Lag

1. A convict. 2. Any jail or penal institution; a road gang or prison camp.

- american underworld dictionary - 1950

Lag is also the name of a minor pool game used to determine which player will take the opening break.

Each player shoots one ball from behind the head string down one half of the table. The intent is to shoot the ball so that it rebounds from the foot cushion and returns to the head of the table. The player whose ball is closest to the head cushion wins the lag. However, it is an automatic loss if:

• the ball does not contact the foot cushion;
• the ball is pocketed;
• the ball jumps from the table;
• the ball touches one of the long cushions or rolls over the long string; or
• the ball touches the foot rail more than once.

If the players cannot deternine which ball is closer to the head cushion, or if both players incur an automatic loss, the lag should be replayed.

Want more information? Please see billiards.

lace card = L = lamer

lag n.

[MUD, IRC; very common] When used without qualification this is synomous with netlag. Curiously, people will often complain "I'm really lagged" when in fact it is their server or network connection that is lagging.

--The Jargon File version 4.3.1, ed. ESR, autonoded by rescdsk.

To those familiar with MUDs, MUCKs, MOOs, or anything similar, and have introduced their romantic interest to said place... Perhaps this scenario is familiar.

Things have quieted down - it's getting late and most of the excitement has gone to bed with the sun. Or, at least, the sun in three time zones west of you. You have managed to locate and meet your closest friend once again, and after going over the day's events, the conversation runs out and you settle down for some good, solid snuggling... The obligatory whispered sweet nothings are exchanged, and as the inevitable kiss approaches, time itself seems to hold its breath, the moment crystallizes, shimmering and coruscating in space...

And the lag hits like a ton of bricks.

The words 'has disconnected' attach to your other half's name like parasitic vines choking the lifeblood from a tree. And you sit there, cursing against the fickle nature of the internet.

Thank you for taking the time to read my brief rant on lag and why it sucks.

Lag (?), a. [Of Celtic origin: cf. Gael. & Ir. lagweak, feeble, faint, W. llag, llac, slack, loose, remiss, sluggish; prob. akin to E. lax, languid.]

1.

Coming tardily after or behind; slow; tardy. [Obs.]

Came too lag to see him buried.
Shak.

2.

Last; long-delayed; -- obsolete, except in the phrase lag end. "The lag end of my life." Shak.

3.

Last made; hence, made of refuse; inferior. [Obs.] "Lag souls." Dryden.

 

© Webster 1913

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Lag (?), n.

1.

One who lags; that which comes in last. [Obs.] "The lag of all the flock." Pope.

2.

The fag-end; the rump; hence, the lowest class.

The common lag of people.
Shak.

3.

The amount of retardation of anything, as of a valve in a steam engine, in opening or closing.

4.

A stave of a cask, drum, etc.; especially (Mach.), one of the narrow boards or staves forming the covering of a cylindrical object, as a boiler, or the cylinder of a carding machine or a steam engine.

5. (Zoöl.)

See Graylag.

Lag of the tide, the interval by which the time of high water falls behind the mean time, in the first and third quarters of the moon; -- opposed to priming of the tide, or the acceleration of the time of high water, in the second and fourth quarters; depending on the relative positions of the sun and moon. --
Lag screw, an iron bolt with a square head, a sharp-edged thread, and a sharp point, adapted for screwing into wood; a screw for fastening lags.

 

© Webster 1913

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Lag, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Lagged (?); p. pr. & vb. n. Lagging (?).]

To walk or more slowly; to stay or fall behind; to linger or loiter. "I shall not lag behind." Milton.

Syn. -- To loiter; linger; saunter; delay; be tardy.

 

© Webster 1913

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Lag, v. t.

1.

To cause to lag; to slacken. [Obs.] "To lag his flight." Heywood.

2. (Mach.)

To cover, as the cylinder of a steam engine, with lags. See Lag, n., 4.

 

© Webster 1913

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Lag, n.

One transported for a crime. [Slang, Eng.]

 

© Webster 1913

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Lag, v. t.

To transport for crime. [Slang, Eng.]

She lags us if we poach.
De Quincey.

 

© Webster 1913

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Lag, n.

The failing behind or retardation of one phenomenon with respect to another to which it is closely related; as, the lag of magnetization compared with the magnetizing force (hysteresis); the lag of the current in an alternating circuit behind the impressed electro-motive force which produced it.

 

© Webster 1913