lower

lower¹ less high; let down

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈləʊ.ə/, US /ˈloʊ.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

The adjective is Middle English lahre, later lower, the comparative of low,^[2][3][4] with the suffix -er.^[4] The verb is from the adjective;^[2][4] the older verb for “to cause to descend” was lahghenn, from low, used into the 18th century.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

Less high; an inferior: about 1200, as lahre.^[2][5]

Semantic evolution

Used in contrast to upper or higher, as in the lower deck or the lower house, the adjective is from 1590.^[5] As an adverb it is from the 1540s.^[2] The verb meant “to make lower, reduce” in the early 16th century,^[4] and “to descend, sink” from about 1600;^[2] “to let down, cause to descend” is from the 1650s^[2] or 1659.^[5] Lower class is from 1772, and the Lower 48, the contiguous American states, by 1961, in Alaska.^[2]

Timeline

• c. 1200 – adjective, lahre.^[2]
• 1540s – adverb.^[2]
• 1590 – contrasted with upper.^[5]
• c. 1600 – verb, to sink.^[2]
• 1659 – verb, to let down.^[5]
• 1772 – lower class.^[2]

Modern meaning

Adjective

1. Situated below a similar thing: the lower lip.
2. Below another in rank, position or authority.
3. Less advanced in development: lower organisms.
4. Earlier, older: the Lower Palaeolithic.

Verb

1. To let, bring or move down.
2. To reduce in value, degree or quality; to diminish.
3. To reduce in standing; to degrade.

Word family

• lowermost
• lower class
• lowercase
• lower house

lower² frown, look threatening

Pronunciation

• IPA: UK /ˈlaʊ.ə/, US /laʊr/, /ˈlaʊ.ɚ/^[1]

Etymology

The frowning is a variant of lour, Middle English louren, luren “to frown, scowl; to lurk”,^[2][6][7] from an unrecorded Old English *lūrian or from its cognates Middle Low German lūren and Middle Dutch loeren “to lie in wait”,^[2][8][6] related to German lauern (“to lurk”).^[6] Its spelling has perhaps been assimilated to lower¹.^[2]

Earliest recorded meaning

To frown, scowl: the early 13th century.^[2][9] The sense “to lurk” is from the mid-15th century.^[2]

Semantic evolution

Of the sky or weather, “to look dark and threatening”, it developed from the sense of a scowling face.^[10][2] The noun, a threatening look, is from the 14th century.^[8]

Timeline

• early 13th century – to frown.^[2]
• 14th century – noun, a scowl.^[8]
• mid-15th century – to lurk.^[2]

Modern meaning

Verb

1. To look angry, sullen or threatening; to scowl.
2. Of the sky or weather, to look dark and threatening.

Noun

1. A sullen or threatening look.

Word family

• lowering
• loweringly
• lowery

Related words

• low
• lour
• lurk
• upper

References

1. ^ a b Jones, Daniel (2011), Cambridge English Pronouncing Dictionary, 18th ed., ed. Peter Roach, Jane Setter and John Esling, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
3. ^ Hoad, T. F., ed. (1986), The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ a b c d e Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press
6. ^ a b c Klein, Ernest. A Comprehensive Etymological Dictionary of the English Language. 2 vols. Amsterdam: Elsevier, 1966–1967.
7. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (2000), 4th ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
8. ^ a b c Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
10. ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin