Etymologically
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lid

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Pronunciation

Etymology

It is inherited from Middle English lid, inherited from Old English hlid (“lid, cover; opening, gate”),[2][3][4][5] from Proto-Germanic *hlidą,[6][7] a derivative of the verb seen in behlīdan (“to cover”).[2][8] It is cognate with Dutch lid, Old High German hlit (“lid, cover”) (surviving in German Augenlid (“eyelid”)) and Old Norse hlið (“gate, gap”).[2][4][9][10] Etymonline and Orel trace it to Proto-Indo-European *ḱley- (“to lean”), the root of lean;[3][6] Klein calls this probable.[10]

Earliest recorded meaning

A cover for the opening of a vessel: Old English, in Ælfric's Homilies.[2] Bosworth–Toller records the Old English word also for a gate or door and for the opening that a cover closes.[5]

Semantic evolution

The eyelid sense appears about 1220, in the Bestiary;[2][4] Etymonline dates it to the early 13th century.[3] Other closing covers followed: a door or shutter (1535), the top crust of a pie (1615, dialect), either cover of a book (1585, chiefly dialect and American), and in botany a seed-capsule cap (1681).[2] Johnson (1755) gave just the cover of a vessel and the eyelid.[11] In slang lid has meant a hat since 1858,[12] and the phrase put the lid on, to bring to an end or clamp down on, is recorded from 1915.[2] In the dialects of Kent it meant a coverlet, and in Gloucestershire a cupboard door.[13]

Timeline

  • Old English – a cover for a vessel.[2][5]
  • c1220 – an eyelid.[2][4]
  • ?c1225 – the verb, to cover with a lid.[2]
  • 1535 – a door or shutter.[2]
  • 1585 – either cover of a book.[2]
  • 1615 – the top crust of a pie.[2]
  • 1681 – in botany, an operculum.[2]
  • 1747 – in mining, a roof stone.[2]
  • 1858 – in slang, a hat.[12]
  • 1915 – put the lid on, to bring to an end or clamp down on.[2]
  • 1967 – in American slang, an amount of marijuana.[2][14]

Modern meaning

Noun

  1. A removable or hinged cover for a container.
  2. An eyelid.
  3. (botany) An operculum.
  4. (slang) A hat, or a crash helmet.
  5. (US, dated slang) About an ounce of marijuana.
  6. put a lid on or keep a lid on, to restrain or keep secret, and flip one's lid, to lose one's temper or go mad.

Verb

  1. To cover with a lid.

Word family

  • eyelid
  • lidless

References

  1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
  3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
  4. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
  5. ^ a b c Bosworth, Joseph; Toller, T. Northcote (1898), An Anglo-Saxon Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press; Toller, T. Northcote (1921), Supplement
  6. ^ a b Orel, Vladimir (2003), A Handbook of Germanic Etymology, Leiden / Boston: Brill
  7. ^ Ayto, John (2005), Word Origins: The Secret Histories of English Words from A to Z, 2nd ed., London: A & C Black
  8. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  9. ^ Holthausen, Ferdinand (1934), Altenglisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, Heidelberg: Carl Winter
  10. ^ a b Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
  11. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
  12. ^ a b Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
  13. ^ 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)
  14. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins