lake

n. [ Cf. G. laken. ] A kind of fine white linen, formerly in use. [ Obs. ] Chaucer. [ 1913 Webster ]

v. i. [ AS. lācan, læcan, to spring, jump, lāc play, sport, or fr. Icel. leika to play, sport; both akin to Goth. laikan to dance. √120. Cf. Knowledge. ] To play; to sport. [ Prov. Eng. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ AS. lac, L. lacus; akin to AS. lagu lake, sea, Icel. lögr; OIr. loch; cf. Gr. la`kkos pond, tank. Cf. Loch, Lough. ] A large body of water contained in a depression of the earth's surface, and supplied from the drainage of a more or less extended area. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Lakes are for the most part of fresh water; the salt lakes, like the Great Salt Lake of Utah, have usually no outlet to the ocean. [ 1913 Webster ]

Lake dwellers (Ethnol.), people of a prehistoric race, or races, which inhabited different parts of Europe. Their dwellings were built on piles in lakes, a short distance from the shore. Their relics are common in the lakes of Switzerland. --
Lake dwellings (Archaeol.), dwellings built over a lake, sometimes on piles, and sometimes on rude foundations kept in place by piles; specifically, such dwellings of prehistoric times. Lake dwellings are still used by many savage tribes. Called also lacustrine dwellings. See Crannog. --
Lake fly (Zool.), any one of numerous species of dipterous flies of the genus Chironomus. In form they resemble mosquitoes, but they do not bite. The larvae live in lakes. --
Lake herring (Zool.), the cisco (Coregonus Artedii). --
Lake poets,
Lake school, a collective name originally applied in contempt, but now in honor, to Southey, Coleridge, and Wordsworth, who lived in the lake country of Cumberland, England, Lamb and a few others were classed with these by hostile critics. Called also lakers and lakists. --
Lake sturgeon (Zool.), a sturgeon (Acipenser rubicundus), of moderate size, found in the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. It is used as food. --
Lake trout (Zool.), any one of several species of trout and salmon; in Europe, esp. Salmo fario; in the United States, esp. Salvelinus namaycush of the Great Lakes, and of various lakes in New York, Eastern Maine, and Canada. A large variety of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis), inhabiting many lakes in New England, is also called lake trout. See Namaycush. --
Lake whitefish. (Zool.) See Whitefish. --
Lake whiting (Zool.), an American whitefish (Coregonus Labradoricus), found in many lakes in the Northern United States and Canada. It is more slender than the common whitefish. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. See Lake dwellers, under Lake. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. land bordering a lake. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A little lake. Southey. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. One that is connected with a lake or lakes, as in habitation, toil, etc.: (a) One of the poets of the Lake school. See Lake poets, under Lake, n. (b) (Zool.) A fish living in, or taken from, a lake, esp. the namaycush. (c) A lake steamer or canal boat. [ 1913 Webster ]

The bridge tender . . . thought the Cowies “a little mite” longer than that laker. The Century. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. the shore of a lake.
Syn. -- lakeside. [ WordNet 1.5 ]