different between luscious vs lush

English

Alternative forms

• lushious (obsolete)

Etymology

From earlier lushious, lussyouse (“luscious, richly sweet, delicious”), a corruption of *lustious, from lusty (“pleasant, delicious”) +? -ous. Shakespeare uses both lush (short for lushious) and lusty in the same sense: "How lush and lusty the grass looks" (The Tempest ii. I.52).

An alternative etymology connects luscious to a Middle English term: lucius, an alteration of licious, believed to be a shortening of delicious.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?l???s/
• Rhymes: -???s

Adjective

luscious (comparative more luscious, superlative most luscious)

1. Sweet and pleasant; delicious.
   • 1863, H.S. Thompson, Down by the River Liv'd a Maiden

     Her lips were like two luscious beefsteaks.

   • 1900, L. Frank Baum, The Wizard of Oz

     There were lovely patches of greensward all about, with stately trees bearing rich and luscious fruits.

2. Sexually appealing; seductive.
3. Obscene.

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /l??/
• Rhymes: -??

Etymology 1

From Middle English lusch (“slack, relaxed, limp, loose”), from Old English *lysc, lesc (“slack; limp”), from Proto-Germanic *laskwaz (“weak, false, feeble”), from Proto-Indo-European *l?y- (“to let; leave behind”). Akin to Old English lysu, lesu (“false, evil, base”), Middle Low German lasch (“slack”), Middle High German erleswen (“to become weak”), Old Norse l?skr (“weak, feeble”), Gothic ???????????????????????? (lasiws, “weak, feeble”), Middle Low German las, lasich (“slack, languid, idle”), Low German lusch (“loose”). Doublet of lusk. More at lishey, lazy.

Adjective

lush (comparative lusher, superlative lushest)

1. Juicy, succulent.

   Synonyms: sapful, sappy
2. (dialectal) Mellow; soft; (of ground or soil) easily turned; fertile.
3. (of vegetation) Dense, teeming with life; luxuriant.
4. (of food) Savoury, delicious.

5. (miscellaneous) Thriving; rife; sumptuous.
6. (Britain, slang) Beautiful, sexy.

7. (Britain, Canada, slang) Amazing, cool, fantastic, wicked.

8. (obsolete) Lax; slack; limp; flexible.

Related terms

Translations

Etymology 2

Perhaps a humorous use of the preceding word, or perhaps from Shelta lush (“food and drink”) (the sense "liquor" is older than the sense "drinker"). The Century Dictionary wrote that it was "said to be so called from one Lushington, a once well-known London brewer", but the Online Etymology Dictionary considers lushington (“drinker”) a humorous extension of lush instead.

Noun

lush (countable and uncountable, plural lushes)

1. (slang, derogatory) A drunkard, sot, alcoholic.

   Synonyms: souse, suck-pint; see also Thesaurus:drunkard

2. (slang) intoxicating liquor

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:alcoholic beverage

   • 1841, Charles Lever, Charles O'Malley

     If your care comes, in the liquor sink it, / Pass along the lush — I'm the boy can drink it.

3. (Hawaii, Pidgin, slang) A person who enjoys talking about themselves.

   Synonyms: egotist, narcissist

Translations

Verb

lush (third-person singular simple present lushes, present participle lushing, simple past and past participle lushed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To drink (liquor) to excess.

Derived terms

Translations

References

Anagrams

• Uhls, Ulsh, shul

Albanian

Etymology

Check lushë.

Noun

lush m

1. male dog
2. hooligan

Related terms

• lushë