"lig" meaning in English

See lig in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Noun

IPA: /lɪɡ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lig.wav [Southern-England] Forms: ligs [plural]
Rhymes: -ɪɡ Etymology: Probably from Middle English *ligge, from Old Norse lygi (“a lie”), from Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”). Cognate with Old English lyġe and lyġen. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|*ligge}} Middle English *ligge, {{der|en|non|lygi|t=a lie}} Old Norse lygi (“a lie”), {{der|en|gem-pro|*lugį̄|t=lie, falsehood}} Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”), {{cog|ang|lyġe}} Old English lyġe Head templates: {{en-noun}} lig (plural ligs)
  1. (UK, slang, obsolete) A lie; an untruth. Tags: UK, obsolete, slang
    Sense id: en-lig-en-noun-4NSVY43G Categories (other): British English, English entries with incorrect language header Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 53 16 10 21
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Etymology number: 2

Verb

IPA: /lɪɡ/ Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lig.wav [Southern-England]
Rhymes: -ɪɡ Etymology: From Middle English liggen, from Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”) and Old Norse liggja (“to lie”). More at lie. Etymology templates: {{inh|en|enm|liggen}} Middle English liggen, {{inh|en|ang|liċġan|t=to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain}} Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”), {{der|en|non|liggja|t=to lie}} Old Norse liggja (“to lie”) Head templates: {{en-verb|+|+|+,lag,lay|+,laggen,lain}} lig (third-person singular simple present ligs, present participle ligging, simple past ligged or lag or lay, past participle ligged or lag or lay or laggen or lain) Forms: ligs [present, singular, third-person], ligging [participle, present], ligged [past], lag [past], lay [past], ligged [participle, past], lag [participle, past], lay [participle, past], laggen [participle, past], lain [participle, past]
  1. (intransitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale) To lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position. Tags: Cumbria, Yorkshire, intransitive
    Sense id: en-lig-en-verb-S22WC9kY Categories (other): Cumbrian English, Yorkshire English
  2. (transitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale) To lay. Tags: Cumbria, Yorkshire, transitive
    Sense id: en-lig-en-verb-kgdJdRRl Categories (other): Cumbrian English, Yorkshire English
  3. (intransitive, slang) To be a ligger or hanger-on; to freeload. Tags: intransitive, slang
    Sense id: en-lig-en-verb-hIIE42HR
The following are not (yet) sense-disambiguated
Derived forms: lig down, lig on, lig out Related terms: ligger
Etymology number: 1

Inflected forms

{
  "derived": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "lig down"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "lig on"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "lig out"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "liggen"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English liggen",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "liċġan",
        "t": "to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "liggja",
        "t": "to lie"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse liggja (“to lie”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English liggen, from Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”) and Old Norse liggja (“to lie”). More at lie.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ligs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ligging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ligged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lag",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lay",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ligged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lag",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lay",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "laggen",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lain",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+",
        "2": "+",
        "3": "+,lag,lay",
        "4": "+,laggen,lain"
      },
      "expansion": "lig (third-person singular simple present ligs, present participle ligging, simple past ligged or lag or lay, past participle ligged or lag or lay or laggen or lain)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "0 0 0",
      "word": "ligger"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Cumbrian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Yorkshire English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:",
          "text": "His limbes would rest, ne lig in ease embost",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position."
      ],
      "id": "en-lig-en-verb-S22WC9kY",
      "links": [
        [
          "lie",
          "lie"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale) To lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Cumbria",
        "Yorkshire",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Cumbrian English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Yorkshire English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lay."
      ],
      "id": "en-lig-en-verb-kgdJdRRl",
      "links": [
        [
          "lay",
          "lay"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale) To lay."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Cumbria",
        "Yorkshire",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              97,
              104
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991, Blues & Soul, numbers 589-601, page 32:",
          "text": "[…] but within the confines of the music business it means the pinnacle of a career dedicated to ligging […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be a ligger or hanger-on; to freeload."
      ],
      "id": "en-lig-en-verb-hIIE42HR",
      "links": [
        [
          "ligger",
          "ligger"
        ],
        [
          "hanger-on",
          "hanger-on"
        ],
        [
          "freeload",
          "freeload"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, slang) To be a ligger or hanger-on; to freeload."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/lɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lig"
}

{
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "*ligge"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English *ligge",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "lygi",
        "t": "a lie"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse lygi (“a lie”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*lugį̄",
        "t": "lie, falsehood"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ang",
        "2": "lyġe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English lyġe",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from Middle English *ligge, from Old Norse lygi (“a lie”), from Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”). Cognate with Old English lyġe and lyġen.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ligs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lig (plural ligs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "British English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "53 16 10 21",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              39,
              42
            ],
            [
              69,
              72
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1867, James Torrington Spencer Lidstone, The Fourteenth Londoniad, page 85:",
          "text": "And the Muse of Arts that never told a lig, / Whirls in her mid-air flight to sing of Twigg; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lie; an untruth."
      ],
      "id": "en-lig-en-noun-4NSVY43G",
      "links": [
        [
          "lie",
          "lie"
        ],
        [
          "untruth",
          "untruth"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, slang, obsolete) A lie; an untruth."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "obsolete",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/lɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lig"
}
{
  "categories": [
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old English",
    "English terms derived from Old Norse",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "English terms inherited from Old English",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 16 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪɡ",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪɡ/1 syllable"
  ],
  "derived": [
    {
      "word": "lig down"
    },
    {
      "word": "lig on"
    },
    {
      "word": "lig out"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_number": "1",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "liggen"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English liggen",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "ang",
        "3": "liċġan",
        "t": "to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”)",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "liggja",
        "t": "to lie"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse liggja (“to lie”)",
      "name": "der"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From Middle English liggen, from Old English liċġan (“to lie, be situated, be at rest, remain”) and Old Norse liggja (“to lie”). More at lie.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ligs",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ligging",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ligged",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lag",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lay",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "ligged",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lag",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lay",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "laggen",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "lain",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "+",
        "2": "+",
        "3": "+,lag,lay",
        "4": "+,laggen,lain"
      },
      "expansion": "lig (third-person singular simple present ligs, present participle ligging, simple past ligged or lag or lay, past participle ligged or lag or lay or laggen or lain)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "ligger"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "Cumbrian English",
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Yorkshire English"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              26,
              29
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:",
          "text": "His limbes would rest, ne lig in ease embost",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lie",
          "lie"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale) To lie; be in a prostrate or recumbent position."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Cumbria",
        "Yorkshire",
        "intransitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "Cumbrian English",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "Yorkshire English"
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To lay."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lay",
          "lay"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale) To lay."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "Cumbria",
        "Yorkshire",
        "transitive"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English intransitive verbs",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              97,
              104
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1991, Blues & Soul, numbers 589-601, page 32:",
          "text": "[…] but within the confines of the music business it means the pinnacle of a career dedicated to ligging […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be a ligger or hanger-on; to freeload."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ligger",
          "ligger"
        ],
        [
          "hanger-on",
          "hanger-on"
        ],
        [
          "freeload",
          "freeload"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(intransitive, slang) To be a ligger or hanger-on; to freeload."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "intransitive",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/lɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lig"
}

{
  "categories": [
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    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English nouns",
    "English terms derived from Middle English",
    "English terms derived from Old Norse",
    "English terms derived from Proto-Germanic",
    "English terms inherited from Middle English",
    "Pages with 16 entries",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪɡ",
    "Rhymes:English/ɪɡ/1 syllable"
  ],
  "etymology_number": "2",
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "enm",
        "3": "*ligge"
      },
      "expansion": "Middle English *ligge",
      "name": "inh"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "non",
        "3": "lygi",
        "t": "a lie"
      },
      "expansion": "Old Norse lygi (“a lie”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "gem-pro",
        "3": "*lugį̄",
        "t": "lie, falsehood"
      },
      "expansion": "Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”)",
      "name": "der"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "ang",
        "2": "lyġe"
      },
      "expansion": "Old English lyġe",
      "name": "cog"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Probably from Middle English *ligge, from Old Norse lygi (“a lie”), from Proto-Germanic *lugį̄ (“lie, falsehood”). Cognate with Old English lyġe and lyġen.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "ligs",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "lig (plural ligs)",
      "name": "en-noun"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "British English",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with obsolete senses",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "Quotation templates to be cleaned"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              39,
              42
            ],
            [
              69,
              72
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1867, James Torrington Spencer Lidstone, The Fourteenth Londoniad, page 85:",
          "text": "And the Muse of Arts that never told a lig, / Whirls in her mid-air flight to sing of Twigg; […]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A lie; an untruth."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "lie",
          "lie"
        ],
        [
          "untruth",
          "untruth"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(UK, slang, obsolete) A lie; an untruth."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "UK",
        "obsolete",
        "slang"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "ipa": "/lɪɡ/"
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-lig.wav",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/a/a4/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav/LL-Q1860_%28eng%29-Vealhurl-lig.wav.mp3",
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      "tags": [
        "Southern-England"
      ]
    },
    {
      "rhymes": "-ɪɡ"
    }
  ],
  "word": "lig"
}

Download raw JSONL data for lig meaning in English (6.3kB)

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: intransitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale",
  "path": [
    "lig"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "lig",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: intransitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale",
  "path": [
    "lig"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "lig",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: transitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale",
  "path": [
    "lig"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "lig",
  "trace": ""
}

{
  "called_from": "form_descriptions/1831",
  "msg": "unrecognized sense qualifier: transitive, Yorkshire, Cumbria, Teesdale",
  "path": [
    "lig"
  ],
  "section": "English",
  "subsection": "verb",
  "title": "lig",
  "trace": ""
}

This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-20 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (d6fca27 and 65e1673). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.