leash

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lees, also lese and leshe,^[2][3][4] borrowed from Old French lesse, also laisse,^[5][6][7][3] the modern form being French laisse.^[5][7] The Old French noun is from laissier (“to let go, loosen”),^[8][2][3] used specifically of letting a dog run on a slack lead.^[7][9][10] The verb is from Latin laxō (“to loosen”),^[3] from laxus (“loose, slack”),^[3][6] the source of lax;^[3][6] the OED and Etymonline suggest that the noun goes back to the feminine laxa, used as a noun,^[5][6] and Skeat glossed the Late Latin word as "a thong, a loose rope".^[11] In Anglo-Norman the noun is recorded from the mid-12th century, already for a leash and for three hounds.^[12] It is related to lease.^[8][2]

Earliest recorded meaning

The thong or line on which hounds or coursing dogs are held: before 1300, in a legend of Saint Gregory,^[5] about 1300 in Etymonline.^[6] Barnhart dates it probably before 1300, in Arthour and Merlin.^[3]

Semantic evolution

Etymonline sees in the word the idea of a string held loosely.^[6] Because hounds were coupled in threes, leash came to mean a set of three in the language of hunting, first of hounds, hawks, foxes, hares or deer and then of anything (about 1330);^[5][6][13] Anglo-Norman already used it this way.^[12] In falconry it was the thong passed through the varvels of a hawk's jesses (1497),^[5] and Johnson (1755) defined it as the thong by which a falconer holds his hawk or a courser leads his greyhound.^[14] The figurative sense of control, as in to hold in leash, is found from about 1430,^[5][6] and on a short leash, under close control, from 1911.^[5] A sense "snare, noose", first in Chaucer, lasted until the early 19th century.^[5][4] The verb, to attach with a leash, is first found in Shakespeare's Henry V,^[5][3] though an older Scots verb meant to whip.^[5] In weaving a leash is one of the cords of a heddle (1731),^[5] and in surfing the cord that ties a board to the surfer's ankle (1971).^[5] In Scots a leash was also a long piece of rope or thread, and figuratively freedom or scope.^[15]

Timeline

• before 1300 – the thong on which hounds are held.^[5]
• c. 1330 – a set of three, in hunting.^[5]
• c. 1374 – a snare or noose, in Chaucer (obsolete by 1814).^[5]
• c. 1430 – figurative, restraint or control.^[5]
• 1497 – in hawking, the thong that secures a hawk.^[5]
• 1503 – verb, to whip (Scots; now dialect).^[5]
• 1526 – the leash, the department of the royal household that kept the hounds (until 1665).^[5]
• 1599 – verb, to attach by a leash, in Shakespeare's Henry V.^[3][5]
• 1731 – in weaving, a cord of a heddle.^[5]
• 1911 – on a short leash.^[5]
• 1971 – a surfboard leash.^[5]

Meanings

Noun

1. A strap, cord or chain fastened to an animal's collar or harness and held to lead or control it; a lead: She walked the puppy on a long leash.^[16][2][5]
2. A means of control or restraint: The new manager kept her staff on a tight leash.^[16][5]
3. (hunting) A set of three animals of one kind, such as hounds, foxes or hares.^[16][5][6]
4. In falconry, the thong that secures a hawk by its jesses.^[5][2]
5. A cord tying a surfboard to the surfer's ankle.^[5]
6. strain at the leash: to be impatient to begin or to be free.^[16][10]
7. (obsolete, 1374–1814) A snare or noose.^[5][4]

Verb

1. To fasten or hold with a leash: Dogs must be leashed in the park.^[16][2][5]
2. To control or restrain: He leashed his temper for the rest of the meeting.^[16][2]

Related words

• lax
• lease
• relax
• release
• unleash

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
4. ^ a b c Mayhew, A. L.; Skeat, Walter W. (1888), A Concise Dictionary of Middle English from A.D. 1150 to 1580, Oxford: Clarendon Press
5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z 27 28 29 30 31 Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b c Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
8. ^ a b The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (online 2024), 5th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
9. ^ Stevenson, Angus, ed. (2010), Oxford Dictionary of English, 3rd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
10. ^ a b Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
11. ^ Skeat, Walter W. (1911), A Concise Etymological Dictionary of the English Language, new ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
12. ^ a b Anglo-Norman Dictionary (AND2), Aberystwyth University, anglo-norman.net (2nd ed., 2005–)
13. ^ Weekley, Ernest (1921), An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, London: John Murray
14. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
15. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
16. ^ a b c d e f Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins