a kind of brine-cured salmon, having either a salt cure (Scandinavian lox) or a sugar cure (Nova Scotia lox), often eaten with cream cheese on a bagel.
Origin: 1940–45; < Yiddish laks salmon; cf. MHG, OHG lahs, c. OE leax, ON lax
1941, Amer.Eng., from Yiddish laks, from M.H.G. lahs "salmon," from P.Gmc. *lakhs-, from the common IE root for the fish (cf. Lith. laszisza, Rus. losos, Pol. losos "salmon").
[loks] 
