lasso
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Pronunciation
- IPA: /ˈlæs.oʊ/, /læˈsuː/[1]
Etymology
It is borrowed from Spanish lazo (“snare, slipknot”),[2][3][4][5][6] from Latin laqueus (“noose, snare”).[3][4][5][6] The AHD traces it through Vulgar Latin *laceum.[2] It is related to lace.[2][4][6]
Earliest recorded meaning
A long rope of untanned hide with a noose at the end, used to catch cattle and wild horses (1768, as laço).[7][4]
Semantic evolution
The word is originally American English.[3][4] The modern spelling is recorded from 1808 for the noun;[4][5] the verb, to catch with a lasso, appears in 1807,[7][3][4][5] and was soon used figuratively.[7] Barnhart dates the noun only from 1819.[3] Etymonline notes that a lasso can serve as a lariat, but not the other way round.[4]
Timeline
Modern meaning
Noun
- A long rope with a running noose at one end, used especially to catch horses and cattle; a lariat.
- A tool in image-editing software for selecting an irregular area by drawing round it.
Verb
- To catch with a lasso, or as if with one.
Word family
- lassoer
Related words
- lace
- lariat
- noose
References
- ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
- ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
- ^ a b c d e f Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
- ^ a b c d e f Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
- ^ a b c Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
- ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press