1612 in R. F. Williams Birch's Court & Times James I (1848) (modernized text) I. 184 He was observed that day to row to and fro in the laguna towards Murano, to see what show his house made.

1673 J. Ray Observ. Journey Low-countries 8 The Lagune or Flats about Venice.

1697 W. Dampier New Voy. around World ix. 241 They went into a Lagune, or Lake of Salt-water [on the Mexican coast]... The mouth of this Lagune is not Pistol-shot wide.

1716 London Gaz. No. 5407/2 People..have come over the Lagune on the Ice.

1763 W. Roberts Acct. First Discov. Florida 8 This river..forms a lagune at the mouth.

1789 H. L. Piozzi Observ. Journey France I. 187 Covering the lagoons with gaiety and splendour.

1803 W. Taylor in Ann. Rev. 1 32 The ornithorhynchus,..an animal peculiar to the lagoons in New South Wales.

1818 P. B. Shelley Let. 23 Aug. (1964) II. 35 We past the laguna in the middle of the night in a most violent storm.

1856 E. B. Browning Aurora Leigh vii. 300 God alone above each,—as the sun O'er level lagunes.

1874 C. Lyell Elem. Geol. i. 4 ‘Lagoons’ nearly separated by sand bars from the ocean.

1877 A. Geikie Elem. Lessons Physical Geogr. iv. 271 Lagoons along the sea-margin are for the most part shallow and narrow, running parallel with the coast, from which they are separated by a strip of low land formed of sand, gravel, or other loose material.

1883 F. M. Peard Contradictions I. 1 Behind them and beyond the lagoons lay the tossing and flying waves of the Adriatic.

1939 W. H. Twenhofel Princ. Sedimentation xii. 455 The barrier separating a lagoon from its parent body may result from many causes, but under most conditions it is thrown up by the waves.

1952 W. Shepherd Living Landscape Brit. iii. 50 Two bays have been cut off from the sea by shingle. These now form a salt-water lagoon, and may slowly silt up to form a marsh.

1952 W. Shepherd Living Landscape Brit. iii. 53 A line of rocks across the bay encloses a ‘lagoon’.

1968 R. W. Fairbridge Encycl. Geomorphol. 590/2 The entrance of a lagoon is restricted by the narrow tidal inlets through the barrier islands and the complex of sand bars which form on both the lagoonal and seaward side of the inlet.

1769 J. Cook Jrnl. 4 Apr. (1893) 55 Found it to be an Island..of an Oval form, with a Lagoon in the Middle, for which I named it Lagoon Island.

1842 J. C. Prichard Nat. Hist. Man 326 Reefs of coral rock, generally disposed in a circular form, and enclosing a lagoon.

1848 M. Somerville Physical Geogr. I. xiv. 215 Encircling reefs differ in no respect from atoll reefs except that they have one or more islands in their lagoon.

1863 J. B. Jukes School Man. Geol. vi. 67 There are..many islands in tropical seas in front of which coral reefs are found at a distance of many miles from the beach of the dry land, their outer edge being nearly dry at low tide, but plunging steeply down into fathomless water, while a broad navigable channel or lagoon..extends between this outer edge and the shore. These are called Barrier reefs.

1878 T. H. Huxley Physiography (ed. 2) xv. 254 Inside the rim of land, there is a shallow lake, or lagoon, of clear green water.

1928 W. M. Davis Coral Reef Probl. xi. 271 I made a circuit of the island on trading steamers, following the lagoon for the greater part of the way.

1959 Chambers's Encycl. IV. 121/1 Barrier reefs surround islands or lie off the mainland, with an intervening navigable channel or lagoon, the width of which may be many miles.

1838 W. C. Symonds in Jrnl. Royal Geogr. Soc. 8 422 On the S.E. coast at this island [sc. South Island] are several immense lagoons, into which flow rivers.

1844 Nelson (N.Z.) Examiner 7 Sept. 108/1 A lagoon..quite a lake in fact.

1849 F. Wakefield Colonial Surveying ii. 59 Lagoons differ from lakes in being generally formed by surface water gathering in low grounds during the winter, from which there is no outlet.

1927 M. M. Bennett Christison of Lammermoor iii. 37 At the back was a shallow lagoon.

1933 Press (Christchurch, N.Z.) 4 Nov. 15/7 Lagoon, any tarn, pond, or open water too small to be called a lake.

1909 E. C. S. Moore Sanitary Engin. (ed. 3) II. xviii. 691 Drying in lagoons is the system which is often adopted at works where sufficient land is available, and it is without doubt the least satisfactory method.

1926 G. M. Flood Sewage Treatm. & Disposal x. 106 The sludge produced by any method of treatment may be pumped into lagoons in almost every case.

1975 Daily Tel. 9 Jan. 16/6 Sometimes 7,000 or 8,000 wading birds came..to the ash lagoons of West Thurrock power station.

1871 C. Kingsley At Last xi Across the Savanna wandered a deep lagoon-brook.

1845 C. Darwin Jrnl. (ed. 2) xx. 469 The depth within the lagoon-channel..varies much.

1839 C. Darwin in R. Fitzroy & C. Darwin Narr. Surv. Voy. H.M.S. Adventure & Beagle III. xxii. 539 This is one of the lagoon islands of coral formation.

1841 Tait's Edinb. Mag. 8 348 The numerous creeks, islands, and inlets in this lagoonish..coast are minutely described.

1877 J. Le Conte Elements Geol. (1879) ii. 142 Sometimes the lagoon closes up, and a lagoonless island is the result.

1868 J. D. Dana Syst. Mineral. (ed. 5) 882 Larderellite..Occurs at the Tuscan lagoons.

1885 A. Geikie Text-bk. Geol. (ed. 2) iii. i. i. §2. 218 The lagoons of Tuscany.

1935 Metcalf & Eddy Amer. Sewerage Pract. (ed. 3) III. ii. 23 Odors from sludge lagooned at Houston were so objectionable that another method of sludge disposal was required.

1972 J. Skitt Disposal of Refuse & Other Wastes iii. 36 Do not lagoon the top layer.

1911 G. B. Kershaw Mod. Methods Sewage Purification xi. 155 (heading) Lagooning.

1922 H. E. Babbitt Sewerage & Sewage Treatm. xx. 495 The results of lagooning at Philadelphia are given in Table 103.

1969 J. G. Brennan et al. Food Engin. Operations xvii. 380 Lagooning is extensively used for the treatment of cannery wastes.