Lithe

Pronunciation

• IPA: /laɪð/
• Rhymes: -aɪð

From Middle English lithen, from Old English līþan ("to go, travel, sail, be bereft of"), from Proto-Germanic *līþaną ("to go, leave, suffer"), from Proto-Indo-European *leit- ("to go, depart, die"). Cognate with North Frisian lyen, lye ("to suffer"), Dutch lijden ("to suffer, dree, abide"), German leiden ("to suffer, brook, permit"). See also lode, lead.

Full definition of lithe

Verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To go.

From Middle English, from Old English līþe ("gentle, mild"), from Proto-Germanic *linþiz, from Proto-Indo-European *lento. Akin to Danish and German lind ("mild"), Icelandic linr ("soft to the touch"). Not attested in Gothic nor Old Norse. Some sources list also Latin lenis ("soft"), others Latin lentus ("supple").

Adjective

1. (obsolete) Mild; calm.lithe weather
2. slim but not skinnyA lithe body
3. Capable of being easily bent; pliant; flexible; limberthe elephant’s lithe proboscis.
• 1861, Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr., , page 125… she danced with a kind of passionate fierceness, her lithe body undulating with flexuous grace …

Synonyms

• lithesome, lissome

From Middle English lithen, from Old English līþian, līþiġian ("to soften, calm, mitigate, assuage, appease, be mild"), from Proto-Germanic *linþēną, *lenþēną ("to soften"), from Proto-Indo-European *lento- ("bendsome, resilient").

Verb

verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To become calm.
2. (transitive, obsolete) To make soft or mild; soften; alleviate; mitigate; lessen; smooth; palliate.

From Middle English lithen, from Old Norse hlýða ("to listen"), from Proto-Germanic *hliuþijaną ("to listen"), from Proto-Indo-European *ḱlewe- ("to hear"). Cognate with Danish lytte ("to listen"). Related to Old English hlēoþor ("noise, sound, voice, song, hearing"), Old English hlūd ("loud, noisy, sounding, sonorous"). More at loud.

Verb

1. (intransitive, obsolete) To give ear; attend; listen.
2. (transitive) To listen to.

Origin uncertain; perhaps an alteration of lewth.

Noun

1. (Scotland) Shelter.
• 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song:So Cospatric got him the Pict folk to build a strong castle there in the lithe of the hills, with the Grampians dark and bleak behind it, and he had the Den drained and he married a Pict lady and got on her bairns and he lived there till he died.

Anagrams

• lieth, Theil