List Definition

lĭst

listed, listing, lists

noun

lists

A considerable number; a long series.

Recited a list of dates memorized.

American Heritage

A narrow strip or border.

Webster's New World

A narrow strip of wood, esp. sapwood, trimmed from the edge of a board.

Webster's New World

Listel.

Webster's New World

A series of names, words, numbers, etc. set forth in order; catalog, roll, etc.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

verb

listed, listing, lists

To edge with, or arrange in, stripes or bands.

Webster's New World

To plow with a lister.

Webster's New World

To make a list of; itemize.

Listed his previous jobs.

American Heritage

To set forth (a series of names, items, etc.) in order.

Webster's New World

To enter (a name, item, etc.) in a list, directory, catalog, etc.

Webster's New World

Synonyms:

Antonyms:

pronoun

(UK) A confidential register of people forbidden to work with children, maintained by the Department of Education and Skills.

Wiktionary

Other Word Forms of List

Noun

Singular:

list

Plural:

lists

Origin of List

From Middle English liste, from Old English list (“art, cleverness, cunning, experience, skill, craft"), from Proto-Germanic *listiz (“craft, art"), from Proto-Indo-European *leys-, *leyǝs- (“track, furrow, trace, trail"). Cognate with Scots list (“art, skill, craft, cunning"), Eastern Frisian list (“cunning, knowledge"), Dutch list (“ruse, strategem, guile, artifice, sleight"), Low German list (“wisdom, prudence, cunning, artifice"), German List (“cunning, ruse, trick, guile, ploy"), Swedish list (“cunning, art, trick, ruse, wile, guile, stealth"), Icelandic list (“art"). Related to lore, lere, learn.

From Wiktionary
The Middle English liste (“border, edging, stripe") gives rise to the sense of "catalogue of names" by ca. 1600. The Middle English term does not continue the Old English directly, but is rather loaned from Old French liste or Old Italian lista (both meaning "border, band; strip of paper"), which are themselves a loan of the Germanic word.

From Wiktionary
Old English lystan, from Proto-Germanic *lustijanÄ…, from Proto-Germanic *lustuz (“pleasure"). Akin to Old Norse lysta (whence cognate with Danish and Norwegian lyste), Old High German lusten (German gelüsten and obsolete lüsten).

From Wiktionary
From Old English lÄ«ste "hem, edge, strip", from Proto-Germanic *lÄ«stÇ. Cognate with Dutch lijst, German Leiste, Icelandic lista/listi.

From Wiktionary
Middle English listen to desire, please from Old English lystan las- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
French liste from Old French from Old Italian lista of Germanic origin

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English listen from Old English hlystan kleu- in Indo-European roots

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Middle English from Old English līste

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
Possibly from tilting on lists in jousts.

From Wiktionary
Origin unknown

From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition
From listen

From Wiktionary