lush
pronunciation
How to pronounce lush in British English:
UK [lʌʃ]
How to pronounce lush in American English:
US [lʌʃ]
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- Noun:
- a person who drinks alcohol to excess habitually
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- Adjective:
- produced or growing in extreme abundance
- characterized by extravagance and profusion
- full of juice
Word Origin
- lush (adj.)
- mid-15c., "lax, flaccid, soft, tender," from Old French lasche "soft, succulent," from laschier "loosen," from Late Latin laxicare "become shaky," related to Latin laxare "loosen," from laxus "loose" (see lax). Sense of "luxuriant in growth" is first attested c. 1600, in Shakespeare. Applied to colors since 1744. Related: Lushly; lushness.
- lush (n.)
- "drunkard," 1890, from earlier (1790) slang meaning "liquor" (especially in phrase lush ken "alehouse"); perhaps a humorous use of lush (adj.) or from Romany or Shelta (tinkers' jargon). LUSHEY. Drunk. The rolling kiddeys had a spree, and got bloody lushey; the dashing lads went on a party of pleasure, and got very drunk. ["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]
Example
- 1. And there are worse ways to spend two hours than watching lush visuals of venice .
- 2. Along the boulevards and highways of muscat , the medians were as lush as croquet lawns .
- 3. The greener , more lush , and leafier the better .
- 4. The dramatic setting in the andes features sheer cliffs and lush valleys .
- 5. In the desert all around are the lush golf courses and artificial pools squandering a finite , life-giving commodity , offering a kind of gleeful profligacy to those willing to pay .