lad
/lad
/noun
1 informal A boy or young man (often as a form of address): come in, lad, and shut the door...
- No amount of internal high-fiving or back-slapping will change that, lads.
- Stub that fact out and extinguish that opinion immediately, my lad!
- Tonight was the parent's meeting at the junior school which my lad will be attending for the first time in September.
Synonyms
boy, schoolboy, youth, youngster, juvenile, stripling, young fellow, junior, whippersnapper
informal kid, nipper, shaver
Scottish informal laddie
derogatory brat, urchin
1.1 (lads) British A group of men sharing recreational, working, or other interests: she wouldn’t let him go out with the lads any more a furious row ensued between the referee and our lads...
- ‘I want to put as much pressure as possible on the lads in the first team,’ said Nelsen.
- The crowd is rapturous, whistling and shouting for more, and by the side door the lads are practically mobbed.
- Once we'd boarded the team coach the lads began calling their loved ones.
1.2British A young man: Tony was a bit of a lad—always had an eye for the women...
- Reggie is a bit of a lad.
- They know he is a bit of a lad, but they like a president who gets things done.
- Sutton's reputation as a bit of a lad who likes the rough and tumble ignores a few home truths.
Synonyms
man, young man
informal guy, fellow, geezer, customer, gent
British informal chap, bloke
North American informal dude, hombre
Australian/New Zealand informal digger
South African informal oke, ou
Indian informal admi
British informal, dated cove
Scottish archaic carl
2British A stable worker (regardless of age or sex): it’s great for the lads that the horse has won the National...
- But I think I would want to come home to the yard, lads and horses - I just hope that dilemma may one day be reality!
- The two horses were really well up to the race and the two lads gave them beautiful rides.
- The lad then gave me directions to go and visit Rummy at his own stables whenever I wanted and happily I did so on two more occasions before his death.
Origin
Middle English: of unknown origin.
Like boy, the word lad appeared from nowhere in the early Middle Ages. By the mid 16th century it was being used for ‘a boisterously spirited young man’, and laddism was first mentioned in the 1840s. It was in the early 1990s, though, that laddism and new lads became a social phenomenon, driven by the rise of the rock group Oasis and the launch of the lad's mag Loaded in 1994. A young woman who is a bit of a lad has been a ladette since around 1995.