lag

verb (used without object)

to fail to maintain a desired pace or to keep up; fall or stay behind: After five minutes of hard running, some of them began to lag.

to move or develop slowly, as toward a goal or objective, or in relation to an associated factor (often followed by behind ): to lag behind in production.

to delay or fail in reaching full development: The factory lags regularly in making its quota.

to hang back; linger; delay: The old friends lagged because they wanted to talk some more.

to decrease, wane, or flag gradually, as in intensity: Interest lagged as the meeting went on.

Marbles. to throw one's shooting marble toward a line (lag line) on the ground in order to decide on the order of play.

Billiards, Pool. string ( def 17b ).

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verb (used with object)

to fail to keep up with: The industry still lags the national economy.

Obsolete. to cause to lag.

00:10

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to swindle, cheat, hoodwink, or hoax.

to run away hurriedly; flee.

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noun

10.

a lagging or falling behind; retardation.

11.

a person who lags behind, is the last to arrive, etc.

12.

an interval or lapse of time: There was a developmental lag in the diffusion of ideas.

13.

Mechanics. the amount of retardation of some motion.

14.

Electricity. the retardation of one alternating quantity, as current, with respect to another related alternating quantity, as voltage, often expressed in degrees.

15.

Marbles, Billiards. the act of lagging.

Origin:
1505–15; < Scandinavian: compare Norwegian lagga to go slowly

Synonyms
1. loiter, linger. 10. slowing, slowdown.

Antonyms
1. hasten.

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used with object)

to send to penal servitude; imprison.

noun

a convict or ex-convict.

a period or term of penal servitude; prison sentence.

Origin:
1565–75; origin uncertain

noun

one of the staves or strips that form the periphery of a wooden drum, the casing of a steam cylinder, or the like.

Masonry. a crosspiece between ribs in a centering.

verb (used with object)

to line or cover (an excavation) with lagging.

to cover with insulation, as a steam boiler, to prevent radiation of heat.

Origin:
1665–75; < Scandinavian; compare Swedish lagg stave

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To lag

Collins

World English Dictionary

lag¹ (læɡ)

—vb , lags, lagging, lagged
1.	(often foll by behind) to hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc
2.	to fall away in strength or intensity
3.	to determine an order of play in certain games, as by rolling marbles towards a line or, in billiards, hitting cue balls up the table against the top cushion in an attempt to bring them back close to the headrail

—n
4.	the act or state of slowing down or falling behind
5.	the interval of time between two events, esp between an action and its effect
6.	an act of lagging in a game, such as billiards

[C16: of obscure origin]

lag² (læɡ)

—n
1.	a convict or ex-convict (esp in the phrase old lag)
2.	a term of imprisonment

—vb , lags, lagging, lagged
3.	(tr) to arrest or put in prison

[C19: of unknown origin]

lag³ (læɡ)

—vb , lags, lagging, lagged
1.	(tr) to cover (a pipe, cylinder, etc) with lagging to prevent loss of heat

—n
2.	the insulating casing of a steam cylinder, boiler, etc; lagging
3.	a stave or lath

[C17: of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish lagg stave]

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

lag

"fail to keep pace," 1520s, from earlier adj. meaning "last" (1510s), e.g. lag-mon "last man," possibly from a Scand. source (cf. Norw. lagga "go slowly"), or some dialectal version of last, lack, or delay. Related: Lag; lagging. First record of lag time is from 1956.

Slang Dictionary

lag

n. [MUD, IRC; very common] When used without qualification this is synomous with netlag. Curiously, people will often complain "I'm really lagged" when in fact it is their server or network connection that is lagging.

Jargon
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FOLDOC

Computing Dictionary

lag definition

netlag

Example sentences

At every stage of early development, human babies lag behind infants from other

species.

Freehand annotations should be crisp and smoothly rendered, with no lag time.

But studies lag on the blooms, which depend on a complex interplay of factors.

But the growth of food supply tends to lag population.

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Matching Quote

"Television was far more pervasive and radicalizing than printing had been. It was massive. When Riesman and others spoke of books, magazines, and radio as mass media, they could not imagine the size and shape of television. There never had been a medium that could reach everybody, and reach them with images of behavior as behavior without the rationalization of words. The audience for its programs was drawn from every social class and every social element. By the mere act of watching television, a heterogeneous society could engage in a purely homogeneous activity. Television images are more rapid and transient than the printed word. They make no demand on us to remember or reflect on them. This impermanence and the time of consumption cause us to spend extended hours with the medium but significantly less time with any one image or sequence of images. Television is instantaneous and simultaneous: Everyone gets the message at the same time and, at the same time that an event is happening. There is no lag time between a reporter witnessing an event and reporting it, and no time for reflection and analysis."

-William J. Donnelly