list

pronunciation

How to pronounce list in British English: UK [lɪst] word uk audio image

How to pronounce list in American English: US [lɪst] word us audio image

Noun:

a database containing an ordered array of items (names or topics)
the property possessed by a line or surface that departs from the vertical
Verb:

give or make a list of; name individually; give the names of
include in a list
enumerate
cause to lean to the side
tilt to one side

Word Origin

list: list: Over the centuries, English has had no fewer than five different words list, only two of which are now in everyday common usage. List ‘catalogue’ [17] was borrowed from French liste ‘band, border, strip of paper, catalogue’. This goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *līstōn, source also of English list ‘border, strip’ [OE], which now survives only in the plural lists ‘tournament arena’. List ‘tilt’ [17] is of unknown origin. List ‘listen’ [OE], which goes back to Indo-European *klu-, has been replaced by the related listen.And the archaic list ‘desire’ [OE] (source of listless [15]) goes back to the same source as lust.=> listless, lust

list (n.2): "a narrow strip," Old English liste "border, hem, edge, strip," from Proto-Germanic *liston (cognates: Old High German lista "strip, border, list," Old Norse lista "border, selvage,"German leiste), from PIE *leizd- "border, band" (see list (n.1)). The Germanic root also is the source of French liste, Italian lista. This was the source of archaic lists "place of combat," originally at the boundary of fields.

list (n.1): "catalogue consisting of names in a row or series," c. 1600, from Middle English liste "border, edging, stripe" (late 13c.), from Old French liste "border, band, row, group," also "strip of paper," or from Old Italian lista "border, strip of paper, list," both from a Germanic source (compare Old High German lista "strip, border, list," Old Norse lista "border, selvage," Old English liste "border"), from Proto-Germanic *liston, from PIE *leizd- "border, band." The sense of "enumeration" is from strips of paper used as a sort of catalogue.

list (v.1): "tilt, lean," especially of a ship, 1880, earlier (1620s) lust, of unknown origin, perhaps an unexplained spelling variant of Middle English lysten "to please, desire, wish, like" (see list (v.4)) with a sense development from the notion of "leaning" toward what one desires (compare incline). Related: Listed; listing. The noun in this sense is from 1630s.

list (v.4): "to be pleased, desire" (archaic), mid-12c., lusten, listen "to please, desire," from Old English lystan "to please, cause pleasure or desire, provoke longing," from Proto-Germanic *lustijan (cognates: Old Saxon lustian, Dutch lusten "to like, fancy," Old High German lusten, German lüsten, Old Norse lysta); from the root of lust (n.). Related: Listed; listing. As a noun, c. 1200, from the verb. Somehow English has lost listy (adj.) "pleasant, willing (to do something); ready, quick" (mid-15c.).

list (v.2): "hear, hearken," now poetic or obsolete, from Old English hlystan "hear, hearken," from hlyst "hearing," from Proto-Germanic *khlustiz, from PIE *kleu- "to hear" (see listen). Related: Listed; listing.

list (v.3): "to put down in a list; to make a list of," 1610s, from list (n.1). Meaning "to place real estate on the market" is from 1904. Attested from c. 1300 as "put an edge around," from list (n.2). Related: Listed; listing.