Origin:
1595–1605; special use of list² (roll of names, perhaps orig. of contestants in the lists); compare French liste < Italian lista roll of names, earlier, band, strip (e.g., of paper), border < Old High German (German Leiste)

Synonyms
1. register. List, catalog, inventory, roll, schedule imply a definite arrangement of items. List denotes a series of names, items, or figures arranged in a row or rows: a list of groceries. Catalog adds the idea of alphabetical or other orderly arrangement, and, often, descriptive particulars and details: a library catalog. An inventory is a detailed descriptive list of property, stock, goods, or the like made for legal or business purposes: a store inventory. A roll is a list of names of members of some defined group often used to ascertain their presence or absence: a class roll. A schedule is a methodical (especially official) list, often indicating the time or sequence of certain events: a train schedule. 7. record, catalog. 8. enroll.

Example Sentences

Both countries come fairly high on the list of countries that lose working days to labour disputes.

If you do the math on this list you'll notice that it has a considerable profit margin for the house.

The resulting alphabetical list is completely unmanageable, but again, you can search for a specific name.

EXPAND

Dictionary.com Unabridged

noun

a border or bordering strip, usually of cloth.

a selvage.

selvages collectively.

a strip of cloth or other material.

a strip or band of any kind.

EXPAND

a stripe of color.

a division of the hair or beard.

one of the ridges or furrows of earth made by a lister.

a strip of material, as bark or sapwood, to be trimmed from a board.

10.

fillet (def. 6a).

COLLAPSE

adjective

11.

made of selvages or strips of cloth.

verb (used with object)

12.

to produce furrows and ridges on (land) with a lister.

13.

to prepare (ground) for planting by making ridges and furrows.

14.

to cut away a narrow strip of wood from the edge of (a stave, plank, etc.).

15.

Obsolete. to apply a border or edge to.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English lista, Old English līst border; cognate with Dutch lijst, German Leiste (Old High German līsta)

noun

a careening, or leaning to one side, as of a ship.

verb (used without object)

(of a ship or boat) to incline to one side; careen: The ship listed to starboard.

verb (used with object)

to cause (a vessel) to incline to one side: The shifting of the cargo listed the ship to starboard.

Origin:
1620–30; origin uncertain

Synonyms
2, 3. tilt, slant, heel.

verb (used with object)

to please.

to like or desire.

verb (used without object)

to like; wish; choose.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English listen, lusten, Old English (ge)lystan to please; cognate with German gelüsten, Old Norse lysta to desire, akin to Gothic lustōn to desire. See lust

verb (used without object)

to listen.

verb (used with object)

to listen to.

Origin:
before 900; Middle English listen, Old English hlystan to listen, hear, derivative of hlyst ear; cognate with Swedish lysta; akin to Old Norse hlusta to listen. See listen

noun

Frie·drich

[free-drik] , 1789–1846, U.S. political economist and journalist, born in Germany.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To List

Collins

World English Dictionary

list¹ (lɪst)

—n
1.	an item-by-item record of names or things, usually written or printed one under the other
2.	computing a linearly ordered data structure
3.	be on the danger list to be in a critical medical or physical condition

—vb
4.	(tr) to make a list of
5.	(tr) to include in a list
6.	(Brit) (tr) to declare to be a listed building
7.	(tr) stock exchange to obtain an official quotation for (a security) so that it may be traded on the recognized market
8.	an archaic word for enlist

[C17: from French, ultimately related to list²; compare Italian lista list of names (earlier: border, strip, as of paper), Old High German līsta border]

'listable¹

—*adj*

list² (lɪst)

—n
1.	a border or edging strip, esp of cloth
2.	a less common word for selvage
3.	a strip of bark, sapwood, etc, trimmed from a board or plank
4.	another word for fillet
5.	a strip, band, ridge or furrow
6.	agriculture a ridge in ploughed land formed by throwing two furrows together

—vb
7.	to border with or as if with a list or lists
8.	agriculture to plough (land) so as to form lists
9.	to cut a list from (a board, plank, etc)

[Old English līst; related to Old High German līsta]

list³ (lɪst)

—vb
1.	(esp of ships) to lean over or cause to lean over to one side

—n
2.	the act or an instance of leaning to one side

[C17: origin unknown]

list⁴ (lɪst)

—vb
1.	to be pleasing to (a person)
2.	(tr) to desire or choose

—n
3.	a liking or desire

[Old English lystan; related to Old High German lusten and Gothic lūston to desire]

list⁵ (lɪst)

—vb
	an archaic or poetic word for listen

[Old English hlystan; related to Old Norse hlusta]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

list

"catalogue consisting of names in a row or series," 1602, from M.E. liste "border, edging, stripe" (c.1280), from O.Fr. liste "border, band, row, group," also "strip of paper," or from O.It. lista "border, strip of paper, list," both from a Gmc. source (cf. O.H.G. lista "strip, border, list," O.N. lista

EXPAND

"border, selvage," O.E. liste "border"), from P.Gmc. *liston, from PIE *leizd- "border, band." The sense of "enumeration" is from strips of paper used as a sort of catalogue. The O.E. word survives in archaic lists "place of combat," at the boundary of fields.

list

"tilt, lean," especially of a ship, 1880, earlier (1626) lust, of unknown origin, perhaps an unexplained spelling variant of M.E. lysten "to please, desire, wish, like" (see listless) with a sense development on the notion of "leaning" toward what one desires (cf. incline).

list

"hear, hearken," now poetic or obsolete, from O.E. hlystan "hear, hearken," from hlyst "hearing," from P.Gmc. *khlustiz, from PIE *kleu- "to hear" (see listen).

COLLAPSE

FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

list definition

data
A data structure holding many values, possibly of different types, which is usually accessed sequentially, working from the head to the end of the tail - an "ordered list". This contrasts with a (one-dimensional) array, any element of which can be accessed equally quickly.
Lists are often stored using a cell and pointer arrangement where each value is stored in a cell along with an associated pointer to the next cell. A special pointer, e.g. zero, marks the end of the list. This is known as a (singly) "linked list". A doubly linked list has pointers from each cell to both next and previous cells.
An unordered list is a set.
(1998-11-12)

American Heritage

Idioms & Phrases

list

see black list; enter the lists; sucker list.