lousen.
/laʊs/, U.S. /laʊs/ 1.
a. A parasitic insect of the genus Pediculus, infesting the human hair and skin and causing great irritation by its presence. Applied also to the numerous other kinds of insects parasitic on mammals, birds, and plants, and to the degraded crustaceans which infest fishes: often with qualification, as bird-louse, fish-louse, plant-louse, sea-louse.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > group Anoplura > order Siphunculata > member of genus Pediculus (louse)
lousec725
mysea1450
creeper1577
Welsh cricket1592
crawler1787
liceling1791
greyback1840
seam-squirrel1899
toto1918
c725 Corpus Gloss. (Hessels) P. 310 Peducla, luus.
c1000 Hexam. Basil xvii. (1849) 24 Hine byton lys.
c1000 Ælfric Homilies II. 192 He afylde eal heora land mid..hundes lusum.
a1300 Sarmun v, in Early Eng. Poems & Lives Saints (1862) 1 Of þi schuldres and of þi side þou miȝte hunti luse and flee.
1340 R. Rolle Pricke of Conscience 651 Þou forth bringes of þi-self here Nites, lyse, and other vermyn sere.
1377 W. Langland Piers Plowman B. v. 196 A tauny tabarde of twelue wynter age..ful of lys crepynge.
a1387 J. Trevisa tr. R. Higden Polychron. (St. John's Cambr.) (1876) VI. 387 Arnulphus..[was] destroyed, and i-ȝete with luys riȝt to þe deth.
a1475 Bk. Quinte Essence (1889) 19 Medicyn..for to distrie lies þat ben engendrid of corrupt humouris.
1597 T. Beard Theatre Gods Judgem. (1612) 389 In time it corrupted his flesh, and turned into lice.
1614 S. Latham Falconry Explan. Wordes sig. ¶2 Lice, are a small kinde of white vermin, running amongst the feathers of the Hawke.
1673 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 8 6038 In a Lowse I observe indeed..a short tapering nose with a hole in it.
1732 J. Arbuthnot Pract. Rules of Diet i. 247 It has always been believed that the immoderate use of them [sc. Figs] generates Lice.
1803 W. Bingley Animal Biogr. III. 436 When we examine the human Louse with the microscope, its external deformity strikes us with disgust.
1897 M. Kingsley Trav. W. Afr. 253 Sleep impossible—mosquitoes! lice!!
b. In phrases and proverbs (mostly obsolete), chiefly as a type of something worthless or contemptible, as not worth a louse, not to care (three skips of) a louse. †to prick a louse, to be a tailor.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > contempt > hold in contempt [verb (transitive)] > utterly
to set not a cherry, curse, a fly, a haw, a mite, an onion, (etc.) at, by, ofc1374
not to set at a glovec1430
not to care (three skips of) a lousea1592
to have no use for1596
to have no (a lot of, etc.) time for1901
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > tailor or make clothes [verb (intransitive)] > be a tailor or work as a tailor
to prick a lousea1592
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adjective] > paltry, mean, or contemptible
unworthlyc1230
wretcha1250
seely1297
vilec1320
not worth a cress (kerse)1377
the value of a rushc1380
threadbarec1412
wretched1450
miserable?a1513
rascal1519
prettya1522
not worth a whistlea1529
pegrall1535
plack1539
pelting1540
scald1542
sleeveless1551
baggage1553
paltering1553
piddling1559
twopenny1560
paltry1565
rubbish1565
baggagely1573
pelfish1577
halfpenny1579
palting1579
baubling1581
three-halfpenny1581
pitiful1582
triobolar1585
squirting1589
not worth a lousea1592
hedge1596
cheap1597
peddling1597
dribbling1600
mean1600
rascally1600
three-farthingc1600
draughty1602
dilute1605
copper1609
peltry?a1610
threepenny1613
pelsy1631
pimping1640
triobolary1644
pigwidgeon1647
dustya1649
fiddling1652
puddlinga1653
insignificant1658
piteous1667
snotty1681
scrubbed1688
dishonourable1699
scrub1711
footy1720
fouty1722
rubbishing1731
chuck-farthing1748
rubbishy1753
shabby1753
scrubby1754
poxya1758
rubbishly1777
waff-like1808
trinkety1817
meanish1831
one-eyed1843
twiddling1844
measly1847
poking1850
picayunish1852
vild1853
picayune1856
snide1859
two-cent1859
rummagy1872
faddling1883
finicking1886
slushy1889
twopence halfpenny1890
jerk1893
pissy1922
crappy1928
two-bit1932
piddly1933
chickenshit1934
pissing1937
penny packet1943
farkakte1960
pony1964
gay1978
the mind > attention and judgement > importance > unimportance > [adverb] > of no worth
of no valure1483
not worth a whistlea1529
not worth a lousea1592
not worth shucks1843
a1592 R. Greene Alcida (1617) sig. I2 Lest thy..Logike prooue not worth a lowse.
1616 B. Jonson Every Man in his Humor (rev. ed.) i. iv, in Wks. I. 15 Care 'll kill a cat, vp-tailes all, and a louse for the hang-man.
1630 Articles against Durham Innovators in J. Cosin Corr. (1869) I. xc. 161 Many yeares before John Cosin could tell how to prick a lowse in his fathers shopp at Norwich.
a1637 B. Jonson Tale of Tub ii. ii. 64 in Wks. (1640) III I care not, I, Sir, not three skips of a Lowse for you. View more context for this quotation
1678 T. Otway Friendship in Fashion iv. 50 The very Poets themselves that were wont to stand in awe of me, care not a louse for me now.
1709 J. Swift Mrs. Harris's Petition in Baucis & Philemon (new ed.) 12 'Tis not that I value the Mony Three Skips of a Louse.
1749 Ld. Chesterfield Let. 12 Sept. (1932) (modernized text) IV. 1395 I..don't care a louse if I never see it again.
1786 R. Burns Poems 58 When the best wark-lume i' the house..Is instant made no worth a louse.
1836 F. Marryat Mr. Midshipman Easy I. xii. 180 I say, Mr. Gossett, have you got the spirit of a louse?
2. transferred. Applied in scorn to human beings.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > held in contempt
thingOE
cat?c1225
geggea1300
fox-whelpc1320
creaturea1325
whelp1338
scoutc1380
turnbroach14..
foumart1508
shit1508
get?a1513
strummel?a1513
scofting?1518
pismirea1535
clinchpoop1555
rag1566
huddle and twang1578
whipster1590
slop1599
shullocka1603
tailor1607
turnspit1607
fitchewa1616
bulchin1617
trundle-taila1626
tick1631
louse1633
fart1669
insect1684
mully-grub-gurgeon1746
grub-worm1752
rass1790
foutre1794
blister1806
snot1809
skin1825
scurf1851
scut1873
Siwash1882
stiff1882
bleeder1887
blighter1896
sugar1916
vuilgoed1924
klunk1942
fart sack1943
fart-arse1946
jerkwad1980
1633 Costlie Whore i. sig. B3 Come away, fellow louse, thou art ever eating.
1901 R. Kipling Kim i. 25 Why hast thou allowed this louse Lutuf to live so long?
Compounds
C1. General attributive.
louse-mite n.
ΚΠ
1877 A. Murray List Coll. Econ. Entomol. 14 Sarcoptidæ (Itch and Louse Mites).
C2. † louse-powder n. Obsolete powder for destroying lice.† louse-pricking n. Obsolete tailoring, also attributive.† louse-seed n. Obsolete ? fleabane.
louse-berry n. (also louse-berry tree) Euonymus europæus.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > cultivated or ornamental trees and shrubs > [noun] > spindle-tree(s)
prickwood1516
spindle-tree1548
prick-timber1578
prickle tree1607
prick tree1671
spindle1712
spindlekin1714
euonymus1767
skewer wood1782
gaiter1796
dogwood1838
spindle-trees1846
louse-berry1866
skewer tree1894
1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. Louseberry-Tree, Euonymus europæus.
louse-borne adj. of diseases: transmitted by lice.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > production of disease > [adjective] > agent or medium > transmitted by
waterborne1873
blood-borne1885
food-borne1898
louse-borne1919
tick-borne1921
vector-borne1956
1919 W. Byam et al. (title) Trench fever: a louse-borne disease.
1942 Times 21 Sept. 5/3 Typhus, which is louse-borne,..was overcome by active measures of disinfestation.
1964 M. Hynes Med. Bacteriol. (ed. 8) xxi. 322 Trep. recurrentis obermeieri is typical of the louse-borne disease.
1970 Control of Communicable Dis. in Man (Amer. Public Health Assoc.) (ed. 11) 275 (heading) Typhus-fever, epidemic louse-borne.
1974 R. Passmore & J. S. Robson Compan. Med. Stud. III. xii. 75/1 Louse-borne relapsing fever is a disease of cold weather.
louse-burr n. Xanthium strumarium.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > [noun] > bur-weed
clot-bur1548
ditch-bur1548
louse-burr1578
button-bur1634
bur-weed1783
clotweed1804
sea-burdock1845
Bathurst burr1855
Noogoora burr1883
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball i. viii. 14 Xanthium, Louse Burre, or the lesser Clote.
louse-disease n. phthiriasis n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > ill health > a disease > disorders of visible parts > skin disorders > [noun] > phthiriasis
lousy evil1519
lousiness1530
phthiriasis1533
pediculation1726
lousy disease1774
pediculosis1876
louse-disease1879
1879 J. R. Reynolds Syst. Med. V. 973 Louse-disease..may last indefinitely if unchecked.
louse-land n. slang Scotland.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > named regions of earth > Europe > British Isles > Scotland > [noun]
North Britain1615
Land of Cakes1659
louse-land1699
Whigland1699
Haggisland1846
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Louse-land, Scotland.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > [noun] > removal of lice > powder for
louse-powder1578
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iii. xxxix. 372 This herbe is called..in base Almaigne Luyscruyt, and the seede made into powder Luysepouder, that is to say, Lousepowder.
ΘΚΠ
the world > textiles and clothing > clothing > tailoring or making clothes > [noun]
tailoring1662
louse-pricking1710
tailorization1853
1710 London's Medicinal Informer 53 His Father's Louse-pricking Trade, i.e. Tayloring.
1756 W. Toldervy Hist. Two Orphans I. 164 It would be well for you, if you'd stay at home, and mind your louse-pricking.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Compositae (composite plants) > [noun] > ploughman's spikenard or flea-bane
conyzaOE
louse-seeda1300
herb Christophera1450
fleabane1548
cinnamon-root1597
ploughman's spikenard1597
clown's spikenard1783
fly-bane1861
a1300 in T. Wright & R. P. Wülcker Anglo-Saxon & Old Eng. Vocab. (1884) I. 559/6 Psilliun, i. lusesed.
louse-trap n. dialect and slang a comb.
ΚΠ
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew A ScotchLouse-trap, a Comb. [See Eng. Dial. Dict.]
lousewort n. †(a) Stinking Hellebore, Helleborus fœtidus; (b) any plant of the genus Pedicularis, esp. P. palustris and P. sylvatica; (c) Yellow Rattle, Rhinanthus Cristagalli; (d) Delphinium Staphisagria (Britten & Holland).
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Scrophulariaceae (figwort and allies) > [noun] > lousewort or red rattle
lousewort1578
rattle grass1578
red rattle1578
mimmulus1633
pipeweed1702
wood betony1886
Indian warrior1897
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Liliaceae family or plants > [noun] > hellebore > bear's foot
settergrassa1400
bear's foot1551
setterwort1551
lousewort1578
lousy grass1597
oxheal1597
helleboraster1656
the world > plants > particular plants > plants perceived as weeds or harmful plants > weed > [noun] > cock's-comb
yellow rattleOE
coxcomba1500
penny-grassa1500
cockcomb1687
rattlebox1866
fiddle-cases1878
lousewort1901
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball iii. xxvi. 351 Louswurt..Fuchsius counteth for a kinde of blacke hellebor.
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 913 Of red Rattle, or Lousewoort.
1756 J. Hill Brit. Herbal 120 Our farmers have an opinion that sheep feeding on them [Coxcombs] become subject to vermin, whence the English name lousewort.
1901 Speaker 21 Sept. 692/2 Yellow louse-worts.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
lousev.
/laʊz/, /laʊs/, U.S. /laʊs/, /laʊz/ 1. figurative.1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden Ep. Ded. sig. C I haue here tooke the paines to nit and louze ouer the Doctours Booke.
a. transitive. To clear of lice, remove lice from (a person, oneself, a garment).
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin from [verb (transitive)] > remove insects from > remove lice from
lousec1440
delouse1919
debug1942
c1440 Promptorium Parvulorum 316/2 Lowsyn, pediculo.
?1518 A. Barclay Fyfte Eglog sig. Avjv Efte was she busy, them lowsynge and kenmynge.
1596 T. Lodge Wits Miserie (1879) 112 Goe wretche as thou art and louse thyselfe.
a1599 E. Spenser View State Ireland 38 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) How handsome it is to lye in and sleepe, or to louse themselves in the Sun-shine.
1663 S. Pepys Diary 6 June (1971) IV. 175 To Yorke-house, where the Russia Embassador doth lie; and there I saw his people go up and down louseing themselfs.
a1792 S. Hearne Journey from Prince of Wales's Fort (1795) ix. 325 He frequently set five or six of his strapping wives to work to louse their hairy deer-skin shifts.
1810 E. D. Clarke Trav. Var. Countries: Pt. 1st xii. 237 [They] were lousing each other; and it surprized us, that they did not discontinue their work,..as we entered.
1824 Edinb. Rev. 40 482 Prince Potemkin..used to louse himself at dinner.
b. intransitive for reflexive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > remove vermin [verb (intransitive)] > exterminate insects > remove lice
louse1570
1570 P. Levens Manipulus Vocabulorum sig. Siii/1 [printed Bouse] To Bouse, captare pediculos.
1655 tr. C. Sorel Comical Hist. Francion ii. 27 That little Beggers brat..was taken not long since lowsing under a hedge.
1673 R. Head Canting Acad. 27 We beg'd together, lay together and louz'd together.
1727 W. Somerville Fable xiv. iii. 119 A tailor despicably poor, In every hole for shelter crept, On the same bulk, botch'd, lous'd, and slept.
2. intransitive. To be infested with lice. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > infestation by noxious creatures > be infested with noxious creatures [verb (intransitive)] > be infested with lice
louse1608
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear ix. 29 The Codpeece that will house before the head, has any the head and hee shall lowse . View more context for this quotation
3.
a. With up. To infest with lice. Originally U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > dirtiness > infestation by noxious creatures > infest with noxious creatures [verb (transitive)] > infest with lice or nits
nittify1596
louse1931
1931 San Francisco Examiner 29 Jan. 34/4 Lousey, now fixed in Broadway actor jargon, is from small time troupers... The Maine tavern keeper who refused lodging to a repertoire company..explained: ‘The last troupe loused up the beddin'.’
1931 Gang World Jan. 14 The precinct was fumigated yesterday, an' you ain't gonna louse it up again.
1955 R. P. Hobson Nothing too Good for Cowboy i. 15 I got loused up in that cabin once.
1968 Listener 9 May 601/2 I was occasionally loused-up myself, and people, rather than pass me, used to go on the other side of the road.
b. slang. To spoil, to mess up. Const. up. Also loused-up adj. originally U.S.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > be unskilled in [verb (transitive)] > bungle
botch1530
bungle1530
mumble1588
muddle1605
mash1642
bumble?1719
to fall through ——1726
fuck1776
blunder1805
to make a mull of1821
bitch1823
mess1823
to make a mess of1834
smudge1864
to muck up1875
boss1887
to make balls of1889
duff1890
foozle1892
bollocks1901
fluff1902
to make a muck of1903
bobble1908
to ball up1911
jazz1914
boob1915
to make a hash of1920
muff1922
flub1924
to make a hat of1925
to ass up1932
louse1934
screw1938
blow1943
to foul up1943
eff1945
balls1947
to make a hames of1947
to arse up1951
to fuck up1967
dork1969
sheg1981
bodge1984
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [adjective] > bungling > bungled
bungled1787
muffed1876
boggled1877
blundered1880
bitched-up1893
foozled1899
bitched1918
trashed1926
mucked-up1930
loused-up1948
cocked-up1955
screwed1955
1934 J. O'Hara Appointment in Samarra ii. 61 There's fifty bucks in it for you on account of lousing up your date.
1938 Amer. Speech 13 195 Louse up the show.
1948 Sat. Evening Post (Philadelphia) 25 Sept. 41 The hospital field is loused up enough.
1957 F. Lockridge & R. Lockridge Practise to Deceive (1959) ii. 29 Of all the loused-up operations.
1958 E. Dundy Dud Avocado ii. i. 185 He said if I'm really serious about getting a part..the easiest way to louse it up would be to turn up with a hundred other people.
1959 Tamarack Rev. xii. 24 What a way to louse up this new magenta outfit... You'd think she'd spent her afternoon at a Yiddish tear-jerker.
1959 ‘S. Ransome’ I'll die for You x. 119 Had a rough time getting her to come back... Damned if I'll let you louse me up now.
1967 C. Cockburn I, Claud xxxv. 438 Hardly anyone can be packed off to some social equivalent of the Russian ‘virgin lands’ for lousing things up, because almost every louser-up can convincingly claim that he was not really responsible for the thing that happened.
1969 N.Y. Rev. Bks. 10 Jan. 38/2 It is safe to predict that President-elect Nixon will look for some outstanding public figure for this job, even though it may louse up the table of organization.
1972 Human World Nov. 48 If..he tries to sabotage his actions—he louses up a machine he is purporting to work, for example [etc.].
1973 R. Ludlum Matlock Paper i. 7 A loused-up army record.
1975 New Yorker 5 May 115/1 The picture is a cheerfully loused-up reworking of the legend of King Arthur's Grail hunt.
Derivatives
ˈlousing n. also attributive.
ΘΚΠ
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > [noun] > removal of lice
lousinga1640
delousing1919
a1640 P. Massinger & J. Fletcher Very Woman iii. ii. 46 in P. Massinger 3 New Playes (1655) Dost thou think any State Would..trust thee with a secret above lousing?
1707 J. Stevens tr. F. de Quevedo Comical Wks. (1709) 226 He went into the lousing Room, and turn'd a little Board that hung at the Door, on which was written, One is lousing.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1903; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
<
n.c725
v.c1440- in quintuplicate
- in quires
- in quittance of
- in quod
- in rags
- in rank
- in, under, out of crop
- in, under, shelter
- in, upon feu
- in, upon the stream
- in, upon, at dissension
- in, upon, on score
- in, upon, on the score
- in, upon, or for a bravery
- in, within lists
- in, within the lists
- in, within, beyond, out of kenning
- in, within, out of ken of
- in, —— out
- in-
- in-a-door
- in-all
- in-and-out bolts
- in-and-out boy
- in-and-out class