• Lin

    Origin 1

    From Middle English linnen, from Old English linnan ("to cease from, desist, lose, yield up"), from Proto-Germanic *linnanÄ… ("to turn, move aside, avoid"), from Proto-Indo-European *ley- ("to elude, avoid, shrink from"). Cognate with Danish linne ("to stop, rest"), Swedish dialectal linna ("to pause, rest"), Icelandic linna ("to stop, rest").

    Full definition of lin

    Verb

    1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To desist (from something), stop.
      • 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I.i:Halfe furious vnto his foe he came,
        Resolv'd in minde all suddenly to win,
        Or soone to lose, before he once would lin ....
    2. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) To cease; leave off.

    Derived terms

    Origin 2

    From Irish or Gaelic.

    Alternative forms

    Noun

    lin

    (plural lins)
    1. A pool or collection of water, particularly one above or below a waterfall.
    2. A waterfall, or cataract.a roaring lin
    3. A steep ravine.

    Anagrams

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