leste (“desire, wish; craving, longing; enjoyment, joy, pleasure”), which is derived from Middle English listen, list (verb).

Etymology 6

Etymology 7

Uncertain; possibly from tilting on lists in jousts, or from Etymology 4 in the sense of inclining towards what one desires.

Etymology 8

Uncertain; possibly from tilting on lists in jousts, or from Etymology 4 in the sense of inclining towards what one desires.

Etymology 9

* As a Dutch and German surname, from the noun list (“wisdom, ingenuity”). * Also as a Dutch surname, from the placename Ter List, from lis (“iris flag”). * As a Hungarian surname, Americanized from Lizst, from the noun liszt (“flour”). * As a Slovene and Serbo-Croatian surname, from list (“leaf”), or Slavicized from the Hungarian surname above.

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